December 18, 2024 • 25 mins
Are you as fit as you think you are? Listen to find out how to best test your aerobic and strength fitness. Plus, what's the best way to test body composition? Spoiler... it's not the way suggested by the Mayo Clinic. They have it all wrong!
Interested in the FWW Strong Start 8 Week Challenge?
It kicks off January 6th... sign up at:
Or email me kindal@fitwomensweekly.com with any questions you have and let's decide if its right for you!
- 8 Week UNLIMITED Membership to FWW Live to get daily fully filmed workouts in my private FWW Live Facebook group. Do the workout live with me, or hit play when it’s your workout time (but no you’re not encouraged to workout ever day).
- Daily Training Plan. Open the plan to see exactly what you need to do. Is it a rest day? Arm day? Leg day? You don’t have to spend any time trying to decide what to do, I’ve done it all for you.
- Weekly fitness and nutrition challenges. Little mini-challenges to focus on that don’t take a lot of time but can make a huge impact on your health, body and results. How much would it help to have a cleaned pantry and fridge? This might be one mini challenge.
- Weekly challenge coaching calls. Every week, I go live to answer questions, give motivational pep talks and help keep your eyes on the prize of finishing.
- Accountability and support from me and every other women that is doing the challenge with you. Connect with other women like you… working hard to get stronger, burn a little body fat and get their 2025 off on the strongest foot possible.
- Grocery hauls… cooking demos… and more. Ever see my Sunday meal prep picts? I’ll set up the camera one week and do the prep LIVE so you can ask questions and watch how it all goes down. How do I cook 5 different meals, breakfasts, and other weekly prep in under 3 hours?
Article Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/fitness/art-20046433
---
Kindal Boyle has been a personal trainer for nearly 20 years focusing on women's strength and fitness. She'll teach you how to combine strength training and cardio for a hybrid approach to build the fittest body and life no matter where you are in your fitness journey.
---
❤️ INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/KindalBoyleFitness/
☕️ Buy A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fitwomensweekly
🎙️ YouTube: youtube.com/@Fit-Womens-Weekly
🔗 Webtsite: www.fitwomensweekly.com
Need Magnesium?
Try RnA ReSet Magnesium: https://rnareset.com/?ref=FWW
Use Code "FWW" for 10% Off!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
Welcome to a brand-new episode of the
Fit Women's Weekly podcast.
If this is your first time tuning in,
welcome to the show.
I hope that you enjoy what you hear.
You decide that you want to go back
and listen to previous episodes, and you decide
to come back and listen to future episodes.
And to make that happen, make sure that
you subscribe on whatever platform it is that
you are watching or listening to this podcast
(00:20):
on.
I would love to hit some goals as
this year closes out.
It is not too late to do that.
So one of those goals is a certain
amount of subscribers and you guys can help
make that happen by simply clicking on that
button super fast.
In today's episode, I want to talk about
how fit are you really?
How can you judge your fitness?
(00:41):
And this is based off of an article
that I found in the Mayo Clinic.
I'm gonna break it down with some things
that I agree with, some things that I
don't agree with.
And either way, I think that it opens
the doors to a really great conversation that
we can have.
So as always, if you have something that
you would like to chime in and add
your voice to this conversation, if you're watching
this on YouTube, comment down below with everything.
(01:03):
I always respond to you guys.
And if you're listening to this, then whatever
platform it is that you're listening to, jump
on over into Instagram.
That's the easiest way to reach me.
You can drop into my DMs and that
is Kindle Boil Fitness.
But everything is listed down below.
Now before we do this, I do want
to make one quick announcement from our sponsor.
Our sponsor is Fit Women's Weekly, which is
(01:23):
my online training site with January, literally two
weeks away, which blows my mind, right?
I know that we're all starting to work
on what our goals are that we want
to accomplish.
How are we going to get back on
track with our fitness and taking care of
ourselves?
Because for over 60% of us, I
talked about this in a past episode, just
a week or two ago, 60% of
us drop our intensity during the month of
(01:46):
December, whether that's stopping working out altogether, or
you have to decrease the number of workouts
that you're doing, or maybe the volume or
the intensity.
Regardless, we tend to drop off a little
bit.
And so we're starting to say, okay, well,
in January, I'm going to pick it back
up and get going again on my habit.
So how are you going to do that?
If you are listening to this podcast, which
(02:07):
obviously you are, for Fit Women's Weekly members
only, and for my friends of Fit Women's
Weekly, you do have the opportunity to join
me for my annual eight week strong start
challenge.
This is eight weeks of unlimited access to
Fit Women's Weekly Live, where every day I
go live with a brand new workout.
Not only one workout, two workouts.
(02:27):
There's a 30 minute option.
There's a 60 minute option.
And I've created an entire training plan for
all eight weeks.
So all you have to do is open
it up and go, what am I supposed
to do today?
You'll have a workout day or a rest
day.
And then you'll also have fitness quickies, what
we like to call fit quickies and nutrition
quickies, which are just small challenges each day
that can really give some really big results.
(02:49):
For example, if you do 50 pushups every
day, 50 pushups in one day isn't a
lot, right?
When you break it, break it up, do
some in the morning, some at lunchtime, some
at night.
But when you think about how many you
accomplish at the end of the week, that's
350 burpees or not burpees pushups that you
would not have accomplished otherwise.
And think of what that can do for
your upper body strength and your pushup ability.
(03:11):
So that's just one example.
That's actually not one of the challenges this
go around, but you get the point.
And there's also similar things like that with
your nutrition to help you create small changes
in your diet that can lead to really
big results for whatever your goals might be.
And I'm going to help you.
You're going to get the accountability.
You're going to get the coaching support.
You're going to get actual one-on-one
access with me to ask me questions whenever
(03:33):
you want.
But to be able to do all that,
you got to sign up for the challenge.
So I'll have some more information down in
the show notes.
And if you have questions, feel free to
reach out.
All right.
So let's get into things.
How do you know how fit you actually
are?
So this was an article that was published
in the Mayo Clinic, and it's, See how
you measure up, ready to start a fitness
(03:54):
program, measure fitness levels with a few simple
tests.
And I do appreciate that because I feel
like it's great to have a baseline when
you're going into any sort of thing that
you're changing, any type of habit.
You know, if you're starting a fitness habit,
where are you starting from?
If you're starting a nutrition program, how do
you know if it's working?
If you're starting a new habit, let's say
with you're all of a sudden taking up
(04:16):
rock climbing, don't you want to have some
sort of documentation of where you started from
so that you can see the gains that
you're making and the improvements that you're making,
which is going to help hold you accountable
and keep you motivated.
So I know for me and my clients,
we do assessment tests.
I do my own programming, obviously, for my
clients.
(04:36):
And with Fit Women's Weekly Live, we don't
repeat a ton of workouts from a day
-to-day basis.
However, I do focus on working on specific
skills that we improve over time in order
to improve our assessment test.
So for strong start, we'll do two assessment
tests.
We'll do a cardio based one and a
strength based challenge.
And then the workouts throughout the eight weeks
(04:57):
will be tailored towards working on those things,
even though it's not the same workout every
time.
And then we retest at the end so
that you can say, oh, my gosh, look
how much stronger that I got.
So I'm actually a huge fan of measuring
your fitness at the beginning and then periodically
throughout a timeline of some sort so that
you can see that immediate results of, wow,
(05:19):
this is working, right?
If you're just going off a basis of
how your body looks or what the scale
says, that can be really defeating because that
takes a longer amount of time, whereas the
physical fitness that you can build up happens
a lot faster.
So according to this, you might have some
idea of how fit you are.
However, remember last week, I actually said that
I think that most people think that they
(05:41):
are more fit than they actually are putting
on to this idea of, well, I used
to be able to do this.
So it can be a really big root
awakening, but knowing for sure can help you
set really good fitness goals, see your progress
and stay motivated.
Everything that I absolutely just said.
So most often, measures in fitness evolve around
these three areas, aerobic fitness, which involves how
(06:03):
well your heart uses oxygen, muscle strength and
endurance, which involve how hard and long your
muscles can work, flexibility, which is how able
your joint, this is not written very well,
this is not poor reading on my behalf,
this is a poor writing, which is how
able joints are to move through their full
(06:25):
range of motion.
So that's a typo on their part, basically
just saying, how are your joints able to
move through ranges of motion?
Can you bend down, stand up, squat deep,
move your arms around without aches and pains,
and then body composition, which involves how much
fat, bone and muscle are in the body,
which obviously most of us when we're starting
(06:46):
a fitness journey, that's what is initially starting
it right.
Not most people start a fitness journey unless
there's some sort of health issue involved or
some like a doctor pushing you to do
it.
Most of us start a journey because we're
trying to change our body composition.
And then from there, the motivation becomes more
like I want to get stronger, I want
to get more toned, I want to be
(07:07):
healthier.
To do your assessment, you're going to need
a stopwatch, tape measure, scale, someone to help
you record your score.
We're going to bypass all of that stuff.
So aerobic fitness, your heart rate test.
The heart rate test zone is a heart
rate range that gives your heart and lungs
a good workout.
This zone ranges from 50 percent to 85
(07:28):
percent of your maximum heart rate for your
age.
Aim for 50 percent to 70 percent of
your max heart rate, which your max heart
rate is 220 minus your age.
So if you're 20 years old, your max
heart rate is 200.
If you are 40 years old, your max
heart rate is 180.
So that would be mine.
You can use the target heart rate zone
(07:48):
as a guide to see how hard your
exercising is.
OK, if you don't reach your target zone,
any activity is good for your health.
So if you're in the lower end of
your target heart rate zone, you try to
increase little by little with your effort to
get more from your workout.
If you exercise regularly, you can stop briefly
to check your heart rate at times during
an aerobic workout.
And if you don't exercise, you can simply
(08:08):
test by checking your heart rate after a
10 minute brisk walk.
So the way that they actually test this
is with a running or jogging test.
They want you to do a one and
a half mile, which is two point four
kilometer run or jog.
And then following the following time show a
good fitness level based on your age and
sex.
The lower time most often means better aerobic
(08:28):
fitness.
So I'm going to read this and then
I'm going to tell you my personal favorite
aerobic tests to be able to test for
your aerobic fitness.
If you are, I'll just read from ages
35 to 55.
If you are 35 years old and you're
a woman, a good time for a one
and a half mile run is a 13
(08:50):
and a half minute time.
If you're a guy that is 11 and
a half minutes, if you're 45, a really
healthy time is 14 minutes.
For minutes 12, if you're 55, it's 16
minutes.
And for men, it is 13 minutes.
So if you haven't gone to run and
timed yourself for a timed run, go do
that and see where you tend to fall
(09:12):
or at least kind of get an idea
in your head.
I know for me, I can do, like
if I'm just going out for a jog,
like I did this morning, I'm probably doing
eight and a half to nine and a
half minute miles, just depending on if it's
the start of the workout, the middle or
the end.
I tend to start really slow.
Once I get warmed up, I can go
a little bit faster.
For me personally, I know that if I
(09:33):
were to go out and do this as
a timed run, I could do this in
sub eight minute miles a little bit.
So according to this, then yes, I would
be considered very fit cardiovascularly with my aerobic
health.
And that is one thing that I always
stress to you guys is the importance of
not just being involved with your strength training,
(09:53):
but making sure that you are focusing on
just as much on your cardio health as
you are on your strength health.
There's not one that is better than the
other.
They are so equally important.
So if you've been lifting weights like crazy
over the past month, six months, 10 years,
but you've neglected your aerobic health, maybe that
would be a really great goal to make
for yourself coming up for the new year.
(10:15):
What kind of goals can you set?
It doesn't have to be something like I
want to go sign up and run a
race.
You don't have to do a half marathon,
but maybe just setting it up where you
can go run for three miles straight.
I say this all the time.
My goal in life is to just be
able to run for the sake of running.
If someone's chasing me, I want to make
(10:35):
sure that I am able to get myself
out of a sticky situation.
If a friend asked me to do something
really cool on a whim, I want to
be able to say yes, then that guess
to that, not like, Oh, I'm not trained
enough.
So I do want to make sure that
I always have a basic foundation for aerobic
fitness, which I think is really important for
me.
Personally, my basic foundation is probably going to
(10:56):
look different than most people.
I want to be able to go run
at all times 13 miles, which is a
half marathon.
I want to be in physical shape that
if someone were to say, okay, let's go
run a trail tomorrow.
That's 13 miles.
I can do that and not have to
pay the price for a week after because
I should not have run that because I
(11:16):
wasn't trained properly.
Right.
So that's just my personal goals, but that
doesn't mean that that's where you need to
start.
If your aerobic fitness is something that you
haven't been focused on, my suggestion would be
get to a point where you can run
three miles without any pain or issues.
If running is out of the question because
of joint issues or some kind of health
concern, there's so many other ways.
(11:38):
Maybe it's go be able to swim for
30 minutes nonstop or to be able to
bike for 15 miles nonstop.
Whatever it is, make sure that you're choosing
your aerobic fitness.
For me personally, while this test is great
running, going out to run one and a
half miles, that's not in the books for
everybody, right?
Some people can't run because of knee issues
or back issues or whatever the case may
(11:59):
be.
I prefer doing the step up test, which
is a three minute step test where you
have, I don't even think it's a 12
inch box.
I'll make sure to put the link down
below.
Yeah, it is a 12 inch box.
I actually did this test about a year
and a year ago, I actually did all
these fitness tests and then we did this
big blog episode on it for Fot But
the three minute fitness test is it measures
(12:25):
your aerobic capacity by elevating how quickly your
heart returns from exercise.
So it involves stepping up on a 12
inch box where you're set at a certain
pace.
So I had to go online.
I found a metronome that was beating at
96 beats per minute.
And that's the cadence that you want to
keep for that entire three minutes after the
(12:46):
three minutes, you immediately sit down, you set
a timer for 60 seconds after that 60
seconds is up.
You then find your heart rate and you
figure out how where your heart rate is
after a minute of exercise in comparison to
what your resting heart rate is.
And then there's like a chart that helps
you figure out if you are considered healthy
or if your aerobic capacity isn't probably where
(13:09):
it should be for your age.
So that's your aerobic fitness.
Now let's talk about muscular strength and endurance.
And I love this because I just talked
about this on shorts and I created a
reel from it for Instagram as well.
So for muscular tests, what the Mayo Clinic
is suggesting is a push up test.
Push ups can help you measure muscular strength
(13:29):
and endurance.
Absolutely can.
If you're starting a fitness program, you can
do push ups on your knees.
If you can do classic push ups.
Now, the latest report just said classic push
ups.
That is what should be what everybody is
focused on trying to get good at.
There's no such thing as like a girl
push up.
(13:50):
Remember, that's what it used to be called
when you did push ups on your knees.
That's not a modified version, but just like
all modified things, it is modified.
And that should be something that we're working
towards not having to do.
We want to be able to do the
real deal.
So if right now you're doing modified push
ups, that's OK.
But I do recommend starting on some sort
of program, maybe the strong start where you're
(14:13):
making your upper body a priority so that
you can start moving away from doing all
of your push ups on your knees and
start focusing on doing them unmodified up on
your toes.
So let's see here.
We don't need to go over steps.
I'll put a video up over here that
breaks down how to properly do your push
(14:34):
ups.
I'm actually going to make a note of
this on my time stamp.
So I remember to do that push ups.
But according to this, here's how many push
ups you should be able to do.
If you're 25, women should be able to
do 20 push ups, good push ups.
If you're 35, you should be able to
(14:55):
do 19.
If you're 45, you should be able to
do 14, which I think is quite a
lot in comparison to what we're think we're
capable of.
So this is going back to saying, oh,
I'm a lot more fit than I am.
A lot of people associate one sort of
fitness with being fit.
So if you can go run a half
marathon, you're like, I am fit.
I am super healthy.
(15:15):
But if you can't knock out five push
ups, then you are not balanced in your
fitness and you're lacking a lot of strength
and strength is so important as we get
older for metabolic health, for our bone health,
for our joint health, for our muscular health,
for metabolic health, all of the things.
So make sure that we're focusing just as
much on muscular as we are endurance.
Just like I said, the other way around
(15:36):
too, when we were talking about our endurance
training and if you're 55, you should be
able to do 10 push ups and then
it stays at 10 push ups as you
get older.
So no longer should we have this excuse
of like, I'm 55, I don't need to
be doing push ups.
You absolutely do.
But it comes down to learning how to
do them properly, safely and progressing so that
(15:58):
you don't do too much too soon.
Put yourself at risk of injury, which is
of course, just going to turn the clock
around and make you decrease in your steps
forward than going forward and actually getting stronger.
So I'd love to know what is it
with your push ups?
How many do you think that you're able
to do?
If push ups are a weakness right now
for you, what are I wouldn't say what
(16:21):
are I'm going to say what is one
step that you can do next month to
help you start progressing and starting to build
upper body strength.
And I would love to help you with
that.
So again, feel free to comment down below
or shoot me a DM.
And then last but not least, they talk
about body composition.
We all know that body composition is an
important factor.
We live in a time where unfortunately obesity
(16:45):
is raging, right?
Especially in America.
So we do know that the more body
fat that a person holds past the unhealthy
stage, the more risk of health issues, diabetes,
cancer, heart disease, all the things right depression,
so much is linked to body composition.
What I don't like about this, however, is
the fact that the test that the Mayo
(17:06):
Clinic gives you to test if you are
healthy is the BMI test body mass index.
And that is the worst test that you
can do.
I've written a couple of notes that I
want to talk about with this because BMI
looks at the weight in pounds divided by
your height in inches squared multiplied by seven
(17:28):
hundred and three.
So that means it's only looking at your
weight and it's only looking at your height.
For most people, that is not a very
good adequate test of health, especially you're watching
this podcast episode or you're listening to this
podcast episode.
You're probably very fit and healthy.
Well, guess what?
Muscle weighs something.
(17:50):
In fact, if you were to take 12
inches of muscle, let's say a 12 by.
Like I'm thinking of a block like 12
inches by three inches by one inch.
I don't know.
You guys get the point.
If you take a block of fat or
block of muscle and you weigh that and
then you take that exact same size amount
(18:11):
of fat, the muscles going to weigh more
than the fat.
I made sure to choose my words wisely
because a pound of fat is still weighs
the same as a pound of muscle, right?
There's both equally the same.
But that one pound of fat is going
to take up more space, whereas that one
pound of muscle is more compacted and smaller,
(18:31):
but they still weigh a pound.
Right.
So here's some couple of things to take
into consideration why I do not like BMI
is that one muscle versus fat, highly muscular
person is going to have a higher BMI.
So a lot of professional athletes are considered
overweight or obese, but it's just because they're
(18:54):
super fit and they have a ton of
muscle mass.
Body fat distribution.
BMI does not consider where the fat is
stored in the body, which is actually really,
really important because abdominal fat, you know, when
you get that fat that's right at your
belly, that kind of looks like Santa Claus,
that is much more unhealthy and linked to
higher risk of health issues than fat that's
stored in other areas.
(19:14):
That's fats that's stored in like your hips
or your legs.
And women store fat a lot differently than
men.
So that plays into a really big effect.
Population variations.
BMI was developed for predominantly white Europeans, whereas
it does not reflect the same health issues
from other ethnicities.
(19:34):
Age and gender.
I just talked about that.
Women and men tend to store fat differently.
That should be taken into consideration.
And then it doesn't include other lifestyle factors
as health, diet and exercise, which obviously impacts
your overall health.
You can still, science has shown, be considered
overweight by BMI.
But you're working out every day.
(19:55):
You're eating healthy.
It's strictly your genetics are just built differently.
So that you might be a little bit
more of a dense person, but that doesn't
mean that you're at considered unhealthy overall.
So if you're ever told that your BMI
is unhealthy, then check in with yourself.
Obviously, for a lot of people, if you
are overweight, then your body fat might be
(20:17):
at a higher level that does need to
be corrected.
And in that issue, then look at, again,
2025, what can we do?
Just one or two things in the month
of January that can help you start to
get a little bit healthier.
What could you be doing instead of doing
a BMI?
Well, I would look more and go talk
to your doctor about getting set up with
a DEXA scan, which is going to actually
(20:39):
look at your body composition.
It'll tell you what is your lean mass,
how much muscle mass do you have in
comparison to the weight?
How much body fat do you actually have?
How much do your bones weigh?
It's going to take into consider consideration those
things so that you can get an accurate
understanding of where your body is at the
starting point and what changes that you actually
(21:00):
need to make moving forward.
So those are the big things that they
talk about in terms of how fit are
you, your aerobic health, your muscular strength and
your body composition, all of which I absolutely
do agree with.
There's just different ways of testing it.
You have to do what works best for
you.
But then it's one thing to actually have
this information in front of you.
(21:21):
It's another thing to then take it and
run with it and try to make improvements.
Yeah, I can do.
What was it that I'm supposed to be
able to do?
Fourteen pushups, I think.
But I don't want to just be considered
like healthy and average.
I want to be able to do more
pushups than that.
So I can actually do anywhere between 30
to 40 strict pushups on a good day.
(21:43):
30 on pretty much any day.
I think I've gotten to 40 to 50
on a really good day.
That is not the norm.
But regardless, being a 40 year old, that's
something that I pride myself on.
And those are things that make my metabolic
age different, right?
So I might be 40 years old from
the year that I was born.
But because of the things that I do
(22:04):
from my day to day life with my
lifestyle, the fitness that I do, the nutrition
that I follow, the things that I do
for a healthy mindset, getting the sleep that
I'm supposed to be getting.
That makes my age.
Actually, the last test I took had me
as a 26 year old.
I will absolutely take that.
We are in control of something.
So that makes me feel really good.
(22:26):
And so I'm going to continue to do
these things.
I will be doing my assessment test on
January 6th because that's when the strong start
challenge starts.
And again, if that's something that you're interested
in, I'll put some more details down below.
You can check it out.
You can go sign up.
And yeah, that's what I got today, you
guys.
So if you have any thoughts on this,
I'd love to hear it.
How fit do you think that you are?
(22:48):
Do you know that you neglect one area
of your fitness over the other?
Are you super strong with your aerobic health?
But your strength is down here or maybe
like my best friend, her strength is up
here.
But I don't know if she could go
run a half marathon.
She hates the idea.
And a lot of times we put it
into ourselves of like, I hate running.
I don't want to run.
(23:08):
Well, there's a lot of things that we
don't like to do from the get go.
But the more you do it, then all
of a sudden it becomes just something that
you do look forward to.
For example, brushing your teeth, which I'm still
laughing at this every time I go to
brush my teeth.
It's what I do, obviously, when I go
to bed at night, it is the first
thing that I do in the morning and
my husband does in the morning.
(23:30):
But when my nieces were over here this
past weekend, one is eight, one is 13.
I had to like force them to go
brush their teeth.
I was like, don't you want to have
fresh breath when you first wake up and
not have that grime?
And they're like, no, I don't know what
you're talking about, right?
But over time, like it's something that you
look forward to.
But at the start of it, when you're
(23:51):
first creating that habit as a kid, it's
a chore, right?
And so the same with your aerobic fitness.
Right now, it might not be something that
you're used to and it feels like a
chore.
But as you do it more and more
and you eventually start to feel that high
at the end of your run, it becomes
something that you actually look forward to.
And you're like, hey, I got to get
my day started with this run.
(24:13):
I got my day started this morning with
a four mile run.
Loved every minute.
Oh, I didn't love every minute of it
because I did start off as sticky.
My joints were a little achy.
It was kind of rainy outside.
But as I got through that first mile
after that, I was like, this is great.
I feel so good that I get to
be out here doing it.
And on the same token, the same thing
goes for my strength workouts.
(24:33):
At first, I'm like, I want to do
this.
But once I get going, I'm like, this
is fantastic.
I feel so strong, so powerful and so
just I don't know, you feel like a
badass.
So go feel like a badass.
Make sure that your training is balanced.
But figure out where you are now so
you can set some realistic goals for yourself.
All right, guys, thank you so much.
(24:54):
We will most likely be taking next week
off from the podcast because it is Christmas
week here.
Well, Christmas week everywhere.
But we celebrate Christmas.
So we will probably be closing down next
week to celebrate with friends and family.
And then we will get rockin' and rolling
again the week of New Year's.
But yeah, we'll probably I was going to
(25:14):
say probably take that week off, too.
But you know, we'll probably be back in
my week.
I mean, I.
All right, guys, thank you so much.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Oh, remember, hit the subscribe button and hit
the like button.
That's all you got to do.
(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) What's up, guys?
Welcome to a brand-new episode of the
Fit Women's Weekly podcast.
If this is your first time tuning in,
welcome to the show.
I hope that you enjoy what you hear.
You decide that you want to go back
and listen to previous episodes, and you decide
to come back and listen to future episodes.
And to make that happen, make sure that
you subscribe on whatever platform it is that
you are watching or listening to this podcast
(00:20):
on.
I would love to hit some goals as
this year closes out.
It is not too late to do that.
So one of those goals is a certain
amount of subscribers and you guys can help
make that happen by simply clicking on that
button super fast.
In today's episode, I want to talk about
how fit are you really?
How can you judge your fitness?
(00:41):
And this is based off of an article
that I found in the Mayo Clinic.
I'm gonna break it down with some things
that I agree with, some things that I
don't agree with.
And either way, I think that it opens
the doors to a really great conversation that
we can have.
So as always, if you have something that
you would like to chime in and add
your voice to this conversation, if you're watching
this on YouTube, comment down below with everything.
(01:03):
I always respond to you guys.
And if you're listening to this, then whatever
platform it is that you're listening to, jump
on over into Instagram.
That's the easiest way to reach me.
You can drop into my DMs and that
is Kindle Boil Fitness.
But everything is listed down below.
Now before we do this, I do want
to make one quick announcement from our sponsor.
Our sponsor is Fit Women's Weekly, which is
(01:23):
my online training site with January, literally two
weeks away, which blows my mind, right?
I know that we're all starting to work
on what our goals are that we want
to accomplish.
How are we going to get back on
track with our fitness and taking care of
ourselves?
Because for over 60% of us, I
talked about this in a past episode, just
a week or two ago, 60% of
us drop our intensity during the month of
(01:46):
December, whether that's stopping working out altogether, or
you have to decrease the number of workouts
that you're doing, or maybe the volume or
the intensity.
Regardless, we tend to drop off a little
bit.
And so we're starting to say, okay, well,
in January, I'm going to pick it back
up and get going again on my habit.
So how are you going to do that?
If you are listening to this podcast, which
(02:07):
obviously you are, for Fit Women's Weekly members
only, and for my friends of Fit Women's
Weekly, you do have the opportunity to join
me for my annual eight week strong start
challenge.
This is eight weeks of unlimited access to
Fit Women's Weekly Live, where every day I
go live with a brand new workout.
Not only one workout, two workouts.
(02:27):
There's a 30 minute option.
There's a 60 minute option.
And I've created an entire training plan for
all eight weeks.
So all you have to do is open
it up and go, what am I supposed
to do today?
You'll have a workout day or a rest
day.
And then you'll also have fitness quickies, what
we like to call fit quickies and nutrition
quickies, which are just small challenges each day
that can really give some really big results.
(02:49):
For example, if you do 50 pushups every
day, 50 pushups in one day isn't a
lot, right?
When you break it, break it up, do
some in the morning, some at lunchtime, some
at night.
But when you think about how many you
accomplish at the end of the week, that's
350 burpees or not burpees pushups that you
would not have accomplished otherwise.
And think of what that can do for
your upper body strength and your pushup ability.
(03:11):
So that's just one example.
That's actually not one of the challenges this
go around, but you get the point.
And there's also similar things like that with
your nutrition to help you create small changes
in your diet that can lead to really
big results for whatever your goals might be.
And I'm going to help you.
You're going to get the accountability.
You're going to get the coaching support.
You're going to get actual one-on-one
access with me to ask me questions whenever
(03:33):
you want.
But to be able to do all that,
you got to sign up for the challenge.
So I'll have some more information down in
the show notes.
And if you have questions, feel free to
reach out.
All right.
So let's get into things.
How do you know how fit you actually
are?
So this was an article that was published
in the Mayo Clinic, and it's, See how
you measure up, ready to start a fitness
(03:54):
program, measure fitness levels with a few simple
tests.
And I do appreciate that because I feel
like it's great to have a baseline when
you're going into any sort of thing that
you're changing, any type of habit.
You know, if you're starting a fitness habit,
where are you starting from?
If you're starting a nutrition program, how do
you know if it's working?
If you're starting a new habit, let's say
with you're all of a sudden taking up
(04:16):
rock climbing, don't you want to have some
sort of documentation of where you started from
so that you can see the gains that
you're making and the improvements that you're making,
which is going to help hold you accountable
and keep you motivated.
So I know for me and my clients,
we do assessment tests.
I do my own programming, obviously, for my
clients.
(04:36):
And with Fit Women's Weekly Live, we don't
repeat a ton of workouts from a day
-to-day basis.
However, I do focus on working on specific
skills that we improve over time in order
to improve our assessment test.
So for strong start, we'll do two assessment
tests.
We'll do a cardio based one and a
strength based challenge.
And then the workouts throughout the eight weeks
(04:57):
will be tailored towards working on those things,
even though it's not the same workout every
time.
And then we retest at the end so
that you can say, oh, my gosh, look
how much stronger that I got.
So I'm actually a huge fan of measuring
your fitness at the beginning and then periodically
throughout a timeline of some sort so that
you can see that immediate results of, wow,
(05:19):
this is working, right?
If you're just going off a basis of
how your body looks or what the scale
says, that can be really defeating because that
takes a longer amount of time, whereas the
physical fitness that you can build up happens
a lot faster.
So according to this, you might have some
idea of how fit you are.
However, remember last week, I actually said that
I think that most people think that they
(05:41):
are more fit than they actually are putting
on to this idea of, well, I used
to be able to do this.
So it can be a really big root
awakening, but knowing for sure can help you
set really good fitness goals, see your progress
and stay motivated.
Everything that I absolutely just said.
So most often, measures in fitness evolve around
these three areas, aerobic fitness, which involves how
(06:03):
well your heart uses oxygen, muscle strength and
endurance, which involve how hard and long your
muscles can work, flexibility, which is how able
your joint, this is not written very well,
this is not poor reading on my behalf,
this is a poor writing, which is how
able joints are to move through their full
(06:25):
range of motion.
So that's a typo on their part, basically
just saying, how are your joints able to
move through ranges of motion?
Can you bend down, stand up, squat deep,
move your arms around without aches and pains,
and then body composition, which involves how much
fat, bone and muscle are in the body,
which obviously most of us when we're starting
(06:46):
a fitness journey, that's what is initially starting
it right.
Not most people start a fitness journey unless
there's some sort of health issue involved or
some like a doctor pushing you to do
it.
Most of us start a journey because we're
trying to change our body composition.
And then from there, the motivation becomes more
like I want to get stronger, I want
to get more toned, I want to be
(07:07):
healthier.
To do your assessment, you're going to need
a stopwatch, tape measure, scale, someone to help
you record your score.
We're going to bypass all of that stuff.
So aerobic fitness, your heart rate test.
The heart rate test zone is a heart
rate range that gives your heart and lungs
a good workout.
This zone ranges from 50 percent to 85
(07:28):
percent of your maximum heart rate for your
age.
Aim for 50 percent to 70 percent of
your max heart rate, which your max heart
rate is 220 minus your age.
So if you're 20 years old, your max
heart rate is 200.
If you are 40 years old, your max
heart rate is 180.
So that would be mine.
You can use the target heart rate zone
(07:48):
as a guide to see how hard your
exercising is.
OK, if you don't reach your target zone,
any activity is good for your health.
So if you're in the lower end of
your target heart rate zone, you try to
increase little by little with your effort to
get more from your workout.
If you exercise regularly, you can stop briefly
to check your heart rate at times during
an aerobic workout.
And if you don't exercise, you can simply
(08:08):
test by checking your heart rate after a
10 minute brisk walk.
So the way that they actually test this
is with a running or jogging test.
They want you to do a one and
a half mile, which is two point four
kilometer run or jog.
And then following the following time show a
good fitness level based on your age and
sex.
The lower time most often means better aerobic
(08:28):
fitness.
So I'm going to read this and then
I'm going to tell you my personal favorite
aerobic tests to be able to test for
your aerobic fitness.
If you are, I'll just read from ages
35 to 55.
If you are 35 years old and you're
a woman, a good time for a one
and a half mile run is a 13
(08:50):
and a half minute time.
If you're a guy that is 11 and
a half minutes, if you're 45, a really
healthy time is 14 minutes.
For minutes 12, if you're 55, it's 16
minutes.
And for men, it is 13 minutes.
So if you haven't gone to run and
timed yourself for a timed run, go do
that and see where you tend to fall
(09:12):
or at least kind of get an idea
in your head.
I know for me, I can do, like
if I'm just going out for a jog,
like I did this morning, I'm probably doing
eight and a half to nine and a
half minute miles, just depending on if it's
the start of the workout, the middle or
the end.
I tend to start really slow.
Once I get warmed up, I can go
a little bit faster.
For me personally, I know that if I
(09:33):
were to go out and do this as
a timed run, I could do this in
sub eight minute miles a little bit.
So according to this, then yes, I would
be considered very fit cardiovascularly with my aerobic
health.
And that is one thing that I always
stress to you guys is the importance of
not just being involved with your strength training,
(09:53):
but making sure that you are focusing on
just as much on your cardio health as
you are on your strength health.
There's not one that is better than the
other.
They are so equally important.
So if you've been lifting weights like crazy
over the past month, six months, 10 years,
but you've neglected your aerobic health, maybe that
would be a really great goal to make
for yourself coming up for the new year.
(10:15):
What kind of goals can you set?
It doesn't have to be something like I
want to go sign up and run a
race.
You don't have to do a half marathon,
but maybe just setting it up where you
can go run for three miles straight.
I say this all the time.
My goal in life is to just be
able to run for the sake of running.
If someone's chasing me, I want to make
(10:35):
sure that I am able to get myself
out of a sticky situation.
If a friend asked me to do something
really cool on a whim, I want to
be able to say yes, then that guess
to that, not like, Oh, I'm not trained
enough.
So I do want to make sure that
I always have a basic foundation for aerobic
fitness, which I think is really important for
me.
Personally, my basic foundation is probably going to
(10:56):
look different than most people.
I want to be able to go run
at all times 13 miles, which is a
half marathon.
I want to be in physical shape that
if someone were to say, okay, let's go
run a trail tomorrow.
That's 13 miles.
I can do that and not have to
pay the price for a week after because
I should not have run that because I
(11:16):
wasn't trained properly.
Right.
So that's just my personal goals, but that
doesn't mean that that's where you need to
start.
If your aerobic fitness is something that you
haven't been focused on, my suggestion would be
get to a point where you can run
three miles without any pain or issues.
If running is out of the question because
of joint issues or some kind of health
concern, there's so many other ways.
(11:38):
Maybe it's go be able to swim for
30 minutes nonstop or to be able to
bike for 15 miles nonstop.
Whatever it is, make sure that you're choosing
your aerobic fitness.
For me personally, while this test is great
running, going out to run one and a
half miles, that's not in the books for
everybody, right?
Some people can't run because of knee issues
or back issues or whatever the case may
(11:59):
be.
I prefer doing the step up test, which
is a three minute step test where you
have, I don't even think it's a 12
inch box.
I'll make sure to put the link down
below.
Yeah, it is a 12 inch box.
I actually did this test about a year
and a year ago, I actually did all
these fitness tests and then we did this
big blog episode on it for Fot But
the three minute fitness test is it measures
(12:25):
your aerobic capacity by elevating how quickly your
heart returns from exercise.
So it involves stepping up on a 12
inch box where you're set at a certain
pace.
So I had to go online.
I found a metronome that was beating at
96 beats per minute.
And that's the cadence that you want to
keep for that entire three minutes after the
(12:46):
three minutes, you immediately sit down, you set
a timer for 60 seconds after that 60
seconds is up.
You then find your heart rate and you
figure out how where your heart rate is
after a minute of exercise in comparison to
what your resting heart rate is.
And then there's like a chart that helps
you figure out if you are considered healthy
or if your aerobic capacity isn't probably where
(13:09):
it should be for your age.
So that's your aerobic fitness.
Now let's talk about muscular strength and endurance.
And I love this because I just talked
about this on shorts and I created a
reel from it for Instagram as well.
So for muscular tests, what the Mayo Clinic
is suggesting is a push up test.
Push ups can help you measure muscular strength
(13:29):
and endurance.
Absolutely can.
If you're starting a fitness program, you can
do push ups on your knees.
If you can do classic push ups.
Now, the latest report just said classic push
ups.
That is what should be what everybody is
focused on trying to get good at.
There's no such thing as like a girl
push up.
(13:50):
Remember, that's what it used to be called
when you did push ups on your knees.
That's not a modified version, but just like
all modified things, it is modified.
And that should be something that we're working
towards not having to do.
We want to be able to do the
real deal.
So if right now you're doing modified push
ups, that's OK.
But I do recommend starting on some sort
of program, maybe the strong start where you're
(14:13):
making your upper body a priority so that
you can start moving away from doing all
of your push ups on your knees and
start focusing on doing them unmodified up on
your toes.
So let's see here.
We don't need to go over steps.
I'll put a video up over here that
breaks down how to properly do your push
(14:34):
ups.
I'm actually going to make a note of
this on my time stamp.
So I remember to do that push ups.
But according to this, here's how many push
ups you should be able to do.
If you're 25, women should be able to
do 20 push ups, good push ups.
If you're 35, you should be able to
(14:55):
do 19.
If you're 45, you should be able to
do 14, which I think is quite a
lot in comparison to what we're think we're
capable of.
So this is going back to saying, oh,
I'm a lot more fit than I am.
A lot of people associate one sort of
fitness with being fit.
So if you can go run a half
marathon, you're like, I am fit.
I am super healthy.
(15:15):
But if you can't knock out five push
ups, then you are not balanced in your
fitness and you're lacking a lot of strength
and strength is so important as we get
older for metabolic health, for our bone health,
for our joint health, for our muscular health,
for metabolic health, all of the things.
So make sure that we're focusing just as
much on muscular as we are endurance.
Just like I said, the other way around
(15:36):
too, when we were talking about our endurance
training and if you're 55, you should be
able to do 10 push ups and then
it stays at 10 push ups as you
get older.
So no longer should we have this excuse
of like, I'm 55, I don't need to
be doing push ups.
You absolutely do.
But it comes down to learning how to
do them properly, safely and progressing so that
(15:58):
you don't do too much too soon.
Put yourself at risk of injury, which is
of course, just going to turn the clock
around and make you decrease in your steps
forward than going forward and actually getting stronger.
So I'd love to know what is it
with your push ups?
How many do you think that you're able
to do?
If push ups are a weakness right now
for you, what are I wouldn't say what
(16:21):
are I'm going to say what is one
step that you can do next month to
help you start progressing and starting to build
upper body strength.
And I would love to help you with
that.
So again, feel free to comment down below
or shoot me a DM.
And then last but not least, they talk
about body composition.
We all know that body composition is an
important factor.
We live in a time where unfortunately obesity
(16:45):
is raging, right?
Especially in America.
So we do know that the more body
fat that a person holds past the unhealthy
stage, the more risk of health issues, diabetes,
cancer, heart disease, all the things right depression,
so much is linked to body composition.
What I don't like about this, however, is
the fact that the test that the Mayo
(17:06):
Clinic gives you to test if you are
healthy is the BMI test body mass index.
And that is the worst test that you
can do.
I've written a couple of notes that I
want to talk about with this because BMI
looks at the weight in pounds divided by
your height in inches squared multiplied by seven
(17:28):
hundred and three.
So that means it's only looking at your
weight and it's only looking at your height.
For most people, that is not a very
good adequate test of health, especially you're watching
this podcast episode or you're listening to this
podcast episode.
You're probably very fit and healthy.
Well, guess what?
Muscle weighs something.
(17:50):
In fact, if you were to take 12
inches of muscle, let's say a 12 by.
Like I'm thinking of a block like 12
inches by three inches by one inch.
I don't know.
You guys get the point.
If you take a block of fat or
block of muscle and you weigh that and
then you take that exact same size amount
(18:11):
of fat, the muscles going to weigh more
than the fat.
I made sure to choose my words wisely
because a pound of fat is still weighs
the same as a pound of muscle, right?
There's both equally the same.
But that one pound of fat is going
to take up more space, whereas that one
pound of muscle is more compacted and smaller,
(18:31):
but they still weigh a pound.
Right.
So here's some couple of things to take
into consideration why I do not like BMI
is that one muscle versus fat, highly muscular
person is going to have a higher BMI.
So a lot of professional athletes are considered
overweight or obese, but it's just because they're
(18:54):
super fit and they have a ton of
muscle mass.
Body fat distribution.
BMI does not consider where the fat is
stored in the body, which is actually really,
really important because abdominal fat, you know, when
you get that fat that's right at your
belly, that kind of looks like Santa Claus,
that is much more unhealthy and linked to
higher risk of health issues than fat that's
stored in other areas.
(19:14):
That's fats that's stored in like your hips
or your legs.
And women store fat a lot differently than
men.
So that plays into a really big effect.
Population variations.
BMI was developed for predominantly white Europeans, whereas
it does not reflect the same health issues
from other ethnicities.
(19:34):
Age and gender.
I just talked about that.
Women and men tend to store fat differently.
That should be taken into consideration.
And then it doesn't include other lifestyle factors
as health, diet and exercise, which obviously impacts
your overall health.
You can still, science has shown, be considered
overweight by BMI.
But you're working out every day.
(19:55):
You're eating healthy.
It's strictly your genetics are just built differently.
So that you might be a little bit
more of a dense person, but that doesn't
mean that you're at considered unhealthy overall.
So if you're ever told that your BMI
is unhealthy, then check in with yourself.
Obviously, for a lot of people, if you
are overweight, then your body fat might be
(20:17):
at a higher level that does need to
be corrected.
And in that issue, then look at, again,
2025, what can we do?
Just one or two things in the month
of January that can help you start to
get a little bit healthier.
What could you be doing instead of doing
a BMI?
Well, I would look more and go talk
to your doctor about getting set up with
a DEXA scan, which is going to actually
(20:39):
look at your body composition.
It'll tell you what is your lean mass,
how much muscle mass do you have in
comparison to the weight?
How much body fat do you actually have?
How much do your bones weigh?
It's going to take into consider consideration those
things so that you can get an accurate
understanding of where your body is at the
starting point and what changes that you actually
(21:00):
need to make moving forward.
So those are the big things that they
talk about in terms of how fit are
you, your aerobic health, your muscular strength and
your body composition, all of which I absolutely
do agree with.
There's just different ways of testing it.
You have to do what works best for
you.
But then it's one thing to actually have
this information in front of you.
(21:21):
It's another thing to then take it and
run with it and try to make improvements.
Yeah, I can do.
What was it that I'm supposed to be
able to do?
Fourteen pushups, I think.
But I don't want to just be considered
like healthy and average.
I want to be able to do more
pushups than that.
So I can actually do anywhere between 30
to 40 strict pushups on a good day.
(21:43):
30 on pretty much any day.
I think I've gotten to 40 to 50
on a really good day.
That is not the norm.
But regardless, being a 40 year old, that's
something that I pride myself on.
And those are things that make my metabolic
age different, right?
So I might be 40 years old from
the year that I was born.
But because of the things that I do
(22:04):
from my day to day life with my
lifestyle, the fitness that I do, the nutrition
that I follow, the things that I do
for a healthy mindset, getting the sleep that
I'm supposed to be getting.
That makes my age.
Actually, the last test I took had me
as a 26 year old.
I will absolutely take that.
We are in control of something.
So that makes me feel really good.
(22:26):
And so I'm going to continue to do
these things.
I will be doing my assessment test on
January 6th because that's when the strong start
challenge starts.
And again, if that's something that you're interested
in, I'll put some more details down below.
You can check it out.
You can go sign up.
And yeah, that's what I got today, you
guys.
So if you have any thoughts on this,
I'd love to hear it.
How fit do you think that you are?
(22:48):
Do you know that you neglect one area
of your fitness over the other?
Are you super strong with your aerobic health?
But your strength is down here or maybe
like my best friend, her strength is up
here.
But I don't know if she could go
run a half marathon.
She hates the idea.
And a lot of times we put it
into ourselves of like, I hate running.
I don't want to run.
(23:08):
Well, there's a lot of things that we
don't like to do from the get go.
But the more you do it, then all
of a sudden it becomes just something that
you do look forward to.
For example, brushing your teeth, which I'm still
laughing at this every time I go to
brush my teeth.
It's what I do, obviously, when I go
to bed at night, it is the first
thing that I do in the morning and
my husband does in the morning.
(23:30):
But when my nieces were over here this
past weekend, one is eight, one is 13.
I had to like force them to go
brush their teeth.
I was like, don't you want to have
fresh breath when you first wake up and
not have that grime?
And they're like, no, I don't know what
you're talking about, right?
But over time, like it's something that you
look forward to.
But at the start of it, when you're
(23:51):
first creating that habit as a kid, it's
a chore, right?
And so the same with your aerobic fitness.
Right now, it might not be something that
you're used to and it feels like a
chore.
But as you do it more and more
and you eventually start to feel that high
at the end of your run, it becomes
something that you actually look forward to.
And you're like, hey, I got to get
my day started with this run.
(24:13):
I got my day started this morning with
a four mile run.
Loved every minute.
Oh, I didn't love every minute of it
because I did start off as sticky.
My joints were a little achy.
It was kind of rainy outside.
But as I got through that first mile
after that, I was like, this is great.
I feel so good that I get to
be out here doing it.
And on the same token, the same thing
goes for my strength workouts.
(24:33):
At first, I'm like, I want to do
this.
But once I get going, I'm like, this
is fantastic.
I feel so strong, so powerful and so
just I don't know, you feel like a
badass.
So go feel like a badass.
Make sure that your training is balanced.
But figure out where you are now so
you can set some realistic goals for yourself.
All right, guys, thank you so much.
(24:54):
We will most likely be taking next week
off from the podcast because it is Christmas
week here.
Well, Christmas week everywhere.
But we celebrate Christmas.
So we will probably be closing down next
week to celebrate with friends and family.
And then we will get rockin' and rolling
again the week of New Year's.
But yeah, we'll probably I was going to
(25:14):
say probably take that week off, too.
But you know, we'll probably be back in
my week.
I mean, I.
All right, guys, thank you so much.
Talk to you soon.
Bye.
Oh, remember, hit the subscribe button and hit
the like button.
That's all you got to do.
Popular Podcasts
Boysober
Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com