Science behind the Fitness Test
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Fitness test measures your body’s current fitness level. What does that mean? It is no secret that an individual’s fitness can say a lot about health condition. Everyone can see the difference between someone who can easily run a few miles and someone who can’t walk even one hundred yards. The difference between the two has to do with their level of fitness. There are many tests that you can find on the Internet which will supposedly help you determine your level of fitness. Their main idea is always the same - do physical exercise such as squats or steps during a certain time interval, and then measure your heart rate. Unfortunately, such methods have some problems. First, it is hard to standardize such tests because one person can do more sit ups or step ups within the same interval of time. Second, measuring heart rate after exercise accurately is difficult. And if you want to do it accurately, you must use a heart monitor device. The value of such tests is not great simply because of their inaccuracy. They were created a long time ago when computers didn’t exist or were not affordable, and helped people evaluate their fitness.
Now there are more accurate and effective methods of assessment of the body’s fitness level. One of such methods is based on analysis of HRV performed on heart rate recordings done during a simple standup maneuver. The standup maneuver causes heart rate to rise within the first 10-15 seconds because blood pressure drops due to gravitational redistribution of the blood mass. Then the cardiovascular system attempts to compensate an orthostatic effect of standing up by constricting peripheral blood vessels. As a result blood pressure returns to its normal level and heart rate drops. Multiple research studies have shown that reaction of the cardiovascular system on changing body posture and speed of its compensation depends on fitness level. The most indicative parameter of this test is a pattern of heart rate changes caused by a standup maneuver. The weaker and slower this reaction is the less an organism is fit and susceptible to physical exertions, which means lower level of fitness.
Our scientists have analyzed a vast amount of research data on the subject of fitness assessment as well as conducted our own research on volunteers ranging from top athletes of national sports teams to ordinary people not capable to withstand even light physical exercise. Using this research data we developed our own algorithm of assessment of fitness level based on analysis of patterns of heart rate variability caused by standup maneuver. This algorithm assesses one’s fitness level on two different scales – absolute and age-related. The absolute scale compares your fitness level with top athletes regardless of your age. This is a good way to see how competitive you are. However it is not always good way to assess fitness. For instance, a 50-years old male being in good health and athletic shape is not able to compete with a 20-years old top athlete no matter how well his fitness is. However for his own age he is in excellent shape and has high fitness level. These specifics are taken into account in our Fitness test. This approach gives full picture of one’s ability to withstand physical exertions.