[SuperClyde]

People -

I've been thinking about getting my physical fitness tested at my local university. I was considering reaching out to their Athletic Training or Sports Science department to see if they needed "samples" for their students choosing to major in Sports Science, etc.

I'm looking to get my body fat measured, my power/wattage output, flexibility....etc, the whole 9 yards.

Before I make the call next week to see if they do this....has anyone had any experience doing this sort of thing with their local university? If not the local U, how about a local sports clinic? Any suggestions?

I'm looking to see how I stack up against other people in my age bracket in overall fitness.

Thanks for any input.

 

[LyndaW]

Many tests are valid to track performance improvements over time. The key is to choose one or two and repeat them exactly over years. Very few fitness tests will give you a comparison of how you rank compared to your peers. The best "test" is race results and second best is power to weight ratio.

 

[iliveonnitro]

I wish I could tell you. My room is full of college students right now and none of them know for sure if my college does that.

I do know, however, that my local gym (Lifetime Fitness) does it.

gl.

 

[en are es]

Its my personal belief that you would have much more luck at a gym. Regardless, you can test most of those things at home I believe... up to you if you want the fancy tools to do simple tests I suppose.

 

[Dwayne]

3 years ago while attending Penn State I found a flyer requesting volunteers for a graduate student's kinesiology experiment. Part of the preparation for his experiment required full testing of me, including blood works, an EKG, body fat analysis, and a treadmill fitness test measuuring VO2 and tons of other stuff. Also got a few dollars at the end of it.

That would be my suggestion. Go find your school's kinesiology department (or whatever they have closest to that) and see if they need volunteers for anything.

 

[The SS Boz]

Yes I participated in a study at my school 2 years ago..........and they had them on a few occasions...it was usually a graduate or doctoral study in our excercise science/physiology dept.

In the study i participated in we were guinea pigs to see if certain supplements improved perfomance......we had the usual tests...weight, body fat, blood sample, blah blah.....but the cool part is we had 3 VO2 max tests which will run ya big bucks if ya just go and pay for one and also had a few tests of power/watts....

And this program was cycling specific...over the course of a month.....so it involved training on the bike and using the computrainer in the lab...it was pretty instense and i started that year off flying on the race course

A side note is what was to be expected: ....the MTB'ers had the highest Vo2 of all the cyclists tested....we felt special

-Boz