How fit should i be for my age

That's a separate measure entirely, one that can rise and fall according to your vital measurements. D, a professor of exercise physiology, who developed an algorithm to tell you how old your body really is at least according to his standards. You can check that measure via algorithm on the World Fitness Level site — or, for a more personal calculation, you can attempt this stripped-down version of the testing our writer Michael Easter went through to find his own true age, developed by Doug Kechijian, DPT, and Michael Fredericson, MD.

Just remember, no matter how well you score: nothing's going to change that birth certificate. Take the first five tests, noting the ages associated with your results.

Add those ages and divide by 5, then add your mobility test score to find your fitness age. Not happy with the results? Spend extra time each week training in the areas in which you struggled most. Your quest to know your fitness age starts with VO2 max, but who has time for the complicated test our writer took?

Do this outdoors, if possible. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Riebe D, et al. Health-related physical fitness testing and interpretation. The Cooper Institute; See also Slide show: 5 smart exercise choices for psoriatic arthritis 6 tips for an active getaway you'll remember Accentuate the positive to make lasting health changes An appointment to exercise? You bet! Are you ready for a workout?

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Try backyard aerobics! What it takes to be agile at any age Winter blahs? You can also find your own risk of dying early from cardiovascular disease, and we give you some ideas on how you can reduce the risk. Therefore, we could establish the most important factors for fitness among healthy women and men. These facors — namely age, waist circumference or body mass index BMI , leisure-time physical activity and resting heart rate — are those included in the algoritm that constitutes our Fitness Calculator.

Later, we showed that The Fitness Calculator is even more accurate in older adults if we add simple measures of lung function to the model. However, the current calculator is accurate enough for all age groups, and we have not included the lung function measurements in the formula. The study was based on our large Generation study , and included direct measurements of VO2max and lung function in almost older adults. Read the full research article: Lung function parameters improve prediction of VO2peak in an elderly population: The Generation study.

After we made The Fitness Calculator, we showed that the estimated fitness number is of great importance for how long you can expect to live.

That's why we now recommend every physician to use the calculator to identify patients with high risk of lifestyle diseases and early death.

We still use The Fitness Calculator in much of our research, and each study makes us even more convinced that the calculator is a very useful tool to prevent lifestyle diseases. By use of the Fitness Calculator, we estimated fitness in 37, healthy individuals who participated in the HUNT1 study in the s.

We then followed them for 24 years and looked at health outcomes. This associations persisted after adjusting the analysis for confounding factors. The risk of dying from all causes during follow-up was also gradually reduced with better fitness. Moreover, the number you get from The Fitness Calculator seems to be all you really need to estimate the risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death in presumably healthy individuals.

We studied this in almost 40, participants from the HUNT study who were followed for up to 17 years. The calculator estimated the risk about just as good on its own as when traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease are included in the model.

The Fitness Calculator doesn't only predict risk of early death. It also predicts a heart attack in middle-aged and older individuals. We have also published results that link better estimated fitness to lower risk of atrial fibrillation. Even increasing fitness over time seems to be beneficial to reduce the risk of atrial fibrillation. We have also confirmed that the Fitness Calculator estimates fitness accurately in persons with established atrial fibrillation. During the HUNT4 Fitness Study, men and women with atrial fibrillation performed a maximum oxygen uptake test, and we used this sample to validate the Fitness Calculator in this group of patients.

In men, the calculator overestimated true fitness by on average 2. The main results of that research paper show that persons with established atrial fibrillation are at lower risk of early death and cardiovascular events the higher they score on the Fitness Calculator.

The results will vary depending on your age and gender. For men ages 18 to 25, a second pulse rate between 85 and is average to above average; 84 or less is good to excellent, while or higher is fair to poor. For men ages 46 to 55, a pulse rate of 93 or lower is good to excellent, while or higher is fair to poor. For women ages 18 to 25, a second pulse rate of between 94 and is average to above average; 93 or lower is good to excellent, while or higher is fair to poor.

For women ages 46 to 55, a pulse rate of or less is good to excellent, while or higher is fair to poor. How to improve endurance: Get regular aerobic exercise. Try brisk walking, swimming, jogging, biking, climbing stairs or hills, or playing an active team sport, such as tennis or basketball.

Balance is a key ability for overall health as you age, and this simple test will help you determine where you stand. Ask someone to time you. Close your eyes and lift one foot about six inches from the floor. Bend your knee and place your foot against the leg you're standing on if you're right-handed, lift your left foot; if you're left-handed, lift your right foot. See how long you can hold this position. Do the test three times and average your times.

You should be able to hold your balance for 30 seconds or more if you're 30 or younger. As you get older, it's normal for your time to go down. How to improve balance: Practice standing on one foot or walking heel-to-toe. Yoga and tai chi also improve balance. The Sit-and-Reach Test: Start by stretching your legs: Lie on your back and lift your right leg toward your chest and hold for 10 to 30 seconds.