What’s the difference between those who go to the gym on a regular basis and find that they don’t achieve their goals compared to those who get where they wanna be?
Here’s the answer: those who do well have a general idea where they are numerically at any given time. This is normally found out through logging exercises, weights lifted, repetitions done and an observation of the mixture of these factors.
What if I told you there’s a simpler way to find out how fit, strong, or athletic you are and this can be done in a shorter time than having to analyze your entire workout log? It’s a favorite for sport scientists and fitness professionals alike, testing.
What exactly is testing?
Testing in the dictionary sense is defined as taking measures to check the quality and performance of something. Testing is done to assess a product before it is put in the market or, in our case, to see where you are in health and fitness at any given moment.
Gym testing sessions are designed to look at a variety of performance factors: fitness, strength, power, body composition, flexibility, speed and health, to name a few. These are done through different exercises, e.g. a 30-meter sprint to assess speed, and differ depending on the person or the sport.
How does testing help me?
Testing in a gym is exactly like testing in school, you know exactly how good you are after you get your results. It doesn’t matter whether you are a coach, athlete, weekend warrior, or just someone interested in knowing how fit you are. Testing can certainly help your performance.
Firstly, it helps you know exactly what your strengths and weaknesses are relative to your sport or needs. In knowing where you are great and knowing where you are underperforming, coaches can help create programs that cater to YOUR needs specifically. Along with this, you get to compare yourself to the values elite athletes attain in the specific tests or to your previous scores to help motivate you to improve.
Besides looking at the performance values when you test, you can also find out how healthy you are. Testing can bring to light possible injuries, imbalances, and impairments in biological function you may not have known had you not gotten the results of your test.
Finally, testing is objective. Numbers don’t lie. Testing is extremely repeatable as the coaches place extraordinary importance on the measurements prior to the test. This means that the numbers you achieve will be better or worse based only on you. The harder you train, the better your score will be.
You’ve got the results, now what?
Now that you know what your numbers are, this is the time to reflect back on your training. Are you training appropriately for your fitness? Should you ramp it up or down? Do you know how to move forward now that you’ve identified your strengths and weaknesses? This can be a very confusing situation and fortunately coaches can guide you to achieving the goals you’ve always wanted to achieve, especially now that you’ve been assessed.
Just like going to the doctor every few months to get a check-up, you get your health and fitness “check-up” every few weeks in your training sessions to see how fit you are. That’s why here at Focus Athletics we test all our clients regularly every 6 weeks and use your assessment to create the most appropriate, tailor-made and optimal program for you to conquer your goals.
To find out how to train with us, call us at 893-5427.
