Fitness Assessment # 3

As you probably know, I have been doing some strength and conditioning training for the past few months.  I started with a fitness assessment, then did six weeks of training followed by a second fitness assessment where I had improved considerably.  I was then set a further six week programme and, at the end of that, we decided not to do a further assessment because my progress had been so good the last time.  I therefore started my next six week programme and that ended on Saturday.

I had an appointment at Sportesse this morning for what I thought was the first session of my new six week programme but, when I got there, I found that I was having another fitness assessment.  Oh no!  Ah well, I'm just glad that I didn't have time to worry about it beforehand.

I went through all the tests again and had improved again on almost everything.  My squat was now as good as it was possible to get as I could get all the way down.  On my first assessment, I only got to a 90 degree angle. My stride had also increased again and I was able to do more press ups and plank for longer.  There were other tests too which I had improved on and I must remember to ask Dave for a copy so that I can post my results on here.

The only tests I was worse on were:

- I didn't manage to stand on one leg with my eyes closed for as long.

- My sit to stand wasn't as good.  I managed to get to the bottom step but didn't manage to get up whilst holding weights (last time, on my right foot I got up whilst holding a stone in weight).  I think the reason for this though is that my quads have been really tight recently from the mountain biking.

- My VO2 max test on the rowing machine wasn't as good.  This isn't much of a problem though as my cardio work has decreased more and more the past few months since stopping running so I can't expect great results here.  I also hadn't really eaten this morning as my house was devoid of food so I probably didn't have enough energy for a VO2 max test.

All in all though, it was really positive and I'm now looking forward to starting my next six week programme.

Bring it on!