My Health & Fitness Assessment

It’s interesting how I got myself into signing up for this free 1 hour health & fitness assessment at California Fitness.

It was Tuesday, when Rebecca & I went for our regular workout there, a Fitness Professional (Fit Pro) approached her to ask if she’s interested to sign up for this free assessment. It so happened that I was walking up to her & I enthusiastically signed up for this as well.

This is one thing which some of my SIM friends would find odd about me. I have always been fascinated about taking tests to find out more about myself. Be it about personality, career, relationships, spiritual gifts, temperament tests, etc. Perhaps I’m just a person who is keen to find out the latest updates about myself. To me, it’s a natural inclination & fascination. Simply put, I like to ‘stay on top’ of news about myself. *Smile*… =)

So this is the day – Thursday, November 17, 2005, 7pm at California Fitness Jackie Chan Sport Club. This was when I met up with Fit Pro Asyari who came over to introduce himself to me, looking rather flustered. Maybe he was trying to rush something before his appointment with me. But I suspected that the main reason was because I had asked for him at the reception too early… 15 minutes before 7pm. Hahaha… See how eager I can get about such stuff? Just like a typical job interview… must come early, if possible 15 – 20 minutes early. Coz some companies enjoyably like to ask you to fill up those awfully long application forms… Sigh…

So both of us went up to the second floor, passing by a lot of people (as usual, its peak hour at the gym), before finally walking into this intensely square room (near the men’s changing room), where it is filled with a whole series of cubicles… after cubicles… all relatively dark blue in color & making me feel like I have just admitted myself into a scary & squeezy dark blue prison, comprising of many 1m by 1m cubicle representing each ‘prison cell’.

The last time anyone felt like this, it was probably during the 1920s, when our grand forefathers traveled in some stinking & cram wooden boat from China to Singapore. And if I remember correctly, the space allocated per immigrant was 3m by 1m… which makes better human living conditions than that horrendously small blue ‘house’ that would make any non-claustrophobic person become claustrophobic.

Nay, I’m just kidding… I’m not claustrophobic & neither did I become claustrophobic after spending several minutes in that bluish ‘square container’. But I did FEEL claustrophobic though… Anyway, jokes aside…

Asyari is a nice guy, though I felt that I was actually more comfortable talking to him, than him with me. Perhaps I warm up easier to people, especially in a place like this where the air smells fresh & clean… with crowds of people sweating it out on the cardio machines… behaving like a hamster… trying so hard, but really getting nowhere. Oh well, there are benefits of cardio exercises... but not too much.

First of all, he went through this short health history check to make sure that I was able to undergo this fitness assessment. I was cleared for all, except my leg problems, which I shared with him about an SAF medical doctor claiming that I had ligament tear in my knees, due to excessive running & wearing out of the knee cap lubrication fluid.

I referred to my knee injury as ligament tear, but I’m not sure if the doctor was right, coz he merely felt my knee caps. But until otherwise diagnosed, I will just refer to it as knee injury.

Next, he took my height & weight. My height was 1.71m & I weighed 64kg. No change so far, though my height did fluctuate very, very slightly between 1.71m – 1.73m. But no big diff… it is just 2 cm.

My blood pressure was more on the high side though… 155 / 96. I found it odd coz I seldom get readings this high. But just to cut this short, Asyari said that I was probably very excited about this fitness assessment, rather than actually having a high blood pressure… especially with the results that I got from my treadmill test, which I will elaborate later.

My overall body fat turned out to be a stunning 18.4%! I was shocked & couldn’t believe it! With my personally customized weight resistance program, I cut down 4% of body fat in 3 months! And what’s more… in a very healthy way! So you see… smart eating habits… regular proper exercise… get enough sleep… laugh as often as you can… & lo & behold… less fat! =)

And to further emphasize my achievement in terms of lesser body fat, I must say that with the exact same weight that I still weigh… this means that I have actually gained more lean muscle mass! Not those big bulky stiff muscles, but lean muscles trained by a mix of strength training & muscular endurance exercises!

Being of the same body weight also means another thing – I didn’t lose weight because of the loss of water from my body cells. This shows that I can strengthen my body, look better, feel better & still not cheat myself out of excessive loss of water! Who says you must lose A LOT of weight to feel & look good? Huh! Unless you have like full-fledged flab exploding from all corners of your body…

Anyway, he proceeded to measure the circumference of my arms, chest, waist, hip & thighs.

Arms (i.e. biceps & triceps) = 30 cm
Chest = 85 cm
Waist = 80 cm
Hip = 85 cm
Thighs = 65 cm

Based on the results, it seemed that I look quite proportionate… which is good. Coz some people may tend to over-develop their stronger arm as compared to the other weaker arm. See? That’s why it is good to train with dumbbells as well… not just with gym machines, coz we will tend to use more strength with our stronger limb & not train our weaker limb, which actually we ought to.

Finally! We got to ‘escape’ from the blue ‘prision’. No kidding… it felt odd to be sharing that same 1m by 1m cubicle with another person of the same gender.

We proceeded downstairs to the treadmill machine, where he put me on this 5 minute walk test at a speed of 7.3 & incline of 5.0. The firm instruction is that I am supposed to walk, not run… & my hands had to hold this part of the treadmill to measure my heart rate, from beginning to end.

At first I wondered why the test is about walking, not running. Then I realized that it is easier to run 5 minutes up an incline coz there is added momentum from the push off from my calves. But it is not as easy to brisk walk 5 minutes up an incline, with much less momentum. And with all that, my heart rate will be monitored throughout. It is not just the highest heart rate that will determine my eventual fitness result, but also how fast or slow my heart rate ascends & descends during the incline brisk walk.

Even for many who ‘qiong’ on those cardio machines, it may seem easy to brisk walk coz they are used to sustaining their stamina at a relatively high heart rate throughout their exercise. But note – the test here is about heart pumping capacity that determines my fitness level. In sports science biomechanics terminology, we call it “VO2”, referring to the volume of blood over the amount of oxygen that is passed through our body system throughout the whole duration of exercise.

So in short, a person may be able to sustain a high level of intensity of cardio workout, but his / heart may be working harder than the heart of a fitter person. Having the stamina to sustain through an intensive cardio workout does not mean that your heart is pumping efficiently & your oxygen absorption is high.

To cut the long story short (I’m still learning about these stuff), my eventual treadmill test result turned out as EXCELLENT. VO2 = 50.2, with a max heart rate of 124 beats per minute that steadily decreases, showing that it is a very good range for strong heart stamina.

I was smiling to myself when I saw the red words “Excellent” appear on the screen on the treadmill machine. Asyari was surprised too & told me that his own test result was about 48.0. Oh btw, I was chit chatting with him throughout my cardio test, which probably means that my VO2 could possibly be as low as his! Yeah, I think both of us are about the same fitness level! And he’s a Fit Pro, turning Personal Trainer very soon! Yeah!

Next, he brought me through a series of circuit training exercises by combining the Bosu balancing ball & 8 basic gym machines in the Express Zone area. It works like this – do 15 reps of an exercise, then jump on & off the Bosu ball, before proceeding to the next gym machine, do 15 reps then get back on the Bosu ball. And mind you, it is not just merely jumping on & off the balancing ball. There were a few combinations necessarily at each interval of completing each gym machine. But it was fun… & reminded me that my balance needs a lot of work! I finally began to sweat a bit… which is good… if not, I’ll get worried…

Finally, Asyari brought me downstairs to the exhibition room, which they use it for functional training. It is at the small boxing ring-like area where he started my last assessment item – balancing, jumping, turning & side stepping off & on the Bosu ball, in various combinations… before he finally added in the power-packed finale – throwing an 8 kg medicine ball to & fro between each other for a few minutes… while side stepping on & off the Bosu ball! Oh boy! That was tough cardio & body coordination work! And that medicine ball was heavy! And we both ended up panting quite heavily at the end. Regaining our breath, I saw his smiling & looking quite paiseh… must have been a tiring day for him…

Taking the lift back upstairs, what Asyari did next really amused me! Yet it was terribly satisfying to my heart. When we walked past Reza (my ex-BMT instructor), he exclaimed, “Wah… Fit ah!” Wow… that was the moment… the moment of moments… my heart felt warm & my ego was blooming… especially when I saw Reza grinning to himself, before saying, “Fit ah… ‘tekan’ somemore lah!” Meaning can push me harder… *Laugh*…

Sitting down at the consultation corner, Asyari began asking me how often I exercise, how I exercise, what I eat before coming to the gym, etc. And he was surprised that I actually had quite some knowledge about this area! Then I told him that I had taken the Basic Exercise Course & he exclaimed, “Oh… the BEC!” Yeah… it is a good course… trust me… go for it, if you are interested.

In fact, he was most astonished when he asked about my training program & I shared about it. He didn’t know what else to say (maybe coz he’s still a Fit Pro, but I know he’s capable of getting better at it). So I told him that I have a card that I can call to arrange for a Personal Trainer, when I needed one. Coz now I think I’m doing well… though my flexibility REALLY needs A LOT of work. So I thanked him for his time, went to warm down, shower & go home.

It was a fruitful & happy evening for me… & I was smiling & laughing quietly to myself in the shower cubicle. I really have to thank God for giving me a stronger & healthier body. And I intend to keep it that way & make it even better. If we don’t care for our body, who else would… or should I say, can?

Oh! Btw, JC Boxercise (i.e. Jackie Chan Boxercise) is started at the Bugis club! But must book attendance at least one day in advance. I'm going for next week's session! We get to use boxing gloves, punch the punching bag & even have free-style sparring with your opponent! Woohoo! It's my favourite! Go for it! =)