How fit are you? 11 ways to easily test your strength, balance and mobility – and make them all better
How often do you take a long hard look at your body? Not how it appears in the mirror, but how strong, flexible and capable it is. Even if you run, lift or stretch semi-regularly, it’s possible that you’re missing a niggle or imbalance that’s easy to fix now, but could blossom into serious problems in a few months or years. It’s also possible that a couple of easy exercises could give a huge boost to your later life, thanks to improved cardiovascular endurance, or better upper body strength.
With that in mind, we’ve assembled a team of experts to put together a kind of MOT for your body. Do all the tests – preferably not in one day – and see where you can easily improve.
For full-body mobility: the modified Cook squat
“This is the Swiss army knife of fitness assessments, giving you a snapshot of your mobility, flexibility and functional strength all in one,” says Evan Flock, coach at Sessions Personal Training. “To do it, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, bend at the waist, and reach down to touch your toes while keeping your legs straight. Next, lower your hips as far as possible, positioning your knees outside your elbows, keeping your chest up and your feet flat. Finally, raise both arms overhead, one at a time, bringing your hands in line with your ears, and come to a full stand while maintaining posture.”
This quick test can highlight a range of issues, Flock explains. “If you struggle to keep your heels down, this often indicates tight calves or restricted ankle mobility. If you shift your weight to one side, it could mean tightness in one hip compared with the other. And if you can’t keep your chest up or have trouble raising your arms overhead, it might indicate limitations in the thoracic spine, or a shoulder impingement. These complaints often come from our increasingly sedentary lifestyles – whether it’s sitting at a desk or just not moving enough.”
Improve it: Use the pigeon stretch and bird dog to improve your hip mobility and core stability. For the pigeon, start in a lunge position with your right leg forward and your left leg extended back. Lean forward a little and twist your right leg under you so the foot ends up to the left of your torso and your shin is on the ground. Then lean forward some more, keeping your left leg fully extended behind you. Use your hands and forearms to support your weight as much as you need. Hold this position for 20 seconds, then switch sides. For the bird dog, start on your hands and knees, with hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Extend one leg back in line with your body while simultaneously extending the opposite arm forward. Repeat five or six times a side. “I’ve had clients tell me how these simple stretches helped them play with their kids pain-free or finally get through a workday without lower back discomfort,” says Flock. “They might seem small, but they can be life-changing.”
For upper body mobility: the back scratcher
You might be familiar with this one from PE lessons, but it’s a great test of range of motion and mobility in your shoulders. Reach one arm over your shoulder and down your back as far as possible, while reaching your other arm up your back from the bottom. Try to touch or overlap your fingers, then repeat on the other side. “If you’re within one and a half hand lengths, you have fair mobility, but a space of two hand lengths or more indicates that you have restricted mobility,” says Lekshmi Kumar, a performance physiologist at Human Powered Health.
Improve it: Good shoulder health comes from a combination of strength, flexibility and posture. “Start doing exercises like the doorway stretch,” says Kumar. “Spread your arms apart across an open doorway, and step forward to gently stretch your chest and shoulders.”
If you can get hold of a resistance band, pull-aparts are a helpful strength-building option: hold one at chest height, and pull your hands apart as far as you can, pause at the end of the movement, then release.
For upper-body strength: the wall press-up
Not everyone’s capable of a strict press-up, but this movement can help you work towards one – and you don’t need to get down on the floor to do it. “To test your strength, stand at arm’s length from a wall, and put your hands against it at shoulder height,” says Michael Betts, director at Train Fitness. “Now bend your arms until your nose is almost touching the wall. Hold this position with good form and your body straight for as long as you can – more than 30 seconds is great, and under 10 shows that you need to work on it.” This also tests shoulder stability and upper body endurance – both of which are essential for everyday activities and injury prevention.
Improve it: Start doing wall press-ups regularly. Begin with three sets of five, and add a rep or two as it gets easier until you’re up to three sets of 15. At this point, you can press up on lower and lower objects – a table, say, or park bench – until you’re able to do the full thing on the floor.
For balance: the standing cross-crunch
A review of evidence from Public Health England suggests that balance is correlated with improved quality of life at all ages, and it’s never too late to start working on it. Go slightly further than the classic one-legged balance with this movement from Claire Floquet, a wellness coach and ambassador for Active IQ. “Stand on your left leg, keeping your right foot lifted about 10cm off the ground. Extend your left arm overhead, then perform a ‘crunch’ by bending your right knee upward and bringing your left elbow down, so they meet slightly above your hip. Return to the starting position, then complete 10 repetitions without letting your right foot touch the ground. Switch sides and repeat standing on your right leg.”
Don’t hold on to anything – but if you’re struggling to balance, perform the movement with your finger gently touching a wall for support.
Improve it: The best way to develop your balance is a little bit at a time. Stand on one leg while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil or brushing your teeth – and if you need to use a finger for support, graduate to putting it underneath a table so it’s not taking your weight.
For spinal stability: the toe touch
“Whether you want to lift big weights, pick up your kids’ toys without throwing out your back, or get up off the ground after a fall, you’ll need to be able to touch your toes throughout your entire life,” says Evan Flock. “People typically think it comes down to tight hamstrings, but often the culprit is the mobility of the spine and the stability of the core.”
Improve it: “There are three exercises you can try,” says Flock. “It can benefit you to retest the toe touch after each exercise to see which provides you with the most improvement.”
First is the single-leg touch, which stretches your hamstrings: standing with one leg straight and the other crossed over it, drive your hips back and attempt to touch your toes on the straight leg. Hold before switching sides.
For spinal mobility, try the baby cobra, which helps you extend before you bend – lie on your belly with your hands under your shoulders, then lift your chest a few inches off the ground. Perform 15-20 gentle reps, holding the top position for five to 10 seconds each rep. To make this easier, do it with your forearms in contact with the ground.
Finally, try the deadbug: lie flat on your back with your arms extended straight up. Bend your hips and knees to 90 degrees. Brace your core, then slowly reach one arm backwards over your head and toward the floor as you simultaneously extend the opposite knee and hip toward the floor. Reverse the movement and perform on the opposite side, repeating for roughly 60 seconds.
For core strength: the plank
Your core – that includes your abdominal muscles, but also all the other muscles that make up your midsection, including your obliques and lower back – is mainly used for “bracing” against resistance, whether that comes from a shopping bag you’re carrying or standing up on a surfboard.
“That’s why the plank is a great test,” says the pilates coach Portia Page. “It also tests your overall stability as it engages the stabiliser muscles in your shoulders, back and legs. Start with your forearms on the ground with elbows aligned below your shoulders and arms parallel to your body, about shoulder-width apart. Make sure your body forms a straight line from your head to your heels, and hold for as long as possible – 30 seconds is OK, but two minutes is great.”
Improve it: If you’re struggling to hold a plank at all, start by holding a press-up position on a wall or table – but concentrate on keeping your abs and lower back tight, so your hips don’t sag or rise up. Do a couple of holds a couple of times a week, and challenge yourself to improve.
For lower body mobility: the sit-to-stand
“It turns out that the ability to sit and stand without using your hands for support correlates with a long, active life,” says Jarlo Ilano, a physiotherapist and the co-founder of Gold Medal Bodies. “That doesn’t mean sitting and standing will prevent death, but it does suggest that maintaining the leg strength to lift yourself off the floor makes it less likely you’ll be confined to a bed or unable to care for yourself. Sitting and standing can also be an interesting movement challenge in its own right – there are lots of ways to do it.” Ideally, you should be able to get up without using your hands in a variety of ways.
Improve it: “One of the simplest ways to improve your ability to do this is spending some time in a kneeling lunge position,” says Ilano. “Get down into a lunge position with the top of your rear foot and shin on the floor and your other foot flat in front of you. Spend some time moving around, working on your ankle, knee and hip mobility.” Do this whenever you get a chance, and test yourself again in a few weeks.
For lower body strength: the step pistol squat
Squats are a good indicator of lower body strength, but this test makes sure you’re not relying too much on one leg – if you’re much better on one side than the other, it’s an indication of a muscular imbalance that may come from an old injury. “Sit on a low step or bench, and lift one foot off the ground, extending your leg straight in front of you,” says Floquet. “Push through your standing leg to stand up, keeping your hands at your sides or crossed over your chest, then lower yourself back to the seat with control. Try to repeat five times on both sides to test strength in each leg.”
Improve it: If you can’t manage this even from a relatively high chair, work on your single-leg strength with lunges or split squats – take a big step forward, then bend your front knee until your trailing knee almost touches the ground. Repeat a few times, rest, and do the same on the other side. Try it once or twice a week.
For foot strength: the toe lift
“Can you lift just your big toe up off the ground – without lifting any of the others?” asks the exercise physiologist Dr Milica McDowell. “If you can’t do it independently, use your hand to lift the toe, then see if you can at least hold it once it’s up. This gives us an idea of great-toe mobility and strength, and this is an important predictor of fall risk.” It’s also a good indicator of your readiness to walk – and adding to your daily step count is one of the simplest ways to lower your mortality risk from all causes.
Improve it: “If you can’t do this easily, start with ‘toe yoga’ by practising the movements – using the foot muscles to fight it falling back to the floor,” says McDowell. “This is a fun test that has a huge payoff, and you can see pretty immediate improvements if you train it for a couple weeks.”
For calf strength: the heel raise
“Calf strength is important for everyone and all types of movement, from running marathons to using a vacuum,” says the We Run andUK Athletics-certified coach Amanda Grimm. “To test your strength and endurance, stand facing a wall, looking straight forward – with your arms relaxed beside you or fingertips on the wall in front of you for balance. Bend a knee and lift the foot behind you so you are standing solidly on the other leg, then raise your grounded heel up until you’re on your toes and the ball of your foot, tightening your thigh muscles to straighten your knee and leg. Hold for one, then lower back down.” You should be able to do at least 25 if you’re under 40 – and five less every two decades as you age.
Improve it: “It’s advisable to practise single-leg heel raises daily,” says Grimm. “They’re helpful for a number of muscle groups and for people of all ages, including children and those recovering from injury. Build up by making them part of your routine – try doing reps while waiting for the kettle to boil or at the bus stop. You can also switch out the wall for a chair and do the exercises while watching TV or listening to the radio.”
For cardio health: the Rockport walk test
Several studies have shown that aerobic fitness is a strong predictor of how long you’ll live and your risk of multiple diseases – but there’s also evidence that cardiovascular health can be protective against dementia. “Higher seems to be better – and there doesn’t appear to be an upper limit, at least that we’ve found so far,” says Brady Holmer, author of VO2 Max Essentials. VO2 max is one of the best measures of cardio fitness, and there are lots of horrible ways to find yours, but the Rockport test requires a “submaximal” effort – which means you can do it without feeling too awful afterwards. To do it, walk one mile (1.6km) as fast as possible on a flat course, without breaking into a run. Record the time and your heart rate immediately after finishing, then plug your results into this online calculator.
Improve it: “The best type of training to improve your VO2 max is going to be high-intensity interval training – something that’s performed at 85% to 95% of your maximal heart rate,” says Holmer. “This will typically involve performing high-intensity intervals that last between one and four minutes.” That said, don’t go too hard, too fast – low and moderate-intensity exercise can still provide plenty of benefits.
