Fitness Performance Assessments: Do You Know Where You’re Going?

If you’re like most people, a weight scale is the only tool you use to figure out if your workout plan is working. But maybe you’re more advanced than most, and you use more detailed body measurements like body fat and the size of your shoulders, hips, chest, legs, arms, etc. Even so, you may be missing a key source of useful fitness information: performance assessments.

Coaches and athletes have used performance assessments for decades to monitor whether or not their training is having the intended results. This information helps them make useful changes to the program to continually progress by making modifications when necessary. By continually tracking their progress, they are able to predict future performance, indicate weaknesses, measure improvement, assess the success of their training, and provide the necessary motivation to keep moving forward.

Many athletes are driven to satisfy their competitive urge even when they’re not in season. Performance assessments allow them to compete against themselves, much like many people do to lose weight, gain strength, and achieve their fitness goals. So how can you use performance assessments to achieve new levels of fitness and health?

Let’s take Average Joe for example. Average Joe hasn’t worked out for years but has recently decided to get into shape. He gets a diet and workout plan and gets to work. He loses weight for the first few weeks, but then the scale stops moving… in fact, it goes up a couple pounds despite the fact that he’s doing the same workout and eating healthy. Dismayed, his routine starts to break down and pretty soon, he’s back to where he started.

If Average Joe had been performance assessment testing periodically, he may have avoided failure. What many people don’t realize is that muscle weighs more than fat. This simple fact confuses people who rely completely on their weight scale to measure results. Performance testing would have shown Average Joe that his continued workouts were improving his reps and times, keeping him motivated despite what the weight scale said. Just as important, he would have realized that he needed to change his workout if his test results weren’t improving.

Here are some guidelines for incorporating performance assessment testing into your training:

Performance Assessment Tests
The best source for useful performance assessment tests is the U.S. Military. These tests don’t require fancy equipment and there’s tons of useful information regarding test results based on age and gender. Here are just a few:

• Max Push Ups in 2-Minutes
• Max Sit Ups in 2-Minutes
• Max Pull Ups
• 1.5-Mile Run Time

Tracking Results
Performance Assessment Tests are only useful if you keep careful track of the results. Ideally, you need to repeat the same conditions of each test; this means you should rest the same amount before each test, test during the same time of day, and in the same conditions as the previous test. Performance testing every four weeks will provide you with useful information, helping you gauge whether or not your current workout program is really working.

Setting Goals
Goal setting is just as important as performance assessment testing. How do you know when you’ve arrived if you never set a destination in the first place? Before your first performance assessment test, set a goal of where you would like to be. If you go look into Military Physical Fitness Test standards, you’ll find PFT score charts for different branches of the military. Go hardcore and try to hit Navy Seal standards if you can! Write you’re goals down and compare them to each of your performance assessment tests; adjust as necessary.