Exercise testing, part one
Are you as fit as you think?
Just as we suggest with diet and nutrition, it is important to get a baseline of your body’s current fitness condition before you begin to make changes. This allows you to track improvements and see the result of your exercise in a scientific way.
There are many different types of exercise tests. Anthropometric tests aim to give you general insight into your fitness through body measurements. That is our focus for this article. Others test for specific ability and capacity in the four main areas of fitness we discussed earlier and we’ll cover them in future articles.
Some exercise tests can be tried at home while others can be done with a coach or undertaken in a hospital. Here we’ll overview common anthropometric tests and give you one or two to try at home.
Anthropometric tests
These tests have to do with your body’s shape and size. They are fine for a “rule of thumb” but many lack accuracy when you are very athletic, obese or otherwise far from average. However, they are still worth considering as a first pass.
BMI
Body Mass Index was developed in the 19th century and is a simple calculation: BMI = W/(H×H), where W = weight and H = height. The result is compared to a table to determine if you are overweight, normal or underweight.
In 2014, a modified version appeared, the SBMI or Smart Body Mass Index, that delivers results based on your age and sex as well as weight and height.
Though it is a good general indicator for people of average height and weight, it delivers poor results for people who are very muscled, tall, or otherwise “off the scale.”
Skinfold
Skinfold testing estimates body fat. It uses calipers to measure skin at seven sites along your limbs and torso, then averages the measurements and compares to a chart of results. It does not generate a specific body fat percentage, rather a range from “excellent” to “poor.”
- Triceps, the back of the upper arm
- Pectoral, in front of the armpit
- Subscapular, below the bottom of the shoulder blade
- Midaxilla, midline of the side of the torso
- Abdomen, next to the belly button
- Suprailiac , above the iliac crest of the hipbone
- Quadriceps, middle of the upper thigh
You can do this test with a coach or fitness professional. There is some skill required to use the calipers correctly.
Hydrostatic weighing
This test immerses your body in water to give you an accurate reading of your body fat. Your “dry weight” is compared with your weight underwater. It is a classic test, and considered the “gold standard” of body composition tests. It is not commonly available as it requires tanks and special equipment.
Bioelectrical impedance
You may already be testing this one if you have a fancy scale that measures body fat. It works by sending electrical current from a metal plate under one foot through your body and measuring the amount that comes back to the other foot. This works because current flows easily through blood, muscle and other liquids and less easily through fat, bone and air.
The trouble with bioelectrical impedance is that it’s influenced by a body’s hydration. You may have noticed on your bathroom scale that daily weigh-ins can be radically different. Experiment on yourself by weighing before and after drinking water.
Somatotype
This body-shape evaluation was developed in 1940 by a psychologist, William Sheldon, who wanted to match body types with temperament. As in, fat people are lazy, or thin people are anxious. That was discredited, but the body typing aspect was expanded by other scientists.
Ectomorphs are tall, thin, and lightly-muscled. Mesomorphs are athletic, rugged, well-muscled. Endomophs are short, round, and soft-muscled.
You may be able to self-evaluate, but if you want to be sure, there are equations involving skinfold measurements, height, weight and other measurements. The Heath-Carter equations, along with the interesting history of somatotyping, can be found on Wikipedia:
And so ends part one of fitness testing. Next up, balance and endurance tests.
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