B. Active Living / C. Movement Competence · Active Living and Movement: Train, Plan, Stay Safe and Play Smart

Check Your Fitness: Assessing and Monitoring Over Time

B2 A1.5 A1.6About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can assess each part of my health-related fitness with safe tests at home.
I can run a fair test by keeping the conditions the same each time.
I can measure my heart rate at rest, after activity, and during recovery.
I can track my results over time and explain what the changes mean, comparing myself only with my own past.

Words to know

health-related fitness
Cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility.

assess
To check or measure where you are now.

monitor
To check again and again over time to see change.

resting heart rate
Your heart rate when you have been sitting quietly for a few minutes.

recovery heart rate
How quickly your heart rate drops after activity. A faster drop is a sign of better cardiorespiratory fitness.

baseline
Your first result, used as a starting point to compare later results.

fair test
A test done the same way each time, so changes in the result come from your fitness and not from the test.

Remember from Grade 5 and Grade 6

In Grade 5 you made a fitness profile by checking all four parts of health-related fitness. In Grade 6 you set a SMART goal and tracked it.

This year you'll become a careful scientist of your own fitness: running fair tests, collecting data over weeks, and explaining what the changes mean.

Hook: Is it really better?

In September, Owen held a plank for 40 seconds on a soft carpet after school. In October he held it for 55 seconds on a hard floor, first thing in the morning, with his friend cheering. Did his fitness improve by 15 seconds?

Maybe. But lots of things changed: the surface, the time of day, the cheering. To know if he truly improved, he needs a fair test.

Part of fitness	A safe home test	What to record
Cardiorespiratory endurance	Skip (or jog on the spot) for 3 minutes at a steady pace; take your heart rate right after and again 1 minute later	Heart rate at the end and after 1 minute of rest; the drop
Muscular strength	Wall or knee push-ups with good form, slowly (e.g. 2 seconds down, 2 seconds up), until you can't keep good form	Number of good-form push-ups
Muscular endurance	Plank on forearms with a straight body, or a wall sit with knees at about 90°	Seconds held with good form
Flexibility	Sit-and-reach: sit with legs straight against a box, reach forward slowly along a ruler and hold for 2 seconds	Distance reached, in centimetres

Choose one test for each part. Use the same test each time.

Run a fair test

Keep these the same every time:

Time of day and how rested you are
Surface and place (same floor, same wall)
Warm-up (same warm-up before each test)
Rules for good form (decide exactly what counts)
Equipment (same rope, same ruler, same box)

Write your conditions down so you can repeat them. Test every 3 or 4 weeks; fitness doesn't change much in a few days.

Owen's two plank tests were not fair tests: three conditions changed. To compare fairly, keep everything the same except the date.

Heart rate: your built-in data

Find your pulse: use two fingers (not your thumb) on the thumb side of your wrist, or gently on the side of your neck.
Count for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.
Resting heart rate: take it after sitting quietly for a few minutes. Fitter hearts often beat fewer times at rest because they pump more blood with each beat.
Recovery: after activity, check how much your heart rate drops in 1 minute. As your cardio fitness improves, your heart rate usually drops faster.

Heart rates vary a lot between healthy people. Use them to compare you with you, not with others.

Date	Plank (s)	Knee push-ups	Sit-and-reach (cm)	Heart rate after 3 min skip	1 minute later	Drop
Sept. 15	35	12	24	168	124	44
Oct. 13	45	15	25	164	116	48
Nov. 10	52	17	24	160	108	52

Maya's fitness log. Same conditions each time: after school, before supper, same warm-up, same floor.

Maya's plank and push-up results from her log. Both bars grow each month, so her muscular endurance and strength are improving.

Your results are yours

Fitness results are private. You don't have to share them, and nobody should compare or tease. Your body is growing and changing on its own timeline. Celebrate your own progress and your effort.

Worked example

Let's read Maya's log

Use Maya's log above. What changed from September to November, and what might explain it?

Plank: 35 → 52 seconds, an increase of 17 seconds. Her muscular endurance improved.
Knee push-ups: 12 → 17, 5 more. Her muscular strength and endurance improved.
Sit-and-reach: 24 → 25 → 24 cm. About the same. Small changes like 1 cm can be measurement differences. If she wants more flexibility, she needs to stretch more regularly (specificity).
Heart rate drop: 44 → 52 beats in 1 minute. Her heart rate is recovering faster, a sign of better cardiorespiratory fitness.

Maya improved in three areas and stayed about the same in flexibility. Her next goal could focus on flexibility.

Just for fun

What if you did your sit-and-reach test against a different box every time? Congratulations: you'd have carefully measured the boxes, not your flexibility.

Hands-on activity

Fitness check day

You need: a timer or phone stopwatch, a sturdy wall, a mat or carpet, a ruler or measuring tape, a box or a stack of thick books, a skipping rope (optional), a notebook, and a grown-up to help count and check form.

Warm up first (5 minutes): march or jog on the spot, arm circles, leg swings holding a wall, and a few gentle skips.

Write your conditions: date, time, place, surface, how you slept.
Resting heart rate: sit quietly for 3 minutes, then count for 15 seconds × 4.
Cardio: skip or jog on the spot steadily for 3 minutes. Take your heart rate right away, then again after 1 minute of sitting. Find the drop.
Strength: knee or wall push-ups, slowly, until your form breaks. Your grown-up counts only good ones.
Endurance: plank (or wall sit) with good form. Stop when your hips sag or your knees move.
Flexibility: sit-and-reach, slowly, three tries; record the best.
Cool down and stretch.
Plan to repeat it in 4 weeks under the same conditions. Make a simple graph of each result.

Safety: Rest between tests. Stop if anything hurts. Reach slowly, never bounce. Keep breathing during planks and push-ups; don't hold your breath.

Your turn

Name a home test for each of the four parts of health-related fitness.

Name three things to keep the same to make a fitness test fair.

Your heart rate after skipping was 156. One minute later it was 112. What was the drop?

Why is it better to compare your results with your own past results than with a friend's?

How often should you repeat fitness tests to see real change?

What does it usually mean if your recovery heart rate drops faster than before?

More practice: warm-up

What is a baseline?

Where can you find your pulse?

Why shouldn't you use your thumb to take a pulse?

Which part of fitness does a sit-and-reach test check?

True or false: Your fitness results must be shared with the class.

More practice: on your own

Owen held a plank for 40 seconds on carpet after school, and 55 seconds on a hard floor in the morning. Can he be sure he improved? Explain.

In Maya's log, by how many seconds did her plank improve from September to November? What percent is that, rounded to a whole number?

Resting heart rates for one student: Sept. 82, Oct. 78, Nov. 75. What trend do you see and what might it mean?

Write clear "good form" rules for a knee push-up so every test is counted the same way.

Your sit-and-reach went from 24 cm to 23 cm in a month during a growth spurt. Should you worry? What could you do?

Challenge

Make a simple bar graph (or describe one) of Maya's heart-rate drops: 44, 48, 52. What is the average increase per month?

Design a fair 3-minute cardio test for a student who uses a wheelchair.

Two friends compare: Ella did 20 push-ups and Jin did 12. Jin is upset. Using what you learned about factors and monitoring, what would you tell Jin?

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which test checks muscular endurance?

Which change would make a fitness retest unfair?

Your heart rate is 150 after activity and 110 one minute later. The drop is:

A fitter heart often has a resting heart rate that is:

Who should you compare your fitness results with?

How often should you retest to see real change?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Grade 7 students assess their health-related fitness and monitor changes over time, using heart rate and simple tests.

How to help at home:

Help set up a fair test (same time, place, surface and warm-up) and count good-form repetitions.
Make a simple graph together every 3 to 4 weeks.
Keep results private and focus on effort and personal progress.

Common difficulties:

Comparing with siblings or friends. Redirect to their own baseline.
Changing test conditions. Write conditions down.
Miscounting pulse. Use a timer for exactly 15 seconds and multiply by 4.

A note on body image: This unit does not use weight or body measurements. Avoid comments about body size; focus on what bodies can do.

Social-emotional learning: Celebrating personal progress builds a positive sense of self (A1.5); interpreting data and designing fair tests build critical thinking (A1.6).