7 General Fitness Benchmarks for You to Work Towards

Strength and fitness benchmarks are a fun way to work towards a set goal. Combined, these 7fitness benchmarks can give you a good idea of where your general fitness lies, and where you might need to add some extra work.

These 7 tests combined are about being strong in many areas of contemporary fitness at once, so you can test how well-rounded you are as an athlete.

Without getting into the debate of what constitutes fitness, think of these benchmarks as an overall test.

Ultimately, these fitness benchmarks are arbitrary. While they can provide great goal and can reveal gaps in your fitness, you should always base your performance on your own context. This includes taking into consideration your age, level of experience, and fitness background.

7 General Fitness Benchmarks

1. 15 unbroken pull-ups

Source: RX'd Photography

Pull-ups are a great bodyweight exercise to measure upper-body strength. They are straightforward and achieving double digits unbroken takes serious strength and skill.

Read more: Why Do I Suck at Pull-Ups? And How to Get Better at Them

2. Double Bodyweight Back Squat

Source: Stevie D Photography

A good back squat usually translates to solid lower-body strength. The squat is the king of all strength exercises, taxing the most powerful muscles in your body: your glutes, quads, and hamstrings.

Read more: 4 Powerful Squat Variations To Build Mass, Strength and Muscle

3. 10 Rep Bodyweight Bench Press

Source: Snoridge CrossFit

The bench press shows strength in the chest, shoulders and arms, and is a favourite of bodybuilders and CrossFit athletes alike. Testing for 10 reps means you don’t only need strength but you can recruit it under fatigue.

Read more: Bench Press Variations for Different Muscles

4. Turkish Get Up at Half Bodyweight

Source: Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash

This exercise tests your capacity to stand from the ground while holding a fair amount of weight overhead, and it isn’t easy. Turkish Get Ups challenge your coordination, balance, flexibility, and strength.

5. Row 2,000m in Under 7 Minutes

This is a basic endurance test which will challenge your capacity and demands an uncomfortable but achievable pace from you. The rower demands stamina and is also one of the few fitness machines that work your entire body.

Read more: How to Improve Your Rowing Technique

6. 10K Run in Under 50 Minutes

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The previous benchmark tests your endurance in a relatively short time domain; now it’s time to tackle the longest test. Running is an incredibly fundamental form of exercise, and you need to run relatively fast to go under the cap for this fitness benchmark.

Read more: How to Build Endurance for Running

7. Row 500 Meters in Under 90 Seconds

Source: Courtesy of CrossFit Inc.

With only a minute and a half to complete the work, this workout is a sprint, but you will still need some level of endurance.

Combined, all these fitness benchmarks test your strength, power, and endurance in isolation.

They are not the ultimate test for each discipline, but showcase a very solid base overall.

A well-rounded athlete will be able to show the capacity to produce these high levels of strength, power and endurance.

These benchmarks were first published by Men’s Health under the title You Can’t Claim To Be Fit Unless You Can Pass These 7 Tests.