Testing different aspects of fitness

     Last post deep dived the difference between Maximum Muscular Strength and Maximum Muscular Power testing you can find that here. Today's post will focus more on Anaerobic capacity, local muscular endurance, aerobic capacity and change of direction.

    Each of the listed components has direct application to not only sports but everyday life. Athletic wise each component has merits. I have a six-year-old who loves to play tag, so I am constantly changing directions and sprinting (he is fast, so I have to try a little bit). 

    Anaerobic capacity in this sense is defined as maximum rate of energy production by the phosphagen and anaerobic glycolytic energy systems (If you need a refresher on energy systems click here). Typically, your anaerobic capacity is the max output for 30 to 90 seconds burst for either the upper body or the lower body. More often than not we are referring to the lower body in terms of sprints. Athletically think 200M or 400m sprint.

    Local muscular endurance is simply conducting an exercise that includes repeated contractions against submaximal resistance. These tests can last several seconds to several minutes. This can be broken down into body weight exercises such as push-ups, dips or pull ups. In the military we conduct hand release pushups to assess our local muscular endurance. Another way to test is to use a fixed load such as a percentage of 1RM. An example is 75% of your 1RM with a goal rep of 10 reps or putting body weight on a bench or squat and conducting as many reps as possible in an allocated amount of time. Just know that pushups only account for 80% of your body weight, so expect higher repetitions for pushups than body weight bench press.

    Aerobic capacity or aerobic power is defined as the maximum rate at which an athlete can produce energy through oxidation of energy sources (carbs, fats, proteins). This is the one test in this line of testing that nutrition plays a factor. Your body wants to use carbs for oxidation (fat and protein require more energy to oxidize). The gold standard for measuring aerobic capacity is Vo2 max. A true Vo2 max requires lab equipment and trained personal. Typically, Vo2 max is measured in field tests such as the 1-mile test, maximal aerobic speed (MAS) test or the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test. The MAS test involves lining up a series of cones along a track every 25m with increasing speed until the athlete cannot keep up with the speed. The Yo-Yo test is basically the pacer test that we all ran in high school.

    Change of direction and agility are often used interchangeably, however change of direction is changing direction while agility requires a cognitive stimulus. Change of direction tests are the T-test, 505 agility or the pro-agility test. The common theme in these tests are predetermined distance and direction. Agility would be undetermined direction with the added sports specific stimuli or anticipation. Think a reactionary drill that the coach (or opposing player) determines the direction. A definitive agility test would be to cover a Wide Receiver in American Football