After you’ve completed the first level of the HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com Conditioning Gauntlet for men, give level 2 a try.
If you’ve been around the site you should know that I don’t care if how much someone can bench press or if they do Zottman curls. The scale can’t measure a person’s fitness level and weight loss isn’t an indication of improvement of any kind. Performance and capability rules the day and is what matters when measuring the success of a fitness program and a person’s progress.
I have developed a “Conditioning Gauntlet” that I use with clients and kids on the teams I coach, and have guidelines for both men and women. The Gauntlet is split into 2 sections. The first section consists of pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, 60-yard shuttle runs and the broad jump and the second section consists of the split jerk, squat, military press, dead lift and snatch.
There are no body building exercises – did I mention that Zottman curls don’t matter? – and as a matter of fact, there aren’t any weight lifting exercises.
There are 2 levels for each section that reflect difficulty and conditioning level.
Here’s level 2 of the HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com Conditioning Gauntlet for men.
- Pull-ups – 1 set of 15 repetitions
- Push-ups – 1 set of 75 repetitions
- Sit-ups – 1 set of 70 repetitions
- Broad jump – 9 feet (best of 3 jumps)
- 60-yard shuttle runs – complete 12 in 12 seconds (or under) each taking 48 seconds rest in between shuttles
If you can do any one of these tasks you’re probably in pretty good shape, especially the shuttle runs. However, being able complete these level 2 tasks consecutively, means you are in fantastic shape. Just as you would do before any training session, allow plenty of time to warm up.
Do a set of each “event” and give yourself no more than 3-minutes in between exercises before running the Gauntlet. You cannot try to complete this test until you have worked on these events and completed level 1 of the Gauntlet. The shuttle runs alone are much more than most people can handle. Level 2 of the HealthAndFitnessAdvice.com Conditioning Gauntlet for men provides an accurate measure of your fitness level and anyone who can complete this test is in fantastic shape, no matter what the numbers on the scale say.
