Reviving the Fitness Tests

“Getting fit” is often synonymous with “losing weight” in most discussions.  Back when I was setting up this blog for a long term eating style experiment I was in pretty good shape.  My strength training was a bit of a crap shoot but my cardio was as tuned in for me as it had ever been; I ran my first (and to date only) marathon at the end of that planning period.  I therefore didn’t see it as a weight loss experiment but as a fitness and longevity experiment.  I therefore sought to quantify my fitness in as concrete a way I could.  What I came up with was holding myself to a military fitness standard (link ).

I actually got one set of baseline measurements (link ) before my entire fitness strategy completely fell apart but my original notion of testing myself regularly in order to gauge my overall fitness over time totally fell away.  At the time this was more important because I wanted to see if I was having dramatic changes in strength as a consequence of that phase of the diet challenge. For example, was I maybe leaning out but actually losing strength during the Paleo phase, or did I notice a particularly large increase in strength even though my workouts were constant during the vegan phase.  Now, three years later I look at it strictly from the longevity perspective.

“Use it or lose it” is pretty hardwired feature of many of our body systems.  As we age the problem becomes even more exacerbated.  One way to slow down degeneration is through proper exercise, which I really don’t do naturally in any way shape or form. By bringing back the fitness experiments I will be able to quantify what my strength and cardiovascular strength is like year after year.  While I’m in pretty pathetic shape compared to where I was three years ago I still think it’d be good to capture a baseline now.  This week I’ll take my first measurements since May 2014.  I’m not looking forward to how far I’ve fallen, but I am looking forward to seeing how well I build up out of that cellar now that I’m re-emphasizing fitness regiments.