Occasionally, someone will ask me “I can do X amount of pushups. Is that good?”, or “I can hold a plank for X amount of minutes. Is that good?” or “I can run 5K in X amount of time. Is that good?”
My initial reactions to all of those is to think how I personally perform in those tests. If the person asking me has a score worse than mine, I think that person sucks. If that person has a score better than mine, I think they’re using steroids. I then start reaching for the phone to call the Anti-Doping Agency.
But that’s just my initial reaction. Fortunately for people, I don’t go by my initial reaction. So in this article, I’ll give you a more objective way to look at fitness testing. I’ll give you the standards on fitness scores in different age groups, and for different fitness qualities (strength, endurance, etc.). And because I’m a nice guy, I’ll even tell you what to do to improve on your scores.
Here are some things to keep in mind for the tests:
- These are based on the standards from the American College of Sports Medicine. These were taken out of the book ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription.
Original source: here.
- When I give you the guidelines, the ages of 20-49 were grouped together, because I don’t have a lot of readers who are under 30
- The guidelines that I list also just give you one number. That’s either the number of the 50th percentile, or the average number (as opposed to the “good” or “very good” number). The book contains much more extensive standards.
- In the body composition section, I go by my own standards. Because the standards of the ACSM are atrociously low (hey, who do they measure to get their standards? The general population. In case you haven’t noticed, the general population in the USA is really, really fat).
So without further ado, here are the standards
Body Composition
- Males under 60: 12-18% is average. Under 12% is athletic.
- Males over 60: 14-20% is average. Under 14% is athletic.
- Females under 60: 18-25% is average. 12-18% is athletic.
- Females over 60: 20-27% is average. Under 20% is athletic.
How to Improve it:
That’s basically what I’ve been writing about the last 5 years, so I can’t condense it into one article. Check out these articles:
Cardiovascular Fitness
- Males, 20-49 should be able to run at least 2.3 km in 12 minutes
- Males, 50-59 should be able to run at least 2.2 km in 12 minutes
- Males, 60-69 should be able to run at least 2 km in 12 minutes
- Males over 70 should be able to run at least 1.8 km in 12 minutes
- Females, 20-49 should be able to run at least 2 km in 12 minutes
- Females, 50-59 should be able to run at least 1.85 km in 12 minutes
- Females, 60-69 should be able to run at least 1.7 km in 12 minutes
- Females, 70-79 should be able to run at least 1.6 km in 12 minutes
Original source: here.
How to Improve it:
To improve your cardiovascular fitness is quite simple: do cardio! Do it 3-5 times per week, and try to either go a little farther, or try to go the same amount of time, but cover more distance in that time.
You don’t need to get too fancy with your exercise programming, unless you compete.
Upper Body Strength:
- Males 20-49 should be able to bench press at least 0.84 of their body weight for 1 repetition (that means that if you weigh 170 lbs., you should be able to bench press at least 142.8 lbs. for 1 repetition).
- Males, 50-59 should be able to bench press at least 0.75 of their body weight for 1 repetition.
- Males over 60 should be able to bench press at least 0.68 of their body weight for 1 repetition.
- Females, 20-49 should be able to bench press at least 0.52 of their body weight for 1 repetition.
- Females, 50-59 should be able to bench press at least 0.46 of their body weight for 1 repetition.
- Females, 60+ should be able to bench press at least 0.45 of their body weight for 1 repetition.
How to Improve It:
Check out these articles that I wrote:
- How to Get Stronger (The Secret to Super Strength)
- Supersets: Get More Exercise Done
- How to Get Strong at Work
Lower Body Strength
- Males 20-49 should be able to leg press at least 1.62 of their body weight for 1 repetition (so for example, if you weigh 170 pounds, you should be able to leg press 275.4 lbs. for 1 repetition).
- Males, 50-59 should be able to leg press at least 1.52 of their body weight for 1 repetition.
- Males, 60+ should be able to leg press at least 1.43 of their body weight for 1 repetition
- Females, 20-49 should be able to leg press at least 1.18 of their body weight for 1 repetition
- Females, 50-59 should be able to leg press at least 1.05 of their body weight for 1 repetition
- Females, 60+ should be able to leg press at least 0.99 of their body weight for 1 repetition
How to Improve It:
Check out these articles that I wrote:
- How to Get Stronger (The Secret to Super Strength)
- Supersets: Get More Exercise Done
- How to Get Strong at Work
Upper Body Muscular Endurance
- Males, 20-49 should be able to do 16 pushups
- Males, 50-59 should be able to do 12 pushups
- Males, 60+ should be able to do 10 pushups
- Females, 20-49 should be able to do 14 pushups from their knees
- Females, 50-59 should be able to do 12 pushups from their knees
- Females, 60+ should be able to do 10 pushups from their knees
How to Improve It:
Check out these articles that I wrote:
- How to Get Stronger (The Secret to Super Strength)
- Supersets: Get More Exercise Done
- How to Get Strong at Work