Endurance and strength are important elements while training for fitness. If you want to know how strong you are, you need to measure it with a standard. Before you begin to train in endurance and strength exercises, check your basal endurance levels by conducting the following tests. Repeat these exercises as many times as you can do comfortably.
Squats: Stand upright with a chair in front of you. Place your hands on the chair and squat till your knees form a right angle to the floor. Do not squat lower than this. Raise yourself to an upright position.
Press ups: Lie down in prone position. Place your hands on the floor besides your chest with elbow pointed upwards. Balance your body on your toes and chin. Your chest must not touch the floor. Press up body from the floor and balance it only your toes and palms. Lower your body again till your chin touches the floor.
Sit ups: Lie down in a supine position. Bend your knees to 45 degree with your feet on the floor. Anchor your feet beneath a chair or something heavy so that you don’t move them. Clasp your hands beneath you head and lift your body till your elbows make contact with your knees. Lie down on your back once again.
Jumps: Jump as high as you can, alongside a wall. Mark the highest point you reached as you jumped with a piece of chalk. In the same way mark the highest point you can stand with your toes balancing you. Measure the difference.
Note the number of sit ups, press ups and squats you did with the help of a standard scale. Similarly measure the gap between the two chalk marks and compare it with a standard scale.
In general, the minimum number of squats, sit ups and press ups a person must do to score well is five times for men and three times for women. In case of jumps, a gap of over 18 inches for men and 14 inches for women is a good score.
You need to get a total score of 15 points or above out of 20 to prove your strength and endurance. If your total score is less than 10, it indicates that you definitely need to work on strength and endurance in your training program.
