Monday, April 24, 2006

Fitness for Life Test Results

The fitness for life program at Cleveland State University offers individual exercise program recommendations based on evaluation of physical fitness; safe and supervised group exercise geared to each participant's physical capacities; information on improving and maintaining physical condition, weight control, and prevention of training injuries; and a structure for tracking exercise participation and achievements.

Members receive stress tests; measures of their body composition, flexibility, muscular strength and lung capacity; blood analyses; a health risk appraisal; a baseline to assess level of fitness and set exercise guidelines; and a follow-up at the end of the year to help measure improvement in fitness level.

I have been in the program for 5 years and can proudly say that after taking the once a year tests this past Monday there has been improvement in my overall results compared to all the previous years.

Here is a list of the biggest change in results from 4/23/02 with today's summary:

Weight: then 157lbs. now 142lbs.
Body Mass Index: then 23.2kg/m2 now 21.0kg/m2
Total Cholesterol: then 182ml/dL now 173ml/dL
HDL Cholesterol: then 42ml/dL now 54ml/dL
LDL Cholesterol: then 106ml/dL now 106ml/dL
Triglycerids: then 169ml/dL now 61ml/dL
Glucose: then 107ml/dL then 87ml/dL
Blood Pressure - Systolic: then 138mm/Hg now 130mm/Hg
Blood Pressure - Diastolic: then 90mm/Hg now 86mm/Hg
Max VO2: then 60.0ml/kg min now 68.4ml/kg min
Body Composition: then 12.7% fat now 6.8% fat
And the interesting number is my Body Age which is 35 compared to my chronological age of 46.

It's weird when people at work tell me, "you've lost weight". And that I look trim, lean, mean, and thinner. I am surprised people notice these things because if you ask me I don't think I pay attention to peoples weight gain or loss. Ok, I did unconsciously lose 9 pounds since this past January. But all I did was add 3 times a week of dumbbells with the exercise ball to my regular swimming, biking, and running routine. And maybe I have become more aware of my nutrition intake. I try to follow the grazing method of eating healthy foods throughout the day. As my wife's 90 year old grandma would say, "that's all I know".

11 comments:

psbowe said...

That's pretty awesome, great job! I would be so proud of that kind of improvement too!

qcmier said...

Those are some awesome results you've got there. How could I get involved with this?

Deb said...

Wow, some pretty impressive numbers in there! Great program, huh?! What a great way to show your family you care....to take care of yourself! Kudo's, and here's to a long healthy life!

JeffM said...

6.8% fat, that's a great number. Sounds like a good program.

Anonymous said...

Wow Lou, I'm impressed. Especially the body fat % and the body age.

Pixie said...

AWESOME JOB! That is great! Keep up the good work. :)

Janet Edwards said...

Sounds like a very interesting evaluation!

Amazing results in a year!

Kewl Nitrox said...

Wow great results! You are one fit dude!

I admire your healthy eating habbits. I am trying but hard to do with my constant travels...

Trifrog said...

And you'd still probably be whoopin' all of us in the 35-39 agegroup!

I used to look at all those numbers and change my lifestyle accordingly to maximize (or minimize) the readings.

I got away from doing that because it seemed like it was more work than it was worth, but it did help me establish good habits in my attempt to improve that I still hold with me today.

But I doubt my data is as good as it used to be either, just probably better than it otherwise would have been had I never paid attention.

Trisaratops said...

Awesome stats!!! Some of my buddies have said I looked like I've lost weight, which is funny, because in the past 3 months or so I've actually gained a pound or two--but went down a clothes size! I think it's gotta be the weight training. Gotta love it! Who needs a scale? :)

Anonymous said...

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