/ Fitness Evaluation

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, I loved reading this! You are doing so well! See how much you've improved over time??? Now that you have YCFE you can do all kinds of practices to work on flexibility, and perhaps after your half hour sessions can show some stretches / make you do some stretches - at the gym they often have foam rollers, you ought to have her show you how to use one they are great (and painful). Way to go on the pushups, and I'm so jealous of your body fat! I think mine's like 32% or something like that, it's embarrassing but hey, I may be fat but I'm very fit, and it's something I'm working on all the time. Please do tell us how your sessions go! I love hearing about this kind of thing!nancydewolf wrote: Yesterday I met with a trainer at a local hospital for a fitness evaluation. I've been wanting to know where I stand and what I need to do to bring my fitness level farther and I didn't want to join a gym so this worked well for me. The trainer, , was GREAT! She was funny too. She was so excited to have someone who is already fit and active instead of someone obese and inactive or diagnosed with some illness and activity being part of the prescription for healing. It was fun having her so excited to be working with me! Anyway, I did the 3

minute step test, a flexibility test, pushup test (strength) and situp test (core strength). She also weighed me and got my body fat percentage. I was SO nervous going into this, especially because of that last measurement. The last time I had it measured was probably around 1997 and it was something like 28% body fat. Whatever it was, I was right on the edge between normal and too high, leaning heavily towards too high. I knew I was better off than that now but had no idea how much and, being a person who has always struggled with my weight, anything that measures fat and weight makes me nervous but I really wanted to know too (if it wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be the knowledge would at least help me make changes to improve it). Anyway, she is mailing me the results but here's what I remember: Weight: 109 Body fat percentage: 15.7%!!!!!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I'm actually too LOW for my age and height!!! She told me they like to see women around age 41 at about 20% or a bit higher so she didn't want me lose any more fat! Holy cow!!!! I was giddy all night and am again today! My flexibility test sucked. You sit on a mat with your legs straight out in front of you and 3 times, lean forward trying to see how far your fingers will reach. My hamstrings were super sore and tight from my workout the day before, plus I have been lazy with my stretching/yoga so I came out "poor" for flexibility. She suggested stretching every day and adding in a day of yoga as a workout both because of the flexibility but also strength and other all around benefits.. I'm hoping to join the new yoga center my teacher just opened very soon and then I'll do at least one class a

week for my yoga workout. Pushup test: She had me do them on my knees because it skews the results for woman to do them from their toes. You do as many as you can for 1 minute or give up before that if necessary. I did 25 and then did one on my toes to have her evaluate my form. She said for both the knee and toes pushups that my form was perfect! Awesome, that was something I was really concerned about!! I ranked in the excellent category for strength based on my pushup performance. Situp test: Do as many crunches as you can in 1 minute BUT your arms are down at your sides and you're supposed to be reaching towards your toes. I hate doing crunches like that because of the strain on my neck and I was really feeling it. I'm not sure I did the entire minute. My

core strength came out on the poor side of good but she thinks it is probably better than it tested. She said my arms and shoulders were really well toned but that more core work would help my abs tone too (it was so obvious I like doing upper body work much more than abs). This was really good to know though. I know core strength is super important for functional health and also, my abs have been bugging me lately. They've looked a little saggy in the front, not horribly but still not where I want them and she said we could define them more. Finding out that it wasn't fat but rather is untoned muscle was super helpful. I'm definitely doing more abs work now and be less concerned about my weight. 3 minute step test: I came out pretty average, even closer to poor than average which totally shocked me! When we talked about what I do for workouts and that my HRM

regularly shows me working out in the 80 - 92% of max heart rate she suggested I probably have got really great anaerobic capacity for short bursts of power but that my aerobic capacity for longer term workouts (or doing whatever in daily life) is not anywhere near as developed since apparently, I'm primarily working out anaerobically and that isn't helping my heart develop its full pumping capacity. Trainers, I hope I explained that right, I was a bit fuzzy on the details, please feel free to correct me! :-) Anyway, she suggested working out between 60 - 75% of max heart rate, which for me is 133-150 three or four days per week for at least 30 minutes in that zone. She also warned me that I might be really frustrated working out at that level because I'm so used to the all out work (I've unknowingly become a cardio junkie) but that if I stick with it I'll see results in my endurance. When I think about it, I'm sure she's right. I have been surprised when

I've gotten into a pool to do laps that I still don't have even the slightest bit of the endurance I used to have when I swam regularly (okay, I was in my late teens/early 20s then but even still, I'm in better shape overall now than I was then). I have more endurance than I did a few years ago but nearly as much as I would have expected after all the working out I've been doing. So it wasn't what I expected but was great information and really helpful to move me forward. She suggested I do cardio in the 133-150 range 3-4 days per week for 30 minutes or more each time, strength training 1-2 days per week, stretching every day with ideally, a yoga workout each week too. We also discussed circuit and interval training and she said I could fit those in after I get the 3-4 days aerobic cardio, possibly as part of the same workout. We talked about her training me. I know she wants to make money and I want to save money but I agreed to do 1-2 1/2 hour training sessions with her focusing on strength training. She can check my form and give me advice for ways to maximize my efforts. She said she'd give me a workout I could do at home with the equipment I have. She also said she would make me sore for 2 days, guaranteed! I LOVE it!! How could I resist that! :-) She was excited to work with me and I'm excited to work with her. It sounds like fun! I haven't worked out with a partner or trainer in years and was never really committed of ready to push as hard as I want to now and as hard as she sees pushing me so it should be really interesting. I'm meeting with her a week from Friday in the morning so I'll let you all know how that goes afterwards!