52 Weeks of Wellness: My Fitness Level by Assessment
Tuesday, Apr 26, 2011
I sit on the floor and stretch as far as my hamstrings will allow. I stand still as a tape measure winds gently around my waist, my thigh, my hips. I hold tight to a body fat analyzer to measure by bioelectrical impedance method and my body mass index (BMI). I walk briskly for 8 minutes at a 5% incline on the treadmill and get my heart rate measured as my heart pumps and tries to unwind back down to normal. I do chest presses with a 35-pound bar, just to see how many I can do in a minute.
Why was I doing all of these crazy things? I was getting my fitness level assessed. Although it may sound harrowing to be put through all of these “tests”, the experience is done in a private office, with the most competent and encouraging of individuals, our Wellness Director, Debbie Reed. I find comfort in the fact that I am in capable hands. I know that I will be told in a gentle and honest manner about the areas in which I could improve and those areas in which I am doing just fine.
A Personal Fitness Assessment is available to all Y members for $31 and it seems worth every penny. After all is complete, I receive a typed report of the results and a recommendation for where to focus my efforts. Debbie even copies pages of notes that she attaches to my report to help me understand what it means when she refers to a “resting heart rate” and what exactly is a healthy “hip to waist ratio”?
She asks me – kindly and without pressure – if I might be interested in coming back in six weeks to test any progress that I have made. I say yes, knowing that I need to make an effort to exercise in different ways that will have an impact on my fitness level. Weight training is one of her suggestions and really, the easiest to implement if I just concentrate on 15 minutes, 3 times per week, using only 4 machines and a stretching chair. Not too daunting, so I resolve to give it a go.
In six weeks, who knows? I leave grateful for her expert knowledge and for understanding better where I fall in terms of my body’s fitness. I highly recommend you take a healthy moment to do this for yourself as well.
Check in with the Wellness Department at each branch to schedule your very own Fitness Assessment or Body Composition Analysis.
Don’t forget about John’s weekly wellness tips! They can be found here.
Hildy
Hildy Ginsberg is Portland’s Executive Director. She feels that the YMCA is the greatest place on earth. Seriously. Don’t you?