So, I took the fitness test for P90x on Saturday. It was kinda funny thinking back to high school days – and doing some of these same things for fitness tests for P.E. class. I will say this test was a little harder than I anticipated – which I am happy about! If it had been too easy I would have potentially been wasting my money.
So, here’s how the fitness test goes:
Resting heart rate
First you take your resting heart rate. I actually re-did mine this morning because you’re supposed to take it in bed before you get up for the day. I slept with my HR monitor on and of course forgot, jumped up this morning and wondered why I was wearing my watch. Oh yeah …
I lay back down, rested for a few, and took it then. So it may be a little high but I tried.
Resting heart rate – 58 bpm
This is good and bad. Good in the sense that it puts me in the athletic category and it’s above even the “excellent” rating. Bad in that the last time I was testing my resting HR it was somewhere around 47 bpm, so it’s not as good as it used to be. Well, that’s ok. That’s why I’m doing this, right?
10 min warm up
I ran in place, ran around the house, ran up and down the stairs, did jumping jacks, etc.
Now for the exercises:
Pullups:
Minimum requirement for females: 1
Amount I can do: 1/2
Fail.
This is the only exercise that stipulates that not everyone will be able to do a pullup. It says I should get resistance bands and do pull-downs instead until I get better. For the record, I can do a pullup – if I jump … but apparently that doesn’t count.
Vertical leap:
Minimum requirement for females: 3 inches
My vertical leap: 11 inches.
Pass, baby!
Pushups:
Minimum requirement for females: 3 regular (or 15 knee pushups)
Amount I can do: 14 regular pushups.
Pass!
I do pushups a lot, and I hate them. Typically I can do more than 14 but my arms were tired from the pullup and they had a requirement that I had to be able to touch my chest to something 2-3 inches off the ground (I used the yoga block.)
Toe touch:
Minimum requirement: -6 inch reach
My toe touch: -2 inches
Pass.
Never been good at touching my toes. At least I passed the requirement!
Wall squat
Minimum requirement: hold wall squat for 1 minute
My wall squat: 1 minute 18 seconds
Pass.
This was a total mind game. My legs were burning 30 seconds in. I think I gave up earlier than I needed to just because I didn’t “feel” like holding it longer. I think if the requirement was 2 minutes I would have held it 2 minutes 18 seconds, etc.
Bicep curls:
Minimum requirement: 10 curls using an 8 lb weight
My ability: 60 curls using 10 lb weight
Pass.
I do these on a regular basis, so I’m not surprised. I wish I’d had a heavier weight for the test – it said to use whatever weight I think would exhaust myself after 10-15, but 10 lbs was the heaviest I had!
Ins and outs
Minimum requirement: 25
My ability: 38
Pass.
Heart Rate Maximizer
Work out like crazy for 2 minutes. Then record heart rate over the next 4 minutes.
My heart right right after exercise: 166 bpm.
After 1 minute, 115, bpm.
After 2 mins., 100 bpm.
After 3 minutes, 99 bpm.
After 4 minutes, 104 bpm.
This meant nothing to me, so I googled recovery heart rate. What I learned is that I am at virtually no risk for a sudden heart attack. That is positive news!
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So, I did the first workouts yesterday, but I don’t want to talk about any of the workouts until I have had a chance to do them at least twice. I notice that I never fully enjoy a workout the first time I do it simply because I am spending a lot of time trying to figure out the moves. By the second time I’m more comfortable and able to judge it more accurately. I will say my arms are feeling it today! I’ll report back next week when I’m on my second cycle of the workouts.