Fitness Evaluation August 27, 2016
A humorous yet awkward story first: Years ago I took the Canadian Physical Activity Fitness Lifestyle Approach [CPAFLA] through McMaster University. At the conclusion of the course we met at the Prof’s house. Me and about seven girls to test each other with measuring tapes and calipers.
Approximate location of subscapularis skinfold on Dr. Arla Kasaj
The girl I was teamed up with told the professor she wasn’t wearing a bra and felt very uncomfortable with a man taking her subscapularis measurement. So I got another girl as a partner. Now I’m uncomfortable. I raise the back of her shirt up as the professor is standing watching and gently pinch her skin. “Just pinch it,” my new partner says, “I’m a massage therapist. I’m around naked people all the time.”
Getting a fitness test is not a bad idea if it’s available and you’re comfortable with the pinching and measurements and the gender doing the testing.
You can perform a fitness test on yourself. As you exercise and change your diet focus on the following: is your strength improving; your energy level increasing; your clothes around your waist shrinking? Do not base your health strictly on getting thinner or lighter. If you’re losing weight and your strength and energy decrease you are on the wrong path. Check whether you are getting enough nutrients and that you are not over exercising. As muscle increases you might gain weight yet your waist stays the same or shrinks. Unless you’re in a sport that demands a certain weight (compete at a realistic weight class) don’t focus on weight.
Neck stretches next Saturday…!
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