Free · about 30 minutes · no gym

The Grown Man Strong Baseline

Four tests and a weekly check, each scored against published research. See where you stand and what to work on first.

Before you start

Stop any test if you feel dizzy, lightheaded, chest pain or unusual shortness of breath. If you have heart disease, any of those symptoms, or a doctor has limited your exercise, check with your doctor first. This is general wellness information, not medical advice. Your answers stay on this page: nothing is sent or saved anywhere but your own browser.

Your numbers

Age Height, feet Height, inches Weight, pounds

1. Push-ups

Warm up for a minute. Start the metronome and do push-ups in time with it, down on one beat and up on the next, with your body in a straight line and your chest close to the floor. Stop at 80, when you miss three beats, or when you can’t keep form. Count the good ones.

Push-ups completed

2. Sit to the floor and stand

Barefoot, cross your legs and lower yourself to sit on the floor, then stand back up. Start with 5 points for sitting and 5 for standing. Take 1 point off each time a hand, a knee or anything else helps you down or up.

Sitting score, 0 to 5 Standing score, 0 to 5

3. One-mile walk

On a track or a flat, measured mile, walk as fast as you can without running. Right as you finish, read your heart rate from your watch, or count your pulse for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.

Minutes Seconds Heart rate at the finish

4. Waist and height

On the side of your body, feel for your lowest rib and the top of your hip bone. Wrap the tape around the middle point between them, roughly level with your belly button. Breathe out naturally, don’t hold your stomach in, and read the tape.

Waist, inches

Your usual week

Strength days Minutes of brisk activity Hours of sleep a night

Where the numbers come from

Push-ups: Yang J, et al. “Association Between Push-up Exercise Capacity and Future Cardiovascular Events Among Active Adult Men.” JAMA Network Open, 2019. A study of 1,104 male career firefighters in Indiana, followed for 10 years. It shows an association, not proof of cause.
Sitting and standing: Brito LB, et al. “Ability to sit and rise from the floor as a predictor of all-cause mortality.” European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2014.
The mile walk: Kline GM, et al. “Estimation of VO2max from a one-mile track walk, gender, age, and body weight.” Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 1987. Compared with Kaminsky LA, et al. “Updated Reference Standards for Cardiorespiratory Fitness.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2022.
Waist and height: NICE guideline NG246, Overweight and obesity management, and the NHS, how to measure your waist.
Your week: the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, and the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, Data Brief 559, “Short Sleep Duration and Sleep Difficulties Among Adults: United States, 2024”.

The Grown Man Strong Baseline

Before you start

Your baseline

Where the numbers come from