Test 04 ENDURANCE
The good news is that I don’t have to just keep rowing 2km in order to improve, says Marchon. I should sometimes row longer than 2km (ah…), to build capacity and make 2km seem easier, and sometimes shorter, to build intensity and get used to rowing at a faster rate with good technique – which won’t happen if I try to smash out 2km every time. Four lots of 500m with a minute or two of rest in between (make it two), three lots of 750m, two lots of 1km – as I build up, my 2km time will come down.
The Results Are In
A week later, when I’ve just about recovered, Morgan emails me my FitScore on a Fifa Ultimate Team-style player card. Speed: 45. Strength: 37. Power: 36. Endurance: 55. Overall: 43 (the average of the four). That puts me somewhere between Novo and Open, says Morgan, who believes that my score would be much higher if I retested after a few weeks of training in gyms. “You have Open potential, without a doubt,” he tells me. Elite
NFG competitors score in the mid-80s. If I’m being kind to myself, I’d say I’ve got ample room for improvement.
“I think you did all right, for what it’s worth,” says Johnston, which from a professional rugby performance expert means a lot. He gives me credit for putting my “you-know-what on the block”. Athletic Thinking talks to sports clubs and businesses alike about the fear of failure, which inhibits performance. But without failure, it’s hard to learn from mistakes.
Time-poor people today tend to stop playing competitive sport at an early age, says Morgan. To compensate, they spend more time in the gym, which replaces the fitness benefits but not always the sense of competition – CrossFit being a notable exception. Morgan suspects that part of the NFG’s appeal to retired athletes is that they miss the competitive buzz. Everyone’s wired differently, says Morgan, but competition “brings out the best in us”.
Fitness competitions, like a marathon, also give you a reason to train. They’re an end to justify the means. “You’re more likely to keep doing the miles every week if you know that in four months’ time you’ve got to run 26.2 of them in front of a big crowd,” says Morgan. And big crowds, as at the NFG, often spur you onto a PB.
With full-time office work likely a thing of the past for many, thanks to remote working, events such as the NFG will become even more about social interaction, says Johnston. There’ll be an “outpouring of desire to do things” following the pandemic, which has highlighted the importance not only of connection but also of keeping fit. “We’ve got to get the nation moving, and what better way to do it?”
Morgan suggests that I attend the Edinburgh FitGames in June and maybe even compete. I’m not as fit as I should be. But now I know where I am, and where I’m trying to get to. Armed with a customisable bodyweight programme from Athletic Thinking, I’m taking my steps. And I like to think of myself as having “Open potential”.
Find your own FitScore using the calculator at nationalfitnessgames.com – then share your result with us, tagging @MensHealthUK, #FitScore and @NationalFitnessGames
“We’ve got to get the nation moving, and what better way to do it?”