Do You Know Your Fitness Age?

If we didn’t need another reason to become involved in a fitness routine, a New York Times article recently outlines why our “ fitness age” may be even more important than our chronological age. This article adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests that exercise and movement throughout the day is vitally important to our health.

Norwegian scientists compared individuals’ aerobic capacity (measured by estimating their VO2max) against death records later in life. Those who had not measured well on their estimated aerobic capacity “had an 82 percent higher risk of dying prematurely” than those who scored better on the aerobic capacity measure.

While fitness age may be a concerning idea for many, the good news is that it – unlike chronological age – can be reduced.

Interested in calculating fitness age? The authors of the study at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim have come up with a simple quiz that should pretty accurately tell anyone their fitness age.

This quiz is a fun way to engage members at your organization. It appeals to our newfound love of digital tracking and the idea of the quantified self – that we can track all sorts of biometric data about our bodies typically in order to improve our health. Encourage your clients or members to take this quiz and use it to either pat themselves on the back or to encourage themselves to add a little more exercise into their daily life.