Fitness Test: Activity List

Scoring:

0-3 Points:

Inactive.  You’re overlooking opportunities to move.  Start making simple changes in your daily routine.  For instance, take the stairs instead of the elevator.  If your office to apartment is on a nose-bleed floor, get off the elevator two or three flights early.  If you live near a grocery store, walk instead of driving.  Put away the food processor and flex your muscles in the kitchen.  If your scored below 3, you’re missing out on life’s simplest pleasures.  When was the last time you hit a tennis ball, went dancing, or pedaled a bike?

4-6 Points:

Moderately active.  Your day probably includes some built-in physical chores.  Make the most of them by concentrating on the muscles you’re working.  When you lift a child, for example, notice how arm, shoulder, and thigh muscles come into play.  Look for ways to earn extra credit: raking leaves, sweeping the front walk, or scrubbing the tub.

7-9 Points:

Congratulations.  Even if you’re not exercising regularly, you’re getting a healthy close of activity each day.  could you be ready for a bigger challenge? Pick an activity that you already enjoy, and keep it up for fifteen minutes.  Think about adding some recreation to your day:  take a walk with a friend, go for a spin on an indoor skating rink, or swim laps at the community pool.

Activity	Aerobic	Strength	Agility
Walking	●
Walking with stroller	●
Walking, pushing stroller uphill	●	●
Walking, carrying child	●	●
Climbing stairs	●	●
Raking Leaves	●	●
Scrubbing floors or tub		●
Carrying groceries		●
Playing tag with child	●	●
Tossing a ball with child			●
Pushing child in swing		●
Dancing with child	●		●
Lifting child into/out of bathtub		●
Lifting child into/out of car seat or stroller		●
Mowing grass	●	●
Watering garden—with watering can		●
Riding bike	●		●
Riding bike, hills	●	●	●
Hand-mixing dough		●
Washing windows		●
Vacuuming	●
Sweeping	●
Moving boxes of furniture		●
Making beds	●
Doing laundry (includes carrying basket up and down stairs)	●	●
Sawing of chopping wood	●	●	●
Weeding	●
Car washing/waxing		●
Taking out trash		●

Daily Activities Fitness Test

Are you taking advantage of everyday opportunities to work your heart, lungs, and muscles?  To help you find out, Nancy Burstein, president of New York City’s Fitness Plus, Inc. to design a simple test.

Skim the list of activities for those you do in a typical day.  then add up the number of minutes you actually spend at each activity.  Award yourself one point for every five minutes of activity.

To ensure you’re reaping the benefits from each of the three components of well balance fitness, look for a mix of aerobic, strength, and agility-building moves.  Aerobic movement should make up 50 percent of your total score; strength and agility-based activity should account for 25% of the day’s tally.

Remember, some activities will earn you points in more than one category.  Climbing stairs, for example, gets your heart rate up while it strengthens lower muscles.  So, five minutes of walking up a few flights of stairs will you tow points—one for aerobic work and one for strength. 

To find out how you scored, tally the day’s points and check the scoring key.

Source:  Fit Your SwimSuit

Prevention through the age (1 of 2)

Your 20s

These are the last years that your body is building new bones, so you want to do everything you can to maximize stores.  A critical first step is to give up smoking, which directly interferes with bone formulation.

Diet/Fitness  You need 1,000 milligrams of calcium each day.  Aim for at least three servings of calcium-rich foods, and take a supplement on the days you’re not making it.  Start a regimen of weight-bearing exercise:  workouts (walking, jogging, dancing tennis, aerobics) that put some impact on your bones.  (Swimming and biking, although great exercise, aren’t weight-bearing.)  Get in at least three 30-minutes session per week.

Doctor visit  If you’ve suffered from anorexia or amenorrhea (the absence of your period for several months), ask your doctor about having a bone-density test. 

Your 30s

You’ve reached your peak bone mass:  your goal for this decade is to hold on to it by following a healthy lifestyle.

Diet/Fitness  Most women in this age group get only half the recommended amount of calcium; take a supplement if that’s you.  Your life may be busier, but keep exercising.  “If you stop, you lose whatever bone gains you’ve made,” warns Kenneth Saag, M.D., an osteoporosis expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, US.

Doctor visit  have you been on steroids, such as prednisone?  A bone-density test may be in order.