How Fit Are You?

To run at your full potential, you need to target all areas of fitness—including flexibility, balance, and mobility.

Thursday, May 27, 2010, 12:00 am
upper body strength moves
A strong upper body helps improve your running form. Beth Bischoff


A strong core—the muscles in your abdominals, back, and glutes—gives you stability, power, and endurance. “If your core muscles can’t support your pelvis, it will drop, which causes your hips, knees, and ankles to lose proper alignment,” says Michael Fredericson, M.D., a professor of sports medicine at Stanford University. “When this happens, you can’t absorb forces appropriately, and your muscles fatigue quickly.”



core strength moves planks
Beth Bischoff

Plank: Get in plank position on your elbows. Your body should form a straight line from your head to your ankles. Once in position, time how long you can maintain it with perfect form (don’t let your hips hike up).


Great You can hold the position for two minutes without breaking perfect form.
Good You can hold the position for 90 seconds without breaking perfect form.
Fair You can hold this position for less than 90 seconds.


core strength moves sprinter
Beth Bischoff




A strong upper body makes it easier for a runner to hold good form, which can improve running economy—how efficiently you use oxygen while running. “The more economical you are, the less oxygen you will use, and the longer you can sustain a given pace,” says Tom Holland, an exercise physiologist in New Canaan, Connecticut.


upper body strength moves pushups
Beth Bischoff


Push-Ups: Complete as many standard push-ups as possible, maintaining good form (don’t let your back sag).


Age 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+
Great Female >23 >22 >18 >15
Male >30 >25 >21 >18
Good Female 12-22 10-21 8-17 7-14
Male 17-29 13-24 11-20 9-17
Fair Female 0-11 0-9 0-7 0-6
Male 0-16 0-12 0-10 0-8


upper body strength moves pushups
Beth Bischoff



The repetitive motion of running, in which you’re using the same muscles in the same way over and over again, can strengthen some muscles more than others. “An imbalance between opposing muscle groups, such as your quadriceps and hamstrings, can lead to muscle pulls and knee pain,” Holland says. “Strength training can balance out the lower body and prevent those types of injuries.”


lower body strength moves squats
Beth Bischoff




Age 20-29 30-39 40-49 50+
Great Female >43 >39 >33 >27
Male >49 >45 >41 >35
Good Female 25-42 21-38 15-32 10-26
Male 31-48 29-44 23-40 18-34
Fair Female 0-24 0-20 0-14 0-9
Male 0-30 0-28 0-22 0-17


lower body strength moves lunges
Beth Bischoff

Walking Lunges: Holding dumbbells, step forward with your right leg and lower into a lunge. Return to standing as you step forward with your left leg and repeat. Continue “walking” for eight to 10 steps. Do three sets, resting 60 seconds in between.




flexibility moves
Beth Bischoff




Great Female Greater than 90 degrees with leg straight
Male Greater than 45 degrees with leg straight
Good Female Greater than 90 degrees with leg slightly bent
Male Greater than 45 degrees with leg slightly bent
Fair Female 90 degrees or less
Male Less than 45 degrees


flexibility moves runners stretch
Beth Bischoff

Runner’s Stretch: Stand with your glutes against a wall and your feet six to 12 inches from the wall’s base. Bend forward and place your palms on the floor or a yoga block or footstool (shown above). To make it harder: Move your feet closer to the wall. Do this stretch postrun. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds. Do three reps.



RELATED: 5 Things No One Tells You About Running as You Get Older


balance moves standing stork
Beth Bischoff




Great >50
Good 26-49
Fair 25 or less


balance moves one leg squat
Beth Bischoff

One-Legged Squat: Place a stability ball between your lower back and a wall. Lift your right foot off the ground and lower down into a squat. Push back to start—but don’t lower your right foot. That’s one rep. Continue for eight to 10 reps, and then repeat on the other leg.




joint mobility moves bar squat
Beth Bischoff



Fair If you have trouble maintaining form in either heel position.


joint mobility moves squat to stand
Beth Bischoff

Squat-to-Stand: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Grab your toes, bending your knees if you need to. Keeping arms straight, pull your glutes down and lift your chest while holding your toes. Reach up one arm, then the other, to form a “Y.” Stand up, keeping arms raised. Repeat 10 times.




Lap Test: Go to a track and warm up with an easy 10-minute run. Then, using your watch to time yourself, run one lap (which is 400 meters or a quarter-mile) as quickly as possible. If a track isn’t accessible, run a quarter-mile on a measured stretch of flat road.


Age 18-25 26-35 36-45 46-55 56+
Great Female <60 sec. <65 sec. <70 sec. <75 sec. <80 sec.
Good Female 60-70 sec. 65-83 sec. 70-90 sec. 75-100 sec. 80-110 sec.
Fair Female >70 sec. >83 sec. >90 sec. >100 sec. >110 sec.


speed drills
Beth Bischoff



2) Straight Leg Bound: Run 30 yards, taking as big of a stride as possible while keeping legs straight. Rest 60 seconds. Repeat up to five times.


Endurance can be thought of as how well all of your systems work together: Your heart-stroke volume (the amount of oxygenated blood pumped to the muscles with every beat), your muscle strength and efficiency (the muscles’ ability to turn that O2 into energy they need to contract), your metabolism (how efficiently you metabolize fat and carbohydrates to use for fuel and flush out lactate build-up, believed to be a cause of muscle fatigue), and your neuromuscular system (your brain and body’s ability to communicate about which muscles to contract and when). Sure, you work on your endurance every time you head out for a run. But the only way to track your progress is to have a controlled test that gauges how well these systems work together. Peter Park, C.S.C.S., Lance Armstrong’s personal trainer and fitness expert for, developed this tempo-run test that measures your endurance in 45 minutes.


Treadmill Tempo


2) Do a 30-minute tempo run at 85 percent of your maximum effort. This is a bit slower than your 10K race pace—an 8 on a scale of difficulty from 1 to 10.



Age 35 AND UNDER 35-50 50+
Great Female >4.6 miles >4.2 miles >3.8 miles
Male >5.2 miles >4.8 miles >4 miles
Good Female 4-4.5 miles 3.8-4.1 miles 3.3-3.7 miles
Male 4.2-5.1 miles 3.9-4.7 miles 3.5-3.9 miles
Fair Female <3.9 miles <3.7 miles <3.2 miles
Male <4.1 miles <3.8 miles <3.4 miles


Endurance Builders


1) Run a lap of a track at 5K race pace with 30 seconds of recovery between reps. If you scored Fair, do eight laps; if you’re Good, do 10; if you’re Great, do 12.

2) Do mile repeats 20 seconds faster than your 5K race pace. Rest one minute between reps. If you’re Fair, do three; Good, do five; Great, do eight.

3) If you’re Fair, do a 12-minute tempo run at 85 percent effort. If you’re Good, do two; if you’re Great, do three.


If your workouts are always at the same, comfortable pace, your cardiovascular system probably isn’t as fit as it could be. “You need to move out of your comfort zone and force your heart to work harder and act more quickly in order to improve your cardiovascular fitness,” says Tim Church, Ph.D., a professor at Louisiana State University. Your heart is like any other muscle. When it’s challenged, it grows stronger. And when it’s stronger, it can pump more blood with each beat, delivering more oxygen-rich blood to your muscles so they can perform their best.


cardiovascular strength moves step ups
Beth Bischoff



Great Female <93 <94 <96 <101 <103 <105
Male <84 <86 <90 <93 <96 <102
Good Female 94-110 95-111 97-119 102-124 104-126 106-130
Male 85-100 87-103 91-106 94-112 97-115 103-118
Fair Female >111 >112 >120 >125 >127 >131
Male >101 >104 >107 >113 >116 >119


Find a hill that’s two to three blocks long and that has a gradual incline—not too steep. After a 10-minute warmup, run up the hill at 80 to 85 percent effort, trying to maintain a consistent pace. This should feel slightly slower than your 10K pace. When you reach the top, run slowly back down (recover for about one minute). If you’re Fair, do six hills; if you’re Good, do eight; if you’re Great, do 10.











2) Quadruped Rotation Extension: Get on your hands and knees and place the palm of your right hand on the back of your head. Bring the right elbow down toward your left knee. Next, rotate and extend the upper half of your torso by bringing the right elbow toward the ceiling. Repeat on the opposite side. That’s one rep. Do 10.