THE RUNNER BEANS

Running

Active Travel

Nutrition

Family

Can your lifestyle choices affect your biological age?

Mar 12, 2016 | Kit | 1 comment

Thanks so much for the lovely comments on Thursday’s blog post – I’m glad I’m not the only one who overcommits then burns out.

Yesterday I was invited to try Fitness First’s new BioScore test  (yes I’m typing this up as I wait for Tom to drive home from Cardiff – he’s running late so I’m going to have to wait until 9pm to go out for dinner – insert grumpy emoji).

Bioscore at Fitness First

The 40 minute assessment aims ‘looks at your health, lifestyle and physical fitness levels and for each test, it will assess whether your result is making your BioScore older or younger so you can easily see the areas you need to work on in order to start turning back the clock.’

As someone who is conscious that I am edging closer to 30, and has started using anti-wrinkle moisturiser and eye cream, I was intrigued.

Bioscore Fitness First

I was booked in for a session with Jubaer at the South Kensington club, and turned up not knowing quite what to expect, but ready to go…

We started by taking my blood pressure (apparently it’s quite low), peak flow (also low – but I was expecting this from my childhood asthma), height and waist measurement.

Next up we moved onto the fitness tests, starting with squats and lunges. We would begin with a basic move, then add some weight, then move the weight either above my head or to the side to test mobility and flexibility. I passed all but the squat and press because of the poor mobility in my shoulders!

Mobility is an indication on how well and efficiently we move. A person with good mobility is able to perform movement patterns with no restrictions in the range of motion. Poor mobility can be caused by your lifestyle, for example, sitting down all day at work can restrict your mobility, so it’s important to do specific exercises to help improve this.

Bioscore Fitness First

Next up was the TRX row to test upper body strength, you had to do as many as you could with a 1 second up, 1 second down repetition with no breaks – I could only manage 23!

It’s important because the upper body controls your ability to perform everyday functional activities such as reaching, pulling, pushing and lifting.

I used to do the Long Jump when I was at school so I was pretty confident with my standing long jump, and was pleased to jump 218cm.

The jump is used as a functional test to assess power in your legs.  Power training uses fast twitch muscle fibres which have better potential for growth and strength. This training requires the body to coordinate and produce the greatest amount of force, in the shortest amount of time. 

Bioscore Fitness First

After that I had to complete a plank for 60 seconds, then go straight into 1 armed plank for 15 seconds on each side, then 1 legged planks for 15 seconds on each side. It was then 1 arm/1 leg – and after 2 mins 7 seconds I dropped! Core strength needs work!

The second to last test was of my agility, jumping in and out of a hexagon square as fast as possible without touching the lines.

Agility helps you to physically react to situations, such as correcting and maintaining balance when faced with varying walking surfaces. Day-to-day activities such as mowing the lawn or playing with a child can be performed more efficiently when participating in agility training.

Last up was the endurance test, a 500m speed row.

Bioscore Fitness First

I haven’t rowed much at the gym and had no idea how hard 500m would be. I asked Jubear what a good time would be, and he suggested around 2mins for women – so that was my goal.

Done is 2mins 3 seconds.

Bioscore Fitness First

I then had to answer a series of lifestyle questions, ranging from drinking and eating habits, to sleep and stress levels. I feel like over the past few years these factors have changed significantly for me, my stress has reduced dramatically since I quit working in a corporate job, I drink less and sleep better. These all earned me lots of points/years on the BioScore test!

Once it was all worked out I came out 2.5 years younger in terms of my ‘biological’ age – as you can imagine I was pretty happy with that! Does this mean I get to celebrate my 26th instead of 28th birthday this July?

The best bit about the BioScore assessment is that you will receive ideas, workouts and areas to target afterwards so that you can improve on your score for next time.

Fitness First interviewed 5 sets of twins and had them take part in a BioScore assessment. This video shows how lifestyle choices really can affect your biological age…

https://youtu.be/_s8uWIQeZvo

Fitness First members can book in for a BioScore assessments with a trained specialist- prices will vary from club to club. Ask at your local Fitness First for more information!

This post is written in collaboration with Fitness First. All results and poor core performance are my own. 

1 Comment

  1. samanthablaine25

    That is SOOOOO cool Seriously. I wonder if they have anything like that in America so I could find out my age – however I would not want to know if I am older than my real age. Ahh. Also, watch the video with the Twins and that was super neat!

    http://www.believeandrun.com

    Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. Les Mills Live - The Runner Beans - […] still enjoyed the two classes I did try. I’m definitely going to hunt sign up to some of my Fitness…

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *