Assessing How Fit You Are

Brad King and Dr. Michael Schmidt in “Bio Age, Ten Steps to a Younger You” (Macmillan, Canada, 2001) have devised a questionnaire for assessing physical damage to a body as a result of no exercise.  We will borrow some of their guidelines, which we will summarize here:

Start with the question, “How do I look?” Do any of these answers apply to you? 

1. Am I overweight, looking like an apple or pear?
   
2. Do I have a spare tire around my waist?
   
3. Has my skin become excessively dry, almost paper-thin?

Next, ask: “How do I feel?”

1. Do my joints hurt before or after any physical exertion?
   
2. Am I constantly worried and anxious?
   
3. Do I feel tired and sluggish most of the time?
   
4. Do I suffer from mood swings?

Last question, “How am I doing?”

1. Are simple walking and climbing stairs difficult?
   
2. Do I have problems concentrating?
   
3. Is running impossible for me now?
   
4. Am I unable to sit straight, preferring to slouch or stoop my shoulders?

You’ve completed your basic assessment.  Note, however, that other exercise or fitness gurus will have their own parameters or indices for assessing your body’s overall state and one isn’t better than the other. 

As long as they include all dimensions of the self – physical, psychological and mental – they are as valid as the next person’s assessment charts.

Turning You into a Fitness Buff!

After going through the assessment phase, you’re probably experiencing what some people fondly call a “rude awakening”. 

If you’re not mentally prepared to accept exercise, please don’t force yourself.  Just be familiar with its benefits and when you’re wholeheartedly disposed towards giving it a crack in the can, proceed slowly.  “Slowly but surely” is the exercise cult’s favorite slogan.

Slowly but Surely…

In fact “slowly but surely” was probably what motivated Denise Austin to come up with her popular one-minute exercises (more on this in a later section).  She had two types of people in mind when she designed the one-minute movements:

1. Uninitiated
2. People on the go. 

It’s a quickie society we live in; we want everything quick – especially exercise! – and many converts would be willing to include it in their routine for the sake of health, if there were a quick way to get in, and certainly a quick to get out.