My very first fitness assessment

vinesqueen · October 22, 2005

Well, as promised, here is my thread about my experience with my first fitness assessment since I started this journey.

I had one done more than 5 years ago as part of my last supervised weight loss attempt. It was an awesome program, btw, and it might be something I do again once I finish with my university. And the only reason why I would do that is because the program was so awesome and I would be working with a trainer for 3 times a week. It would be more the fitness aspect that I'd be working on than the weight loss aspect. But I digress.

The fitness assessment is one of the things that my University offers as part of our student wellness program, and costs $10.

The entire process took about 40-45 minutes, so it was over pretty fast. The different things they looked at included:

my blood pressure
weight
body fat composition
hip & back flexibility
resting heart rate
biceps strenth
aerobic fitness
curl-ups partial

all combined to give me my total fitness score.

The first step (after all the paperwork, of course) was to take my weight, blood pressure and figure out my resting heart rate as well as my target heart rates. We were able to figure out my resting heart rate because I don't own anything with a second hand, and I completely forgot that my cell phone has a stop-watch function.

I was on 3 different scales yesterday, and all three had me a three different weights from a low of 240 to a high of 246. (Just more proof that scales lie and decieve us.) The average of the three is 242, so that's what I'm going with.

The next step was to calculate my body fat mass to get my fat fee mass (FFM). This was done with two different machines, one utilizing electomagnetic pulses and the other used in infrared light to measure the density of my bicep. The first system, FUTREX-500, used the infrared method and calucated my FFM at 141 so my body fat was 42.5%, while the Tanita scale put me at 130 and a body fat of 45.7%. I'm going with the FUTREX-500 results for a few reasons. The Tanita scale doesn't diferentiate between males and females, and the FUTREX results were the same as my Bell model little mini-body fat analizer. In the long run, it doesn't matter which method I choose to go with, it only matters that I'm consistant.

My aerobic fitness level sux. The scale for this fitness component is from 20 (low) to 50 (high), and I scored a 22. But considering how far I had to come in the last year, I'm pretty darn happy actually. I was initally disapointed, considering that I walk so much and am taking a dance class. I was quite surprised that I didn't come in higher, all things considered.

My over all fitness level is in the Fair Range, not Needs Work. I have a plan of action, and a fitness plan that I know is workable for me.

I don't need to worry about working out 90 minutes a day every day. Right now, that's unrealistic for a couple of reasons, time being one of the main reasons. (19 credits + working = little free time) All I need to do is add 20-40 minutes a couple times a week on the stationary bike.

chichigirl · October 22, 2005

I haven't been here long enough to know what your full story is, but I do recall you were having so really bad breathing problems at one point, quite serious as I remember. So the mere fact that you can walk and take a dance class and got to school full time and work and still not be below the 20 mark is pretty amazing to me.Those tests don't take into account any kind of illness or disability you may have been suffering from or are recovering from. Those are really important variables that need to be taken into account in order to be accurate. I'm not say you're ready to run a marathon yet, but you sure as heck don't sound as if you should be that low on the scale.

BTW, I was reading one of your old posts from a while back and happened across the information on your hubby's movie. I went right into Amazon and ordered it, should be here early next week. I can't wait to get it, it really sounds interesting.

I'll let you know what I think after I have watched it. Thanks for letting us know about it.

Cindy