Are you fit for your age? Test yourself with these exercises
How fast you can run a mile and the number of push-ups you can crank out aren’t just good for fitness bragging rights. They’re indicators of how well you’re aging. You could be 48 but bike, ski or lift weights like you’re 38 or 58.
For a best-case scenario, think of an athlete like football star Tom Brady at the top of a young man’s game well into his 40s. Having an idea of your so-called fitness age matters. You can slow various declines in health through relatively minor changes, say academics and health professionals.
Cardiovascular changes, for example, have been shown to add years to your life. The first step is to track your fitness benchmarks in areas such as aerobic capacity and muscular endurance. Then, you should aim to keep them in an optimal range to help manage your aging, says Dr.
Randall Espinoza, associate director at the UCLA Longevity Center. (You can try some sample tests below.) While there is no universally agreed-upon way to measure fitness age, a true road map to longevity should also consider diet, consistent and adequate sleep, and maintaining social ties. The VO2 max factor As the body ages, balance, strength and cardiorespiratory fitness decline, sometimes beginning as early as our 30s.
The term “fitness age" has been used in exercise circles for about 20 years. The number was initially based on your VO2 max, a measure of your maximal aerobic capacity. Experts consider the VO2 max a critical piece of longevity data.
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