3.42 Assess Your Fitness Level
Having a baseline for your fitness level and overall health is very helpful to monitor your progress. Here are a few things, depending on your situation, that you can measure at baseline, then again in between each phase of your HeartStrong.com Heart Health Program:
- How long it takes you to walk/run 1 block or 1 mile
- Your heart rate at rest, then after you walk 1 block or 1 mile
- How many push-ups (if any) you can do before you fatigue
- Try to do a pull-up if you can and see how many you can do (after phase 3 of your program you should definitely be able to do pull-ups)
- How many sit-ups you can do before fatigue
- How many squats (using only your body weight) you can do before fatigue
- How much weight using a dumbbell that you can curl with your arms/biceps 8 times before fatigue
Write these down and you can reassess them in between each phase of your program to see how you progress. Other important things to do at this point include:
- Write down your weight and body mass index (BMI)
- Measure your body fat percentage
- Measure your waist circumference
- Take a before picture