Think that your BMI, weight, or other numbers will lead the way to health success? Learn what a physical fitness test can do for you, and 3 things it misses.
Think that your BMI, weight, or other numbers will lead the way to health success? Learn what a physical fitness test can do for you, and 3 things it misses.Recently, I’ve done a couple of different fitness tests, and I wanted to share why I chose to do so, and what you can gain from this experience. As a health coach, I still want to challenge what I believe is possible for me, and a physical fitness assessment is where I start, and where many of my coaching clients get stuck.
Maybe you’re one of them?
Before we dig in, understand that my brand of health coaching does not administer any tests or require your medical records. I don’t want your blood, your saliva, your stools, or anything you might be giving to a specialist in an office with a co-pay. This is because I’m a lifestyle strategist.
Baseline habits are what we always start with in all of my coaching programs. It’s all about the habits. I don’t care what you sometimes do, what you occasionally do, what you would like to do. I care about what you actually are doing on a regular consistent basis. So, that’s your baseline.
My own personal 100-lb weight loss journey makes me uniquely able to help my clients come up with a personalized health plan with tangible results. That’s my passion and mission.
The best way to create the perfect health plan is to understand where you currently are. You might call it a “wake up call”. Other people may call it a health and fitness assessment.
There are a variety of reasons why a person should seek out different physical fitness tests, not all of which involve weight loss. I am motivated by data, so that I know how to get even better.
One of the reasons I personally geek out on assessments is because I’ve already tackled weight loss. To me, weight loss no longer motivates me in the same way it might have motivated me when I was much heavier.
Second, I’m at a different age now than when I lost 100 lbs. There is a big difference between 20 and 40, both in terms of abilities, interests and momentum. A lot has happened in the past 20 years and I know that I’m not the same person physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually as I was 20 years ago. Also, it is important to keep up with the current technology and information.
At this stage in my life, I prefer to seek out different assessments, both for personal development and professional curiosity. Most importantly, to understand physically where I stand.
Now that you understand the reasons why I chose to undertake some health assessments, here are some I chose (and might be helpful to you). Disclaimer: no test is infallible, and make sure you understand the possible error rate or how to interpret it.
The BodPod
The BOD POD is done at the University of Minnesota in the Recreation Center as a tool to help the personal trainers guide their clients to peak physical fitness. It is an Air Displacement Plethysmograph (ADP) that uses whole body densitometry to determine body composition (fat vs. lean). Similar in principle to underwater weighing, the BOD POD measures body mass (weight) using a very precise scale.
If you’ve ever watched the movie Aliens, it looks like those futuristic spaceship kinds of pods where you sleep during hyperdrive.
You provide some basic stats about yourself- height, weight, age etc. You sit down in this futuristic white capsule, and get a custom report in just 60 seconds. What does the report include?
Note: there is approximately a 4% error rate.
The BOD POD report tells you some basic things, such as body fat measurement, body density, thoracic gas volume, Resting Metabolic Rate (calculated) and a handy-dandy body fat rating, along with averages for your gender.
Here is why I like this assessment. It doesn’t just focus on your BMI, which we know is an outdated concept. It’s not just focusing on your weight, which varies depending upon how much muscle you carry on your body, your frame, and genetic factors.
BOD POD is very helpful because it talks about body fat AND your total energy expenditure (TEE). If you’ve never heard of that word, what it means is how many calories your body naturally burns at rest. So it really incorporates factors that you can’t get in a traditional health calculator.
Everyone’s activity level is different. Everyone’s total energy expenditure is different.
By the way, if you are a fan of calorie counting, TEE is how many calories you burn while doing NOTHING. Which is way more helpful than guesstimating how many calories you may be burning on a treadmill using a heart-rate monitor.
The BOD POD is helpful for a fat loss type of program. Years ago, when I discovered the power of muscle training, I was able to reach my lowest amount of body fat. That was a result of lifting heavy weights 2-3 days a week combined with HIIT workouts. As a consequence, I started developing the best muscle definition I’ve ever had in my life.
That’s when I started following a macro based plan for food and meal planning. And that really changed everything for me.
That is the philosophy I take when I work with clients. We’re focusing more on your fat loss and less on your weight loss. So we’re not counting calories, logging food portions, or worrying about sugar. We’re understanding where your baseline habits are, and how macros can step in for a healthier program.
And we’re incorporating different types of exercise that can really maximize your effort and your results in less time.
Why did I take the BOD POD? Because it has been at least a decade since I manually measured my body fat percentage, and worked at getting it within the 24% range. I know that right now, with over a year of consistent HIIT workouts with bodyweight training has put me at 28% body fat. This is considered moderately lean for women, and still gives me a goal to work on.
Here’s something that may surprise you. My weight is higher than I want it to be. Yet, I am still considered moderately lean and active. This confirms that I’m in a place where I know that weight loss might not be the best target for me. However, fat loss is more motivating, especially now that I have a starting number!
Finally, I know exactly where I want to be, and it is something I have successfully done on my own before. Instead of saying, “I want to be healthy”, I can now say “I want to drop 4% more body fat”.
Thermography
Thermography is a non-invasive diagnostic tool which measures heat patterns in your body, and has been used by chiropractors for decades. The purpose of measuring heat is to detect inflammation which might lead to diseases.
Typically, you will see thermography as a tool to replace mammography, since it uses less radiation.
What does a chiropractor do with the scan image? The image tells them the temperature changes based on where the blood is rushing to. If the blood is rushing to a place, there’s probably inflammation or some stress. The particular chiropractor I went to (Cadence Chiropractic) uses this testing as part of her chiropractic adjustments.
She also did some x-rays and scans, both still ones and motion ones to identify where my spine needs help.
(Full disclosure- I had a little bit of inhibition around seeing a chiropractor, even though many of my friends and colleagues have practices and share a similar passion for health. And, there are so many chiropractors that it’s hard to know which one is superior to another one. Some sell supplements, some don’t. Some use diagnostic tools, others don’t. All do require regular visits to get the benefit of care.)
Here’s how I talked myself into going. Chiropractic is all preventative, which is another reason why I took that assessment. I don’t want someone to cure me of anything. I want to be the best I can be today. That doesn’t mean I’m unhealthy or don’t feel well.
Did you know that you don’t have to be sick to feel better?
What does a thermographic scan do? It’s still somewhat esoteric for me, but here’s what I understand. It tells me where my spine might need some help and points out patterns of movement that might cause issues for me.
One is my lower back, which is not a surprise to me because I had back surgery about 10 years ago for a slipped disc. I just assumed that’s natural, as I don’t have a disc in that area. Another area is my shoulder blades and upper neck, where movement is restricted between my discs.
Our bodies are fascinating because they’re an entire system, and chiropractic work gave me one more piece to the puzzle.
I have been troubleshooting some things over the past year and a half with my sinuses, my throat, and breathing. I’ve been troubleshooting that through diet, exercise, inhalants, herbs, and supplements. Yet, relief was still fleeting.
Chiropractic allowed me to get a glimpse at my insides, so I could dive a bit deeper than I can with the other health assessment tools I have at my disposal. Our spine and nervous system are literally the backbone of our other bodily systems, so it makes sense to make small (mostly painless) adjustments at that level.
There are athletes who can use it to improve their performance as well, or there are pregnant women who can use it to have easier labor or more comfortable pregnancy. There are lots of different applications for this, such as asthma and chronic pain relief.
Now that you’ve seen a little bit of the physical fitness tests I took and some of the reasoning why I took them, here are 3 things these health assessments might miss.
3 Things Health and Fitness Tests Miss
- They cannot tell you what you WANT
- They cannot tell you HOW to get where you want to be
- They are meaningless without a TIMELINE
The biggest struggle for most women I work with is stepping onto the scale, sharing their size, or revealing their body fat in their initial call with me. In fact, I also have a hesitation with sharing my numbers in front of people, and treat my numbers on a “need to know” basis.
Maybe because the gap between where you are and where you want to be feels impossible, improbable, or incredible.
You might downplay what you really WANT, in favor of what you think you can get.
An assessment forces you to both acknowledge and become aware of where you are today. This is a GREAT thing! Yet, that doesn’t mean it will feel good. It might even feel pretty crappy, and you might start beating yourself up for the numbers, or comparing yourself to others.
Only then can you find out what you actually WANT, and what health means to you personally.
Physical fitness tests don’t have any answers when it comes to HOW you can reach your ideal numbers. They only have the power to shine a light on your current reality.
That’s where expertise comes in. In the case of BOD POD, the personal trainer probably would have some recommendations to reach my new body fat percentage. In the case of a thermography scan, the chiropractor frequently used that to determine what adjustments she needed to make or my body most responded to over time.
In the case of weight loss, a health coach can assess your current baseline habits, scheduling commitments, and passion for change. We’ll take an inventory of what your day looks like, and what your particular food triggers might be. You can learn more about this through a Discovery call here.
Underneath it all, I use my expertise and listening skills to determine what you really want from a health coaching program. Sometimes, it has nothing to do with food!
In fact, a coaching relationship is probably the only place where you’ll feel comfortable really dreaming big and stating your health goals out loud. It’s where we really dive into what matters to you, as well as the exact steps to get there.
Finally, a physical fitness test is useless without a TIMELINE. Until you have a before and after, you don’t know what exactly will give you the results you crave. You don’t know how your body or your mind will respond to different changes.
When I’m in a coaching relationship with someone, their level of success depends entirely on WHEN they implement. I have worked with amazing goal-getters who are coach-able, curious and willing to create change. These clients have dropped 30+ pounds and have embraced a whole new path to sustainable lifestyle change.
I have also worked with less convicted clients who meet me halfway with the program, but are still afraid to believe change is possible for them. Those people might progress a little bit differently, such as learning how to consistently eat breakfast, drink more water, or stop criticizing themselves.
All you knew when started that health and fitness assessment might be that it’s important for you to know that information, because you want something that you don’t YET have.
That’s what I help you with. Both the daily lifestyle assessment, and the body bliss you’ve been yearning for. Currently, I offer private holistic coaching, where we co-create your personal path to your best self. Visit my health coaching page for details or schedule a call to chat.