The 4 simple tests you can do at home that reveal how fit you are for your age – how do you score?
HOW many push-ups you can do or how long you can hold a plank will earn you more than just bragging rights at the gym.
According to fitness experts, they're markers of how well you're ageing.
It's natural for your endurance and muscle strength to lessen as you get older.
Your balance, strength and cardiorespiratory fitness can start to decline as early as our thirties, the reports.
But having an idea of your so-called "fitness age" could allow to address declines in your health by making relatively simple tweaks, experts argue.
For example, making changes to benefit your cardiovascular health have been shown to add years to your life.
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Dr Randall Espinoza, associate director at the UCLA Longevity Center, told Washington Post that after you've got an idea of your fitness benchmarks, you should aim to keep them in an optimal range to help manage your ageing.
So, how can we do that?
Michael Crandall, a certified strength and conditioning specialist at E by Equinox gym in New York, proposed trying four fitness tests that take into account strength, power, muscular endurance and balance.
According to Michael, you can perform these at home with little to no equipment.
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Some fitness-gauging tests are pass-fail, while others provide more specific test scores to compared with those of people who are the same age and gender as you.
1. Aerobic fitness: a 12-minute run or 1-mile walk
An important term when it comes to "fitness age" is your VO2 max, a measure of your maximum aerobic capacity, which experts say is key measure of longevity.
The American Heart Association has argued that it should be that’s regularly measured by doctors, just like your blood pressure.
Research suggests your VO2 max will per cent each decade of early adulthood and up to 15 per cent every 10 years after the age of 50.
But by doing the right kind of cardio exercise throughout your life, one case study suggests that it’s possible to have the when you’re 80.
Tests to gauge your VO2 max will usually involve you walking or running on treadmill until you can't continue, hooked up to mask and under the supervision of a health professional.
To test your aerobic fitness yourself at home, try seeing how far you can run in 12 minutes - then to calculate your VO2 max and fitness ranking based on your age and gender.
But this test - developed by Dr Kenneth Cooper, founder of the Cooper Institute in Dallas - shouldn't be attempted by anyone who isn't healthy or active already.
If you leave a more sedentary lifestyle or tend to suffer joint pain when running, try to walk a mile as briskly as possible while wearing a heart-rate monitor and use to calculate your VO2 max.
2. Upper body strength: push-ups
The next test aims to get an idea of your upper body strength and it's the dreaded push-up.
This exercise measures how well you can move your body weight, according to Michael.
Start in a plank, with hands your just outside of your shoulders and lower your body by bending your arms until they are bent past 90 degrees.
If you can't lower yourself far enough, place a yoga block under your chest to help you.
Then use the push-up chart to get an idea of how you should be performing according to your age and gender.
3. Core muscular endurance: Side plank
To test your core’s muscular endurance, do a side plank with your feet stacked, knees locked and one elbow on the ground.
If you can hold it with good form for more than 45 seconds, then you’re above average!
Between 20 to 45 seconds is good, but if you crumple on the floor before that, it's a good indication that you need to work on your core strength regardless of your gender or age.
4. Mobility and stability: No hands get-up
Most of us will use the support of our hands to shift ourselves off the floor, but have you ever tried to without?
This is tougher the older you get because it is a test of mobility and strength in lots of small muscles that contribute to balance.
This one is a pass-fail test.
Sit on the floor with your bent knees.
Place yourself near a wall or chair, in case you need the help.
Roll onto your left hip so your knees fall to the left, then shift your weight so your shins stack above your knees.
Step your right foot forward into a low lunge and then step your left foot to meet the right, rising to stand.
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Then see if you can do all that in reverse.
If getting up with no hands is too difficult, see if you can work toward getting up using one hand.
How much exercise should you do and when?
There are guidelines issued by the NHS and the Government regarding how much exercise people should do each day.
People should be active daily, and avoid sitting for long periods.
The NHS recommends an adults – those aged 19 to 64 – should aim for 150 minutes of “moderate intensity activity” a week.
This works out to 21 minutes a day, or 30 minutes five days a week.
Or, they could do 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week, which could be less than 11 minutes per day or 25 minutes three days a week.
Adults should also aim to do strength exercises twice a week, at least.
Examples of moderate-intensity activities include brisk walking, water aerobics, riding a bike, dancing, doubles tennis, pushing a lawn mower, hiking or rollerblading.
Examples of vigorous activities include running, swimming, riding a bike fast or on hills, walking up the stairs, sports, like football, rugby, netball and hockey, skipping, aerobics, gymnastics or martial arts.
Things like lifting heavy weights, sprinting up hills, spin classes or circuit training are considered very vigorous.
What time should you exercise?
Getting exercise into your day, no matter what time is a good idea.
But you may want to be more selective depending on your goal.
A 2023 US study on 5,285 middle-aged adults showed exercising between 7 and 9 am was the best time if you're looking to lose weight.
Researchers found that early-bird gym goers had a lower body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference than those working out later.
A 2022 study led by Prof Paul J Arciero, Skidmore College, New York, found that the optimal time of day to get your kit on might differ according to your gender.
Prof Arciero said women wanting to lose fat around their belly and hips would do better to hit the gym in the morning, but those seeking to gain upper body strength or simply improve their mood might see more results from evening exercise.
The results were the opposite for men.
If you struggle to get to sleep, it's been found that exercise in the morning may help, but exercise in the evening may help you to stay asleep.
Exercise, generally, can improve sleep quality