Assessing Muscular Fitness

Muscular strength and muscular endurance are two important components in assessing your fitness ability.

Muscular fitness is a health-related component because it improves or maintains the following:

• The fat-free mass and resting metabolic rate, which is related to weight gain
• Bone mass, which is related to osteoporosis
• Glucose tolerance, which is related to type 2 diabetes
• Musculotendinous integrity, which is related to a lower risk of injury, including low-back pain
• The ability to carry out the activities of daily living, which is related to self-esteem

Muscular strength refers to the maximal force that can be generated by a specific muscle or muscle group. It is most commonly tested by a 1-RM, which is a one repetition max. The idea is that you calculate and lift the maximal amount you can in one setting. I Do Not recommend you try this test at home without supervision. This test is best reserved for the fitness setting. I can give you some guidelines on determining the appropriate amount of weight to lift for weight training. Typically the 1-RM is used to determine your starting weight.

In determining your starting weight you must first find a weight that you know you can lift repeatedly without complication. Then add 5-10 pounds. The idea of weight training is to completely fatigue your muscle group by the end of the set. You should first start with one set and 8-15 repetitions. If you are wanting to build bulk you should do less reps and if you are just interested in health benefits or toning you should go with higher reps. Regardless of the number of repetitions (number of times you lift the weights in one set) you should find that the last one is very difficult to complete. If so, you are fatiguing your muscles and building strength appropriately.

Muscular Endurance
Muscular Endurance is the ability of a muscle group to execute repeated contractions over a period of time sufficient to cause muscular fatigue, or to maintain a specific percentage of the maximum voluntary contraction for a prolonged period of time.

One common test is the push-up test.

Push-Up
Males complete push-ups in the full position, feet and hands on the ground; females perform the push-up in the modified position with the knees on the ground. The purpose of the test is to complete as many push-ups as possible,