How do you measure Physical Fitness?

[BartHumphries]

For the Physical Fitness award, you have to (amongst other things), "Demonstrate your ability to improve your strength, posture, endurance, agility, speed, accuracy, and balance with your own goal-oriented fitness plan." It seems to me that you can't demonstrate that you've improved in those areas without having the ability to measure where you are in those ares. So, how do you figure out how good anyone is?

 

I'm thinking of something like...

Strength -- weight machine, average of bench/leg presses?

Posture -- stand against a cabinet or something? I'm really not sure.

Endurance -- running at a "good jog" how many laps can you run before you stop?

Agility -- try some Yoga moves?

Speed -- time yourself in 100 yard sprints?

Accuracy -- I honestly have no idea what this even means. Throw a ball at a target?

Balance -- how long can you stand on one leg?

[skeptic]

Now I am starting to measure it by my ability to still get out of bed and go down stairs to retrieve the paper. (:-}>

[jr56]

The boy scout Personal Fitness merit badge pamphlet has tests for measuring 3 different areas of fitness, flexibility, endurance, and strength.

[evmori]

I'm with skeptic except add in getting coffee.

[shortridge]

Here's some (non-official?) info. Doesn't look like any need to re-invent the wheel.

 

Posture: Posture is evaluated with a posture-rating chart. The Scout or Scouter is compared to a photo of his or her starting posture, noting 13 different body segments. Each body segment is scored as a five, three, or one, making a possible range of scores from 13 to 65. Higher scores over time reflect improving posture.

 

Accuracy: The target throw is used to measure accuracy. The Scout or Scouter makes 20 throws with a softball at a circular target and is scored on the number of times the target is hit.

 

Strength: The sit-up is used to measure strength. The Scout or Scouter lies on his or her back with knees bent and feet on the floor. The arms are crossed on the chest with the hands on the opposite shoulders. The feet are held by a partner to keep them on the floor. Curl to the sitting position until the elbows touch the thighs. Arms must remain on the chest and chin tucked on the chest. Return to the starting position, shoulder blades touching the floor. The score is the number of sit-ups made in a given time.

 

Agility: The side step is used to measure agility. Starting from a center line, the Scout or Scouter sidesteps alternately left and right between two lines 8 feet apart. He or she is scored on the number of lines crossed in 10 seconds.

 

Speed: The dash is used to measure speed. The score is the amount of time to the nearest half-second running a set distance that can be increased each year.

 

Balance: The squat stand is used to measure balance. The Scout or Scouter squats with hands on the floor and elbows against the inner knee. He or she leans forward until the feet are raised off the floor. The score is the number of seconds held in that position.

 

Endurance: The squat thrust is used to measure endurance. The Scout or Scouter starts from the standing position. He or she performs the usual four-position exercise. The score is the number of completed squat thrusts made in a given time.

 

http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/award/award-237.asp

[Beavah]

I've used da Presidential Fitness Test stuff, which covers a lot of it, plus gives yeh some ability to compare kids to the percentiles for their age group to give 'em some goals.

 

But I also like to chat with kids about what they want out of fitness, eh? Strength for a cross-country runner is goin' to look different than strength for a kayaker. Accuracy for a baseball player might be different than accuracy for a soccer player. So while da generic tests are good to fall back on, it's better to tailor things to each boy as more of a coach/mentor.

 

B