Q: Is there a standard that I can test myself against to see whether I’m really as fit and strong overall as I think I am?
A: If you’re as fit and strong overall as you think you are, you would not be asking this question. You’d know that you have spent a decent amount of time working on your total strength and that you understand “fit” to be far more than just aerobic fitness. You have exercised your aerobic system and the two anaerobic energy systems.
Before The Water Cooler inbox is flooded by runners, relax. Cardiovascular fitness is a vital component of someone’s overall fitness. However, people who only do endurance training are only going to be good at endurance events, while obviously enjoying the benefits that go along with it such as cardiovascular health.
The Water Cooler subscribes to the school of thought that says if a runner and cyclist invested in proper strength training, they’d become better at their sport, as opposed to shying away from strength training with the misguided impression that it would slow them down.
In September 2019 — the good old days when we could sneeze in peace — strength and conditioning coach and co-owner of Performance Purist Joshua Capazorio told Business Day: “Once you have obtained strength, you unlock many doors in life. The stronger you are, the easier life gets. Strength is never a weakness.” While it sounds like a meme, it’s true.
He went on to say: “Think about cadence turnover on a bicycle, your wattage, or your midfoot strike on a run — the stronger you are, the less effort it takes to generate the same force you previously produced, which means when you get stronger you naturally become more efficient. Improving strength also improves efficiency when you scale it down.”
There are dozens of tests to choose from; some are standardised, and others have been made up on the spot. Some test heart rate, how fast you can run certain distances and how many push-ups or ab crunches you can do in a minute. Few of them measure strength. Strength is not measured with push-ups; that’s muscular endurance (granted, only if you’re strong enough to do push-ups).
This is why the US army’s standard fitness test has irritated the Water Cooler for decades, but one can’t argue with the US military, right? They’ve been invading and uninvading territories for longer than President Cyril Ramaphosa has been contemplating setting up special committees.
But, dear reader, the US military has finally seen the light and has updated its outdated test. Before, the official test comprised two minutes of sit-ups, two minutes of push-ups and a two-mile run. It tested running endurance and muscular endurance, but what about strength?
According to Bloomberg this month, the new test “consists of six exercises administered over 120 minutes: dead lifts; medicine-ball throws; hand-release push-ups; sprint-drag-carry exercises; leg tucks or planks; and a two-mile run. It requires much more upper-body and core strength than the older test to more closely match on-the-ground demands such as carrying heavy loads, extracting injured personnel from the battlefield, and pushing and loading equipment.”
Few of us extract the injured from warzones, but many of us extract kicking children from the back seats of cars, and so while our suburban functional fitness looks different, it has similar demands.
The exercises work according to a scoring system that’s on the US army’s website. The dead lift includes a three-rep max dead lift (63kg scores 60 and 154kg scores 100), the medicine balls weigh 4.5kg, the sprint-drag carry is done with two 18kg kettlebells and a 40kg sled, and to score 100 points, the 3.3km run must be done in 13.30 minutes or less (21 minutes scores 60).
Give that test a go, it is far more functional and likely to measure overall fitness and strength than some of the older tests. If you can’t complete the test, set a goal and work towards it. Just don’t tell your CrossFit friends, they’ll turn it into a WOD (workout of the day) and call it GI-Jane.
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