Earlier this week, Ray D'Arcy spoke with Professor Niall Moyna about all things Operation Transformation 2021 - you can listen back above at the 18 minute mark.
Earlier this week, Ray D'Arcy took to the airwaves to take on Operation Transformation's Professor Niall Moyna's 'minimum fitness test'.
According to Moyna, the four components that are important for health-related fitness are: cardiovascular fitness, muscular strength and endurance, balance, and an ideal body weight or composition.
The great thing about health-related fitness is that we can assess ourselves at home. So, if you want to take note of your fitness levels before setting some goals for 2021, you can take on four simple challenges.
Of course, your results will depend on various factors including your age, gender and height so be sure to visit ot.rte.ie to get your final result.
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Stand on one leg with your eyes closed
- Remove your shoes and socks.
- Cross your arms and raise your preferred leg and hold the position for 30 seconds with your eyes open (do this to ensure that you can safely perform the rest of the test).
- Repeat the same task for 30 seconds with your eyes closed.
- Your time is up when you lose balance / if your standing foot moves / your eyes open / your foot touches the floor.
- You can take 3 attempts and record your best score
Press Ups
- The starting position is facing down with your weight distributed on the hands and feet, arms straight. The body is rigid and straight, and the hands are placed approximately shoulder width apart.
- Lower your body until your chest nears the floor at the bottom of the movement, upper arms parallel with the ground and then return up to the starting position.
- Note: If you are male, you are required to do full press-ups to pass the test. If you are female, you are required to do modified press-ups.
Sit to stand
- Sit in the middle of the chair
- Place your hands on the opposite shoulder crossed at the wrists.
- Keep your feet flat on the floor.
- Keep your back straight and keep your arms against your chest
- On "Go," rise to a full standing position and then sit back down again.
- Repeat this for 30 seconds.
12 minute travel test
- Time yourself as you walk or run for 12 minutes, aiming to cover as much distance as possible.
- Measure the distance you've travelled over the 12 minutes using a fitness tracker or an app that records distance (If you don't have a fitness tracker, another option is to use your local running track as it is usually a fixed 400 meter distance).
- You must push yourself as hard as you can to maximize the distance covered.
Waistline measurement
- Make sure you haven't eaten a large meal in the last hour.
- Find the bottom of your ribs and the top of your hips.
- Bring your two feet directly under your hips, toes pointing straight ahead.
- If you have a partner, place your hands on your opposite shoulders and allow them to do the measurement.
- Wrap a tape measure (or a non-stretchy string) around your waist, halfway between these points (Do the measurement in front of a mirror and make sure the tape is straight and even and not twisted).
- Breathe out naturally before taking the measurement.
- Record the measurement in either centimetres or inches.
- Repeat the measurement and make sure you are accurate to 1 cm.
- If your waist is larger than 102cm/40inches for men and 94cm/37inches for women, then we would advise you to have your waist professionally measured.
As an avid runner, it comes as no surprise that Ray is in good nick when it came to the minimum fitness test. To hear exactly how he got on with the four challenges, listen back to his chat with Professor Niall Moyna on RTÉ Radio 1 at the top of the page.
