Yes­ter­day, I did a Polar BodyAge assess­ment at the gym to get a base­line fit­ness level to set train­ing goals and pace. It’s basi­cally a series of sim­ple tests to deter­mine your “phys­i­cal age” as opposed to your “chrono­log­i­cal age.” (Their “phys­i­cal age” is deter­mined by the median test results for test sub­jects at every “chrono­log­i­cal age” bracket.)

When I first came in, the trainer asked me about my goals. I told him I wanted to improve my strength, lung capac­ity, and flex­i­bil­ity. He also asked about my fit­ness his­tory and any health issues that might come up.

Then the tests:

• The car­dio­vas­cu­lar test was sup­pos­edly a mea­sure of VO2max, but that test is nor­mally per­formed with a breath­ing tube while tread­milling to exhaus­tion. Instead, I just put on a heart mon­i­tor and lay still for about 5 min­utes. The mea­sure was based on heuris­tics with my rest­ing heartrate as the start­ing point. I got 48.0 ml/​kg/​min, “mod­er­ate” for my age bracket. (I expected lower, but this result might be because of the car­dio I had been doing this week.)
• The strength test was per­formed by doing a bicep curl with a bar that is attached to a scale. I got 75.0 pounds, “fair” for my age bracket.
• The flex­i­bil­ity test was per­formed by hold­ing a han­dle with a string while doing a sit and reach. I got 9.3 inches, “low” for my age bracket.
• The body com­po­si­tion test was a seven-​site caliper test. I got 28.4% body fat, “high” for my age bracket. (I expected a higher body fat mea­sure, but that was based on esti­ma­tions based on com­par­ing my pic­ture to others.)
• The nutri­tion test was a twelve-​question sur­vey about nutri­tion habits. I aver­aged 2.6 on a 1 – 5 scale (below average).
• The trainer also mea­sured my height, weight, neck, shoul­ders, chest, waist, abdomen, hips, biceps, fore­arms, thighs, knees, and calves, but those do not seem to weigh into my BodyAge.

The final analysis:

I have a BodyAge of 33 com­pared to my actual age of 28. That means that I am as fit as the aver­age 33-​year-​old male. (I won­der about their study sample.)

The pro­gram rec­om­men­da­tions, pri­or­i­tized by effect on my BodyAge: lower body fat per­cent­age, improve flex­i­bil­ity, improve car­dio­vas­cu­lar score, improve strength, improv­ing nutri­tion habits. So basi­cally, the goals I had already laid out for myself.