2008 March 14 | sockparade

Okay, so yeah, we haven’t packed yet. But I’m going to go ahead and write a quick blogpost.

I ran across this post on Lifehacker about why the push-up belongs in your fitness routine. It talks about how the pushup is a great measure of your health because it “tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs…”

The post then links to a Washington Post table that rates your health based on a series of fitness metrics. It’s basically all the things you were tested on in elementary school for the regular fitness test (minus the chin-ups or the more favorable flexed arm hang). It’s broken down by gender and age.

I’ve copied and pasted it here for you:

Push-Ups
Number of push-ups by age group

Men: Full Body Push-ups

Age:	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	62	52	40	39	28
Excellent	47	39	30	35	23
Good	37	30	24	19	18
Fair	29	24	18	13	10
Poor	22	17	11	9	6
Very Poor	13	9	5	3	2

Women: Modified Push-ups

Age:	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	45	39	33	28	20
Excellent	36	31	24	21	15
Good	30	24	18	17	12
Fair	23	19	13	12	5
Poor	7	11	6	6	2
Very Poor	9	4	1	0	0

Women: Full Push-ups

Age:	20-29	30-39	40-49
Superior	42	39	20
Excellent	28	23	15
Good	21	15	13
Fair	15	11	9
Poor	10	8	6
Very Poor	3	1	0

1-Minute Sit-Ups
Number of sit-ups by age group

Men

Age:	<20	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	62	55	51	47	43	39
Excellent	51	47	43	39	35	30
Good	47	42	39	34	28	22
Fair	41	38	35	29	24	19
Poor	36	33	30	24	19	15
Very Poor	27	27	23	17	12	7

Women

Age:	<20	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	55	51	42	38	30	28
Excellent	46	44	35	29	24	17
Good	36	38	29	24	20	11
Fair	32	32	25	20	14	6
Poor	28	24	20	14	10	3
Very Poor	25	18	11	7	5	0

Sit And Reach Flexibility
Distance of reaches in inches, by age group

Men

Age:	<20	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	23.4	23	22	21.3	20.5	20
Excellent	21.7	20.5	19.5	18.5	17.5	17.3
Good	19	18.5	17.5	16.3	15.5	14.5
Fair	16.5	16.5	15.5	14.3	13.3	12.5
Poor	13.2	14.4	13	12	10.5	10
Very Poor	9.4	10.5	9.3	8.3	7	5.8

Women

Age:	<20	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	24.3	24.5	24	22.8	23	23
Excellent	22.5	22.5	21.5	20.5	20.3	19
Good	21.5	20.5	20	19	18.5	17
Fair	20.5	19.3	18.3	17.3	16.8	15.5
Poor	18.5	17	16.5	15	14.8	13
Very Poor	14.5	14.1	12	10.5	12.3	9.2

12-Minute Aerobic Test
Number of miles by age group

Men

Age:	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	1.81	1.77	1.71	1.62	1.57
Excellent	1.65	1.61	1.54	1.45	1.37
Good	1.54	1.49	1.42	1.33	1.24
Fair	1.45	1.39	1.33	1.25	1.15
Poor	1.34	1.29	1.23	1.15	1.05
Very Poor	1.06	1.13	.98	.92	.82

Women

Age:	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60+
Superior	1.61	1.53	1.45	1.33	1.35
Excellent	1.45	1.38	1.32	1.21	1.18
Good	1.33	1.27	1.21	1.13	1.07
Fair	1.25	1.21	1.13	1.06	.99
Poor	1.16	1.11	1.05	.98	.94
Very Poor	.94	.93	.89	.83	.81

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Yikes! In all fairness, I have very disproportional limbs that work against me in every category except for maybe the situps. I don’t think I’m that unhealthy. The husband rates in good or excellent health.

Where do you rate?