How fit are you post lockdown?
Updated: Jun 10, 2021
The lockdown had a significant effect on exercise habits globally. Here in the UK, UKactive reports a huge increase in the sale of home fitness equipment and uptake of online exercising. The reality is, however, a little different. From chatting to colleagues in the yoga industry I know that online yoga classes initially saw a surge in attendance, yet over the course of the lockdown class numbers dropped, attendance stagnated or even stopped entirely. We have already heard the reports of a mental health crisis looming post COVID-19, and a physical health crisis may be a reality for many of us who, for one reason or another, have exercised less, or not at all for several months!
Fitness declines fast
I am totally guilty of not exercising as much as I could have done and it has resulted in me feeling sluggish, tired and I haven't slept well, either. Our fitness declines after just 7 to 14 days of not exercising (Source: Active Fitness). I knew that my levels were definitely dropping, I felt the impact on my aerobic fitness, endurance, strength, flexibility, cardio capacity and so on. More significantly and importantly, I felt my functional fitness levels drop, the fitness that is needed to master everyday tasks and activities. I have an active 4 year old (although I seem to be running after my active 18 year old more)...and he had started to outpace me on every level! I am proud of how I have kept fit over the years. I am not a gym goer and generally not a huge fan of aerobic exercising, it just does not fill me with joy. Instead, I have been doing yoga for years and it's been so good for my physical, mental and spiritual health. Not doing yoga for weeks in a row saw my body very quickly deteriorate. I am in my mid 40s - I want to keep fit, and I certainly refuse to be outpaced by a 4 year old!
Where am I going with all this? Well, I wanted to share with you what happened when I did a fitness test...Now it must be said that this fitness test was just to give me an idea of how my fitness was doing, to get a benchmark for improvement and what areas to work on. I felt so flat, so was expecting a terrible outcome. And yes, there is room for improvement. Mostly, I felt completely exhausted after the test, legs like lead. Urgh! Without further ado, here are my results.
The fitness test & my results
Generally, fitness is assessed in four key areas: aerobic fitness, muscular strength and endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
This test was taken after a period of approx 3 months with little exercise. The results and targets are age and gender appropriate.
Test 1 - Resting Heart Rate | Result 78 (Average) | Target <=60 | Update June 2021 Result 92 (Poor)*
Test 2 - Push-ups (Upper Body Muscular Endurance) | Result 10 | Target 14 | Update June 2021 Result 14
Test 3 - Sit-ups (Abdominal Muscular Endurance) | Result 30 | Target 25 | Update June 2021 Result 47
Test 4 - Sit & Reach (Hamstring, Low back & Hip Flexibility) | Result 52 cm | Target 50 cm | Update June 2021 Result 57 cm
Test 5 - BMI | Result 19.8 | Target 18.5 - 24.9 | Update June 2021 Result 19.1
Test 6 - Aerobic Heart Rate | Result 123 | Target 88 - 145 | Update June 2021 Result Did not test
Test 7 - Head Turning (Neck Flexibility) | Result Good | Target Good | Update June 2021 Result Very Good
Test 8 - Plank (Core Strength) | Result 70 sec (above average) | Target 2 minutes | Update June 2021 Result 75 sec
Test 9 - Gomukhasana (Shoulder Mobility) | Result Good | Target Good | Update June 2021 Result Not so good!**
Test 10 - Wall Sit (Leg Endurance & Strength) | Result 46 sec (v good) | Target min 46 sec | Update June 2021 Result 65 sec (excellent)
