For some people, fitness is having a slim waist. Others look at fitness in terms of rippling muscles or great stamina. It’s easy to tell when you’re not fit: You run out of breath or get exhausted quickly. Why is it important to assess your fitness level in the first place? Let ZOZOFIT break it down for you here.

Why Is It Important To Assess Your Fitness Level at the Beginning?

To reach your exercise goals, first you need to figure out where to start. Assessing your current fitness level can give you a hand in:

• Personal goals: Your body is unique and so are your circumstances. Fitness objectives have to take these factors into account to be effective. A fitness assessment is like a map. It shows you where you are right now in relation to where you want to be.
• Exercise safety: Assessing your fitness level can help you avoid overdoing things or injuring yourself. For example, if you try to lift weights that are too heavy for your current capabilities, you can end up hurting your muscles, damaging your joints or worse.
• Measurable results: Fitness measurements let you track your results over weeks and months. It feels good to see progress. At first, you may only be able to do 10–20 pushups total. When you can comfortably do 40 or 50 reps, you know your arms are stronger than before.
• Effective workouts: You need to put forth effort if you want to burn calories or increase your strength. A few pushups or a leisurely stroll isn’t going to cut it. Assessing your fitness level helps you determine how far you need to push yourself to hit your target heart rate with cardio exercises.

How Can You Assess Your Fitness Level?

There are several methods for checking fitness:

• Heart rate when resting
• Time to run 1.5 miles
• Target beats per minute
• Total pushup count
• Body mass index
• Waist measurements

Why Is It Important To Assess Your Fitness Level Periodically?

As you exercise, your body changes. Muscles become stronger, your heart works more efficiently and your energy levels may improve. To keep challenging yourself and maintaining excellent fitness, you need to gradually increase the amount of exercise you do.

Another reason to assess your fitness from time to time is that it helps you stay motivated. Seeing how far you’ve come can make your effort feel worth it. When you see the benefits of working out for yourself, it gives you the drive to keep going.

Why Is It Important To Assess Your Fitness Level Realistically?

Resist the temptation to look at fitness in terms of a specific physical appearance. Many ad campaigns use Photoshop to alter the measurements of models, equating fitness with an impossibly thin waist. The truth is that real fitness doesn’t always sculpt your body as quickly as you wish or in the spots you want.

Being in great shape doesn’t always mean huge numbers on the scale, either. Then why is it important to assess your fitness level? Put simply, being fit is good for your health. Increased stamina, better muscle tone and a lower resting heart rate can make your life better. Measure key fitness factors with state-of-the-art tools like the ZOZOFIT app.