In the week leading up to your first full session I would like you to perform some fitness tests.
You will only do these at the start and the end of the program and it is a great way of seeing how much you have improved by. The tests must be carried out exactly the same way at the end of the program as they were at the start.
You will test all aspects of your fitness to give you a full picture of where exactly you have improved on:
Cardiovascular Fitness
1 mile run/walk/jog
Complete one mile outdoors or on the treadmill. If you do it on a treadmill you must do it on a treadmill again to retest at the end of the program. If you haven’t run before or are very new then just see how fast you can walk. Running too early in your program can lead to injury so although you are pushing yourself as this is a test do it sensibly. Use a running smart phone free app like map my run or runkeeper to record distance. You can even add me as a friend on some of these apps.
Upper Body Strength
Do as many full/1/2 press ups as you can in 1 minute with good form. Chest as close to the ground as possible and back up.
Lower Body Strength
Do as many bodyweight squats with good form in 1 minute. Make sure you get your knees down to a 90 degree angle before coming back up. If you struggle with this and are new to squatting do a sit to stand test. Place a chair behind you sit on it and then stand back up and see how many you can do in a minute.
Core Strength
Perform the plank for as long as possible. Place your forearms on the ground and in a position similar to a press up keep yourself as straight as possible and hold it for as long as you can.
Upper & Lower Combined
Do as many burpees with good form in a minute as possible.
Ensure that you give yourself enough rest in between fitness tests to perform to your max. If needed perform your fitness test over a period of 1-3 days.
Remember to write down your scores and send them to me.
