A direct evaluation of fitness is by strength tests, which in a general way measure the relationships between performance, condition, and strength.

A wide variety of these tests abounds but perhaps the best known is the Kraus-Weber Test.

The Kraus-Weber (K-W) Test of Minimum Muscular Fitness has six components. This test measures several large muscle groups for flexibility and strength. The higher the degree of test rating, the greater presumably is the muscular function of the body as a whole. This test is of much interest since it originally arose as the result of experience in a posture clinic where an effort was made to evaluate treatment of low back pain. Eighty percent of more than four thousand apparently healthy people were unable to pass one or more of the test items!

As these people exercised they performed better and their back complaints decreased. But—eight years later they again failed the tests and their back pains returned. They had stopped exercising.

The K-W Test is done as follows:

• Test No. 1. With his feet held on the ground by the examiner, the subject lies flat on his back with his hands behind the neck. Perform one sit-up.
• Test No. 2. The subject is in the same position except that his knees are bent with his ankles close to the buttocks. Perform one sit-up.
• Test No. 3. The subject lies flat on his back with his hands behind his neck. The legs—straight—are lifted 10 inches off the floor. Hold this position for 10 seconds.
• Test No. 4. The subject lies on his stomach with a pillow under his lower abdomen and groin. The examiner holds his feet down. Lift head, shoulders, and chest off the floor and hold for 10 seconds.
• Test No. 5. The subject’s position is the same, but the examiner holds the chest down. With knees straight, lift legs off floor and hold for 10 seconds.
• Test No. 6. The subject stands erect, barefooted, and with feet together. The examiner holds the knees straight. Bend over slowly and touch the floor with the fingertips. Hold this position for 3 seconds.

The results of this test in schoolchildren are startling. Fifty-eight percent of American children failed one or more tests as opposed to 9 percent for European children. Although the validity of this test may be challenged, comparisons of groups are meaningful. Moreover, an individual using this test has clear-cut evidence of increase or decrease in flexibility and strength.

As easy as the K-W Test seems to be, try it sometime— after you have warmed up. You might be surprised at the results.

Motor Fitness

Motor fitness is a more inclusive term than physical fitness. Physical fitness combines strength, stamina, and cardiovascular reserve. Motor fitness includes these and adds agility, balance, “explosive” power, and speed. This concept has more limited value for the sportsman but approaches an even higher level of general fitness. Because more parameters are measured, these tests tend to become increasingly complex and complicated.

Perhaps the simplest of these is the JCR Test. This is intended to assess basic motor skills such as jumping, chinning, running, and dodging which presumably require power, stamina, speed, and agility.

The J of JCR stands for the vertical jump. This is performed by having the subject stand erect, reaching as high as he can without standing on tiptoes, and making a mark on the wall.

Next, he squats down and then leaps as high as he can—making another mark on the wall. The distance between the two chalk marks is recorded.

The C is for chinning. With palms facing forward, the subject grasps a bar above his head. He then chins himself as many times as possible, making sure that his elbows are straight before each chin. Wiggling, kicking, and jerking are not allowed.

Running accounts for the R in JCR. This is a hundred-yard shuttle run. The subject runs a ten-yard course ten times—back and forth between two walls ten yards apart. His time is then measured in seconds.

In all types of fitness measurements, experts generally deplore self-testing. Unintentionally the subject may count partial movements as complete. Or the ability to time oneself may be askew. However, these objections do not apply to sportsmen provided that they always perform the test in the same manner, under the same conditions, and are measuring for comparison—improvement or deterioration. The sportsman competes only against himself in fitness tests; he is not concerned with what other individuals or other groups can or cannot do. He is checking his own progress.

Here are some case histories to show what can be achieved with strength tests.

Although generalizations on expected rates of improvement in fitness and weight reduction are fairly unreliable, specific examples illustrate what certain individuals have accomplished.

Paul is a thirty-five-year-old self-employed certified public accountant. He has a wife and three preschool children. He works between ten and twelve hours a day five to six days a week.

In an effort to get started in business he has been working long hours for almost ten years. Now he is quite successful. When he graduated from college he was in excellent physical condition, having competed successfully in intramural sports. As the years went by he discovered that he was too tired at the end of the day to do anything other than collapse into an easy chair when he arrived home. Having once experienced fitness he decided to get back into shape. Usually this would be insufficient motivation for success, but in Paul’s case it worked.

His program consisted of jogging for ten minutes before breakfast, followed by fifteen minutes of calisthenics. Although this plan would be boring to most people, Paul enjoyed it. During the first six months of his program he was able to increase from sixteen to fifty sit-ups, from two to twenty-five push-ups, and from one to six pull-ups. He is now fit again and enjoying his leisure time more than he has in the last ten years.

Herb is a forty-five-year-old attorney who was concerned about his paunchy  appearance.  His complaint was,   ”My weight all goes to my midriff.” It was pointed out to Herb that this, in fact, was not entirely true but that the skin-fold test  over his abdomen was only slightly greater than over his shoulder.

He then realized that his business-man’s paunch was due more to poor muscle tone than to excess fat. He started playing squash three to four times a week at the end of the day. After two games of squash, which took him about twenty-five minutes, he then reserved two to three minutes for interim exercises.

At first he was breathless, and played erratic squash. In three months his weight dropped from 182 to 174 pounds and at the end of four months he was able to play a consistently steady game of squash. He plays squash with his friends, and if they are unavailable for the late afternoon date, he relies on the club pro. He plans his squash dates in advance and allows nothing to interfere with these appointments. His bay window has almost disappeared and he has much more pep.

Roger is a fifty-six-year-old sales manager of a nationwide automobile firm. He has a high position and soon expects to be appointed an officer of the company. He found that he woke up tired in the morning. He also was tired all day long and was bothered by being constantly jittery. This not only left him irritable, but with a fine tremor of his hands when he attempted to lift a coffee cup or write memorandums. He “never felt quite right.” He found that he no longer had the ability to relax and consequently “ate all day long.” At that time he weighed 206 pounds.

He went with his family for a month’s summer vacation in Canada, where he spent his time hunting, fishing, and living an outdoor life. He was amazed at how well he felt at the end of that month. He no longer suffered from nervousness and fatigue. When he came back to the big city he “felt great” and wanted to maintain his improved fitness.

Accordingly, he gave up desserts and sweets but did not otherwise alter his diet. He made increasing use of his daily activities by not using elevators and by walking. He also joined the businessmen’s club at the YMCA, where twice a week he went to class with other businessmen.

On weekends he and his wife walked an hour a day in the woods behind his house. At first he found that he was panting as he ascended a small hill in the area. After two months he found that walking up the hill was entirely effortless, and in seven months his weight had come down to 178 pounds and he was able to pass the skin-fold test. He now has developed a prescribed pathway through the woods and occasionally requests that

his wife time him to see if he is improving, and he is. Moreover, a previously incredulous neighbour now occasionally accompanies him and has difficulty keeping up.