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We all have that one person in our lives who can effortlessly carry groceries up several flights of stairs while we struggle to keep up. It could also be someone who is your age or even older, yet manages to excel in a workout that would leave you completely exhausted. The reality is that being in peak physical condition is not limited to those in their twenties or fitness enthusiasts. Determining whether you are truly in top shape is possible, regardless of your age.
What Peak Shape Really Means
Being in peak shape means that your overall physical fitness is at its best. Your strength, flexibility, and stamina are all at their peak levels, and you are consistent with your training regimen. Achieving peak physical fitness is attainable at any age because it transcends youth and appearance – it is about maintaining a regular exercise routine, making healthy lifestyle choices, and putting in dedicated effort. By incorporating regular strength training, cardiovascular exercises, mobility routines, and proper nutrition, anyone can make significant enhancements to their physical fitness.
The Ultimate Fitness Test
There are three exercises that can help determine if you are in “peak shape” – push-ups, deadlifts, and burpees. These exercises assess your strength and stamina by targeting specific muscle groups. Push-ups evaluate your upper body and core endurance, deadlifts assess your overall strength and flexibility, while burpees test your cardiovascular stamina and full-body strength.
Push-ups, deadlifts, and burpees all test not only how strong you are, but how efficiently your body moves, generates power, and recovers. Combining these three exercises provides a well-rounded scope of your physical fitness, and if you are able to complete them, are a great way to determine peak shape.
While all three moves require muscle and cardiovascular endurance, push-ups focus on the muscles in your core, chest, shoulders and triceps. Deadlifts require proper form and control, particularly focusing on glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Burpees require coordination, power and explosiveness, and target muscles in your legs, core and arms.
3 Moves That Prove You’re in Peak Shape at Any Age
Move #1: Push-Ups
Step-by-step: Position your body into a high plank with your hands directly under your shoulders. Your body should be straight with a flat back and your feet no further than hip distance apart. Using your arms, bend your elbows to lower your body with your chest as close to the floor as possible. Your elbows should be bending straight, not outward. Push yourself back up into your starting position.
Passing grade: If you can perform 15-20 reps with perfect form – not dropping your hips, not flaring your elbows and bringing your chest as low as possible – you are passing.
What it tests: Push-ups test your upper body and core endurance.
What it reveals: The ability to perform proper push-ups reveals that you have core control and strength and strong muscles in your shoulders and arms.
How to progress: For a beginner push-up, start with your knees on the ground and your feet bent upwards towards your glutes. From there, perfect your form and build up initial strength to gradually intensify into regular form push-ups.
Move #2: Deadlifts
Step-by-step: For this exercise, you will need a barbell and weights. With your feet shoulder-width apart, start with the barbell over your feet. Hinge at your hips, keeping your back flat, and grip the bar. Drive through your feet to lift the bar, extending your hips to stand up straight. Lower the bar with control, and repeat.
Passing grade: If you are able to lift your body weight with proper form for 3-5 reps, you are passing.
What it tests: This is mainly a strength training test, particularly your core, arms, grip, and posterior chain.
What it reveals: If you are able to perform this exercise successfully, it reveals core stability, hip mobility, and strong muscle groups throughout the body. Endurance is also tested with the amount of reps performed.
How to progress: For beginners, kettlebell lifts or other variations of workouts that focus on hip mobility and posterior strength are a great introduction to deadlifts. Once you feel comfortable, start deadlifting with a lower weight, building up to your body weight.
Move #3: Burpees
Step-by-step: Begin standing up, then quickly drop down into a squat, then kick your legs down into a plank position. For an extra challenge, once in the plank position, perform one push-up. Then, jump your feet up to your hands in a frog position, then explode into a jump straight up. Continue this exercise as one fluid motion.
Passing grade: If you can properly complete 15-20 burpees in under one minute, you are passing.
What it tests: Burpees test your cardiovascular endurance, explosive power, full-body strength, and coordination.
What it reveals: If you are able to perform this exercise successfully, it reveals that you are conditioned in strength training and cardiovascular activity.
How to progress: For beginners, break this move down into parts, without the fluidity. Complete each individual exercise until you are able to pick up speed.
Why These Moves Work So Well
Each move tests strength, endurance, flexibility and balance in different ways by targeting different muscle groups at different speeds. Strength is tested through your ability to lift your body weight in each exercise, endurance is tested through the amount of reps you are able to do. Flexibility is tested through arm, hip and dynamic mobility in each movement. Balance is measured by the amount of control you can have over your body, especially under fatigue.
Together, all of these moves are testing the body in motion, and how it performs under load with speed and control.
How Rare Is Peak Fitness?
While it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how many people can complete these moves, studies have shown that over half of Americans struggle to complete 10 push-ups, a very small number of Americans train with enough consistency to deadlift their bodyweight, and while many people can do burpees, the challenge comes with maintaining a pace and form for one minute.
If you are able to successfully and properly complete all of these exercises, you are in the top percentile of fit Americans.
What to Do If You Can’t Pass
If you fail one or more of these moves, the main thing to focus on is determination. Physical fitness can be more mentally challenging in the long run, and it’s very easy to get discouraged if you can’t properly complete a move. Slow down, start from the beginning, and work your way up to a successful rep. Prioritize form over speed or weight, and remain consistent. Down the road, you’ll be able to look back at how far you’ve come in your fitness journey.
