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Fitness Testing & Benchmarks

A short battery of fitness tests with written protocols, fixed test-day conditions and a results register, retested at every block end so time trials, max lifts and VO2 estimates show real progress, not noise.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Fitness Testing & Benchmarks, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

Before you start: this plan is general information, not medical advice. Check with a doctor before starting a new training programme, especially if you have a health condition, are pregnant or are coming back from an injury, and stop if you feel pain, dizziness or chest discomfort.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

209

Starter tasks

🏋️ Fitness & Sport

Fitness Testing & Benchmarks

Running regular fitness tests such as time trials, max lifts and VO2 estimates to measure progress objectively between training blocks.

  1. Picking four tests that match your training goal
  2. Pre-test health screen and stop rules
  3. Written protocol card for each test
  4. Standard conditions checklist for test days
  5. Course, venue and equipment check
  6. Test results register with conditions noted
  7. Baseline test week
  8. Testing calendar tied to block ends
  9. Standard warm-up used before every test
  10. End-of-block retest week
  11. Rotating monthly benchmark
  12. Monthly submaximal check at a fixed workload
  13. Weekly jump test as a freshness signal
  14. Post-test review and next-block decisions
  15. Quarterly body composition under fixed conditions
  16. Annual full test battery and year comparison
  17. Protocol drift audit
  18. How VO2 max estimates are made and where they mislead
  19. Pacing a time trial evenly
  20. Running a safe one-rep max test session
  21. Field threshold tests for power and pace
  22. Reading norms and percentiles without fooling yourself
  23. Sprint and jump timing with a phone camera
  24. Push-up, pull-up and plank endurance tests
  25. What happens in a lab VO2 max and lactate test
  26. Lab test booking, worth the money or not
  27. Rep-max test or true one-rep max for each lift
  28. Watch VO2 max estimate versus a field test
  29. How often to test without costing training
  30. Retiring a test that no longer tells you anything
  31. Turning the weakest result into the next block's priority
  32. Choosing between stopwatch, timing gates and apps
  33. Booking and preparing for a lab test day
  34. Club pre-season fitness test preparation
  35. Entrance fitness test for a service or academy
  36. Timed public 5 km as a free benchmark
  37. Goal race result checked against your test predictions
  38. Testing before and after a training camp
  39. Twenty-minute test set for athletes short of time
  40. Hybrid athletes testing strength and endurance in one week
  41. Recording cycle phase alongside test results
  42. Age-graded results for athletes over 40
  43. Testing in heat, altitude or an unfamiliar venue
  44. Coaching a squad through a testing session
  45. Repeatability trial for your main test
  46. Critical power or critical speed from three efforts
  47. Power-duration or speed-duration profile
  48. Force-velocity profile from loaded jumps
  49. Portable lactate analyser step test
  50. Thirty-second all-out test for anaerobic capacity

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Picking four tests that match your training goal

Most athletes test whatever their app or gym happens to offer, then wonder why the results never change a training decision. Four tests chosen on purpose, one for each quality your goal depends on, give a short battery you can repeat every block without it swallowing a training week.

First tasks

  • Write your main training goal for the next six months in one sentence
  • List the physical qualities that goal depends on, most important first
  • Pick one repeatable test for each quality on the list
  • Note what kit, venue or helper each chosen test needs

Pre-test health screen and stop rules

Maximal tests ask more of the heart and joints than almost any training session, which is why clubs and labs use a short pre-exercise questionnaire before them. Answering a recognised screening form honestly, and taking any yes answer to your doctor before testing, turns an unknown risk into a known one. Writing down the signs that end a test on the spot means nobody has to decide mid-effort.

First tasks

  • Find a recognised pre-exercise screening questionnaire from a sports medicine body
  • Answer every question honestly and date the form
  • Book a doctor's appointment for any question you answered yes
  • Write the stop signs at the top of each protocol card
  • Repeat the screening questionnaire before your first test of the year @recurring(yearly)

Written protocol card for each test

Two 3 km time trials, one on a windy road after a hard week and one on a still track after two easy days, are different tests that happen to share a name. A protocol card fixes the warm-up, the course or equipment, the settings, the scoring rule and what counts as a failed attempt, so next block's number can sit beside today's. It takes half an hour per test and protects every comparison afterwards.

First tasks

  • Draft a protocol card for your most important test today
  • Copy the setup and scoring rules from a published version of each test
  • Add the rule for a failed, paused or restarted attempt
  • Ask the agent to turn your rough notes into tidy one-page cards
  • Print the cards and save a copy on your phone

Make it yours.

Install Fitness Testing & Benchmarks, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.