The Importance of Aerobic Fitness
Your level of aerobic fitness is the symptom of the efficient function of all the major body systems which are dedicated to maintaining healthy cellular function, including the lungs, the blood, the heart and the systems involved in elimination.
Aerobic fitness is the body’s mechanism for:
– getting oxygen into your lungs, passed into your blood stream, pumped arou
nd by your heart and distributed to the cells of your body
– removing the waste products of metabolism out of the cells of your body, into the blood stream and out of your body.
Aerobic fitness is, along with the fuel you put into your body, one of the key drivers of healthy metabolic function.
Let your aerobic fitness run down and you can be pretty certain that sooner or later you’ll start experiencing some of the symptoms of metabolic dysfunction. You stack on weight, your blood pressure, glucose and cholesterol levels go up. You feel tired and depressed …
Aerobic fitness exercise is the body’s ‘turbo-charging’ mechanism designed to make sure that all the trillions of cells in your body are getting the oxygen (and nutrients they need to work efficiently.
It is the mechanism for boosting the various elimination systems, including the lymphatic system, the blood, liver, kidneys, bowel, skin and lungs.
“The better the cells work the healthier you are.”
It revitalises the concept of aerobic fitness to ascribe as its main benefit your ability to do more vigorous, muscular, physical activity for longer periods of time. Sure that is what happens, but it is a by product, a symptom of the fact that a range of body systems are working more efficiently, not just your muscles.
We all know that the mind is connected to the body; eg when we get anxious we may exhibit physical symptoms (headaches, sore shoulders, high blood pressure, crook guts …). This is known as the psychosomatic effect. What is less well known is the somato-psychic effect, where once the body is stimulated into action through an aerobic exercise program there is an impact on the mind – you feel better.
THE AEROBIC STANDARD
Of all the measures of how well your body is working, your level of aerobic fitness stands out head and shoulders above the rest, much more so than blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose. You can still have normal blood pressure long after the efficiency of the major body systems has decreased.
In this respect, a drop in aerobic fitness is the first of the warning signs that the metabolic health system function is being compromised. An elevation in blood pressure may not occur for years and then the systems may be so far ‘gone’ that the situation can be irretrievable. You’ve got permanent body system dysfunction and you’re destined to be on one or more of the symptom-masking pharmaceuticals for the rest of your life.
Having said all that, it’s usually the case that when we talk about aerobic fitness we start talking about our ability do things that require physical effort – whether it’s walking to the end of the street, walking up a couple of flights of stairs, going on a hike, playing a game of tennis…
Wouldn’t it be awful to restrict your choices in life because you hadn’t bothered to keep yourself fit enough to do them?
As we get fitter we can do more and we can do it for longer.
” I CAN GIVE YOU THE PROGRAM BUT I CAN’T DO IT FOR YOU.”
– KENNETH COOPER (Exercise Physiologist)
How aerobically fit are you?
There are three scoring tables against which you can judge your performance.
SCORING TABLES
There are three scoring tables against which you can judge your performance.
A. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND REGULAR FOLKS
B. SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND ELITE FORCE PERSONNEL
C. ALL-COMERS PERCENTAGE POINTS SCORING TABLE female scores adjusted.
Your Safe Working Load
It’s big ask expecting to stay healthy without keeping yourself fit. It’s another big ask expecting to stay healthy by having someone do something to you. Sooner or later you have to do something to yourself.
That something is vigorous aerobic activity. As you become more vigorously physically active, your metabolic health improves – i.e. the major body systems responsible for getting oxygen (and nutrients) into the individual cells of the body, and eliminate the waste products of respiration out of the body, improve their efficiency.
A comprehensive health and fitness checkup
| We strongly recommend that the 20m run test be included in a battery of assessments that go with a comprehensive metabolic health check.
Without a regular and systematic aerobic fitness training program, metabolic health is seriously compromised. Without an aerobic fitnes test, a most fundamental part of the metabolic health diagnostic jigsaw puzzle is missing. |
 |
You can do it yourself at home, you can do it under the supervision of your physician at the back of the surgery. You can do it at the gym under the supervision of a fitness practitioner.
A good score for men is 40 laps and for women 38.
If you walk fast you can achieve 30 laps which is not bad. Less than 265 laps and you’re not in great shap3.W
When you can get to 50 laps (men) or 48 laps (women) report back and we’ll give you your next assignment! You’re exceptionally fit and healthy. We recommend this be the entry level standard for elite force personnel.
Of course, if you’re serious about incorporating an assessment of aspects of fitness into a comprehensive health and fitness checkup, you’ll need to include tests of strength and functional mobility.
THE USUAL WARNING
The 20m run aerobic fitness test is for people who are not at grave risk of cardiac dysfunction.
If you’re in poor physical condition you may wish to have yourself checked out by your physician before doing this test. Most likely your physician will have and electro-cardiogram machine to which they can connect you to.
If your physician notices any life-threatening, cardiac abnormalities, they will probably recommend you go further up the medical feeding chain for more expensive tests. For regular folks who are over weight and under trained, this is by far the safest way to have your risk of cardiac dysfunction assessed.
DOING THE TEST
The first rule is ‘go at your own pace’. The test is not a race. That’s what makes it a safe test. Over the years we’ve measured some pretty unfit people, three of whom just fell short of doing 10 laps in five minutes. If you can only walk you’ll probably get just over 20 laps. Over 30 laps and you’re starting to approach what could be reasonable shape. Over 40 laps and I’d say you were in good shape.
At the other extreme we’ve seen two men get to 60 laps and one women get to 55 laps.
For the first few tests, pace yourself, don’t over do it. If you have to stop, STOP! If you’re just running out of puff, slow down, walk or shuffle and then pick up the pace later on. Alternatively you could walk one lap and jog one lap.
On the other hand if you’re completely exhausted and think you may do yourself a serious metabolic injury STOP, don’t resume the activity and go immediately to see your doctor.
You, the individual, can do more for your own health and well-being than any doctor, any hospital, any drug, any exotic medical advice.
Julius Richmond,
US Surgeon General 1979
History of the Test
The 20m Run Aerobic Fitness Test was developed by Canberra (Australia) physical educator, John Miller.
After conducting hundreds of ‘beep’ tests and putting up with
– lugging a cassette or CD player around
– cassette and CD players with flat batteries
– tapes that were stretched
– compact discs that ‘jumped’ a beat when someone ran too close to the recorder
– hours wasted waiting for fit people to finish the test and
– recognizing that the test wasn’t discriminating enough for people who failed to keep up with the beeps for 2 minutes,
… John decided there must be a better way.
The time of 5 minutes was selected after watching thousands of people go through the test and getting the feeling that completing 41 laps (level 6.1 on the ‘beep’ test) was a good standard of aerobic fitness for all comers, particularly ‘regular folks’.
Rounded down and based on experience, 40 laps is a good score for men and 38 a good score for women.
The 20m run has a much better distribution curve of results than the ‘beep’ test which has been modified so participants, from regular folks and elite athletes of all levels of aerobic fitness can register how aerobically fit they are by the number of laps they can complete in 5 minutes.