Healthfit 4 Life Fitness Testing

Before we can develop a fitness program that leads to long-term success, we must first understand both your goals and current level of fitness. To do this, you begin your Healthfit 4 Life experience by taking a 2 hour fitness assessment with a Healthfit 4 Life Coach. During the assessment, we utilize cutting-edge tools and proprietary technology to gauge your starting point, which allows us to create a training plan that helps you train smarter. The tests that make up the Healthfit 4 Life Fitness Test are:

• Body fat and body mass index
• Aerobic fitness and resting metabolic rate
• Functional movement screen
• Nutritional profile
• Full-body strength, power, and muscular endurance assessment

Body Fat and Body Mass Index

A traditional scale does not provide enough information when it comes to weight management and monitoring your overall health. Your total weight only shows part of the picture. By periodically assessing your body fat percentage, we ensure your hard work is targeting a decrease in body fat (the component of weight that causes poor health). Additionally, years of medical research supports the use of Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a product of your weight in relation to your height. Keeping your weight in healthy ranges relative to your height has shown to indicate a low incidence of disease and illness. This deeper look into weight and body composition allows us to set specific weight goals and best gauge fitness and health.

Aerobic Fitness and Metabolic Assessment

Cardio respiratory fitness is the most important component of heart health. The VO2max is considered the “gold standard” of cardio respiratory fitness. Recent studies have found that people with a below average VO2max score are at an increased risk of dying prematurely, especially from cardiovascular disease. An eight-year study conducted at the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas, found that men and women who were moderately or highly fit were at a far lower risk of dying during the study period than those who were unfit. The benefit of being fit was evident for all study participants regardless of other risk factors they might have, such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, overweight, or family history of heart disease. In fact, becoming fit has a similar benefit in terms of reducing the risk of premature death as stopping smoking if you are a smoker.

To measure your level of cardiovascular fitness, we utilize the New Leaf V02 Max and Metabolic Assessment. This test also helps gauge your ability to efficiently burn fat so that you get the most out of your fitness program. The right training program can “teach” your body to burn more calories from fat while improving your cardio fitness, while simultaneously preventing plateaus and over-training.

Questions we are able to answer by conducting this test include:

• How fit is your cardiovascular system?
• How many calories should you burn each day to achieve your weight loss goals?
• At what intensity do you need to exercise to burn fat most efficiently?
• How can you increase your cardiovascular performance threshold and do more with less?
• How should you adjust your fitness routine as you progress so you do not plateau?

Armed with this information, we then design an individualized cardiovascular program, which will be set in the intensity levels (and heart rate training zones) at which you most efficiently burn fat for energy. Before you begin your program, you will most likely inefficiently use fat versus carbohydrates for fuel. While you are exercising aerobically (at lower intensities), fat utilization will peak and then begin to taper off as your heart rate increases. As you move toward your anaerobic threshold, your body will become less able to use fat to fuel your working muscles. Your dedication to the prescribed program will result in an expanded fat burning window as you become more metabolically efficient at higher intensities. As a result, you will burn more calories with less exercise!

The Functional Movement Screen

As we get older, our bodies lose stability and flexibility, which can lead to injury if not corrected. Many weekend warriors can get hurt because they train intensely before ensuring that any imbalances or impingements due to a lack of flexibility have been corrected. To help identify these issues, we utilize the Functional Movement Screen.

The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a ranking and grading system that documents movement patterns that are integral to normal body function. It contains a series of seven tests screens which evaluate and rank quality in movement patterns that most able-bodied humans should be able to perform. The movements are ranked on a 3-point testing scale with a score of zero given for pain. The maximum score you can achieve is a 21. A score of 14 and below indicated increased risk of injury.

The 7 fundamental test we use for this are:

• Deep Squat
• Hurdle Step
• In-line Lunge
• Shoulder Mobility
• Active Straight-leg Raise
• Trunk Stability Push-up
• Rotary Stability

Your Functional Movement Screen score is used to target problems, identify corrective exercises, and track progress. This scoring system is directly linked to a list of corrective exercises, which your Healthfit 4 Life Coach will prescribe to help you restore mechanically sound movement patterns.

Over the course of your one year program, your Healthfit 4 Life Fitness Coach will monitor your FMS score via follow-up assessments to track progress and identify the exercises that will be most effective in restoring proper movement patterns.

Total Body Power and Endurance Assessment

As we get older, our muscles get smaller and weaker. This normal degeneration process increases the likelihood of injury in active adults. In The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that as we age, it is harder to turn nutrients into muscle and the muscle you lose is harder to rebuild. Also concluded in this research is that this normal aging pattern can be reversed by incorporating weight training into your exercise routine.

Your Healthfit 4 Life Fitness Coach will continuously measure the level of power your upper and lower body generate and prescribe exercises designed to strengthen the core muscles of your body. The result will be a stronger foundation for movement that will serve you for the rest of your life.

Nutritional Assessment

You are what you eat and we will assist you to permanently transform your body, inside and out. If you want to lose weight and keep it off, you must actually change your lifestyle. Our nutrition program is based on education and accountability, the only two proven methods of permanent weight loss.

To kick off your new nutritional plan, we will conduct a 3 Day Food Log and Evaluation to help us all understand how we can best help you to eat healthier. Using our in house nutritional assessment tools, we can help you to put together a plan that will work for you and is easy to keep on top of.