7 Fitness Tests Every Man Should Pass (Dad Strength Standards)

0:00Alpha dad nation welcome back to the Fit Fathers Fellowship podcast. Thank you for listening today. I'm your host Ben Barker fitness y'all if you would subscribe to the show leave a five star review and share this with the dad. You think it might be an encouragement to today's episode is inspired by coach Dan go if you don't follow him. He's a good follow on Instagram, especially Twitter and threads. I'm not sure if he's a believer but he post great practical fitness content. And today or recently maybe yesterday he posted something like seven fitness tests every 40-year-old man should be able to pass. And so I thought I think the average pro listener of this podcast is somewhere between like upper 20s and low 40s. So if you're in your 40s, you should definitely be able to do these if you're in your 30s and you can't. There should be kind of like a little bit of a wake up call. Also last week was the first time in over two years that I both missed posting my podcast on Tuesday. And I forgot to send out or I neglected to send out my newsletter on Saturday. And honestly the the break of the streak was very upsetting for me because I'm not that

1:07talented. I'm not that good looking. I'm not the strongest or fastest guy in the world by golly. I've been consistent for years. And so that was a huge bummer. But hear me out. We're all going to fail at times. We're going to drop the ball, whether it be as a husband or a father in our fitness, whatever that may be. And I think a lot of people let that become their habit. And then I kind of started thinking about it. It was it was a one off. I've been consistent for so long and really like in the grand scheme of thing. If you're consistent, you know, 75% of the time and you just pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Like don't use missing something or messing up or skipping something as an excuse to skip. More right correct to have it. Don't make skipping a habit and just get right back to business doing what you would typically do with that being said, we back out at this week. Thank you for listening. All right. So coach Dan goes seven fitness tests. Every man, 40 or above should be able to do. And most of us in our 30s here, y'all should definitely be able to do these.

2:08Number one is run a mile and under 10 minutes. Fellas, just I know most of us prefer lifting myself, especially if you're an endurance athlete. List listening, a sub 10 minute mile is not going to be an issue whatsoever. However, if you're a dude who's been prioritizing strength training for years, maybe you've let your cardio slip. And guys, just hear me out. I've always been kind of one of those guys who I prioritize lifting over cardio all day, every day. If you could only choose one, that's what I would suggest. However, cardio vascular health is massive for maintaining our independence, heart health, just staying healthy, maintaining a healthy weight. It's absolutely huge. Fellas, go out this week, time your mile. When was the last time you went out and ran a mile. I did it for the first time recently because I'm preparing for an event. And I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed in how fast I did the mile. And compared to most, it was a pretty fast time, but compared to what I know I'm capable of, I was a little disappointed.

3:08So go out and test your mile and see what you can do. He noted that the United States Air Force fitness standards for ages 40 to 49. You should be able to do 1.5 miles in 13 and a half minutes for a fair rating. So that's just fair. That's not excellent. And that equates to about a nine minute per mile pace. Fellas, go out and test your mile. Make sure you can do it in under 10 minutes. The second one is being able to squat your own body weight. Fellas, I have my own list of standards that I think to be considered an elite alpha dad, you should be able to do. Fellas, you should be able to squat your body weight. Just period. I think you should be able to press your body weight overhead. His number two is to be able to squat your own body weight. It's a great test for lower body strength. United States Marines Corps considers squatting 1.5 times your body weight is excellent for those 40 and above. And fellas, just leg strength is massive. I talk about this all the time. So it won't spend a lot of time on it, but we can't be having chicken legs, right? Build a strong set of legs and for men and for everyone, the majority of our muscle mass is in our lower body and just the barbell back squat as far as building

4:16both your core and your glutes, your quads, your hamstring is basically second to none. Get as strong as you possibly can on this. And if you can already squat your body weight, work up to 1.5 times your body weight and eventually two times your body weight. Great place to start is like three sets of five reps, adding weight each set and is working on getting strong adding weight over time. Number three is to be able to farmer carry your body weight for one minute. So for example, that would be if you weigh for easy math 200 pounds, you should be able to have a hundred pound dumbbell in each hand and walk for one minute without setting those dumbbells down. This one is actually a little bit harder. I tested this a while back because a guy put out a similar test to this. And so I had to try to see if I can do it. And so for me, I weigh about 180 pounds. And so I did the 60 second farmers carry with a 90 pound dumbbell in each hand. And I did it, you know, it wasn't just a horrible struggle, but it was a little bit more challenging than I thought.

5:19And then fellas, as always, just kind of like with the running, getting outdoors, getting in the sunlight, getting in your grip work, getting your steps in, the farmers carry is massively underrated. I tried, I've been trying to get in carries of some former fashion, at least once per week, whether it be with a sandbag doing a bear hug carry single arm farmers carry or this classic to arm farmers carry guys massive just for functional strength. Number four is to be able to complete five unbroken pull ups or chin ups for my caveat. It's got to be pull ups. I think chin ups are much easier. Actually, overall, if I could only choose one, I would choose chin ups because you get more bicep as compared to the pull up. However, pull ups are harder. So we're going to go with that. You should be able to do at least guys listen to me at least five strict full range of motion. Chest to bar pull ups when you're lowering to the bottom, your arms fully extend a lot of times guys will go, I can do 20 pull ups and they're doing like quarter reps guys pull ups. It's just a point of pride, fellas, when your son sees you on the on the monkey bars that you don't look like a fish out of water.

6:29And that you can knock out five clean and the other this is this is just entry level five legit pull ups. Well, if you can't do them now build up to it. Use a rubber band for assistance. You can do jumping pull ups where you jump your chin above the bar and then lower yourself as slowly as possible. A lot of gyms have assisted pull up machines, fellas. Prioritize this just like you prioritize your lower body strength prioritize being able to do just kind of basic calisthenics like push ups and pull ups. Okay, so number five actually got me a little bit. It's called the sit and raise test. So also just to be politically incorrect real fast. Basically what you do is you stand up and then you sit down Indian style. I guess you're supposed to say crisscross applesauce nowadays. And so I will go with that just to be correct here. Stand sit down crisscross applesauce and then from the crisscross applesauce position on the ground. You have to return to a standing position.

7:29And so the caveat on this is when you return to the standing position. You can't use your arms. You can't rock to the side. You can't rock forward to your knees and like lunge and then stand up. You have to return to a standing position. I basically kind of like pushing your feet into the ground and rising directly from the crisscross applesauce position. And this one got me at first. So obviously getting down to the floor zero issues whatsoever. But when I tried to return to a standing position, my body just didn't know what to do. Second try. I did get it. But this this honestly everything else of the seven for me is very manageable. This was a little bit more challenging. And I think it's a bit of a mobility issue as well for me. My mobility is not great. So that was kind of a sign for me. If you get anything out of this podcast today, check out the it's called the sit and raise test. Give it a try. And I think you're going to be surprised. It's a little bit challenging.

8:30Number six is complete 25 unbroken pushups. I mean, come on, fellas. And this is going to be the same as the pullups. Again, guys all the time, like, yeah, I can do 100 pushups and they're like pulsing and their arms never fully flex or extend chest to the floor, core stays tight and you extend and press all the way up to your arms are fully straight 25 pushups in a row. So again, kind of like doing five pull ups guys, I feel like this is entry level. Be able to do 25 pushups in a row. I really think most very fake guys should be able to do 50. Number seven, this is another one kind of like the sit and raise test that a lot of us are not training. And I surprised myself when I tried it is to be able to dead hang for one minute. So I probably about a year ago, there was a guy who was talking about this test and it was the farmer carry tests, so to be able to do your body weight 50% any change. So for one minute, I did that. And then his other part of the test was to be able to hang from a pool at bar for two minutes.

9:33I was shook how hard it was. I didn't practice. I just hopped up on the pool at bar turned on my camera and went for it. And probably one minute for me was not very challenging, but legitimately when I got to like probably 120 130, dude was shaken like a leaf. I was on the struggle bus. And so again, for me, start with the one minute, just grab a pool at bar without your feet on the ground and just hang and see if you can do it for a minute. If you make it for a minute, see if you can push and go for two. It put things in perspective for me. I hadn't been training grip strong enough as much as I should be. And then also just the practice like hanging from a pool of bar to both strengthen your grip and decompress your spine is absolutely massive. We should be doing this a few times per week and just kind of reminded me that I need to be doing that on a regular basis. So with that being said, fellas, seven fitness tests every man should be able to pass. If you're over 40, these are the goals, fellas, if you're under 40 and you can't do these really start working on them, we've got the one mile run under 10 minutes, being able to squat your own body weight.

10:41Farmer carrier body weight for one minute number four is to be able to do five unbroken pull ups. Five is the sit and raise test. Take note of that one. Six complete 25 unbroken pull ups and then seven being able to dead hang for one minute, fellas, just some practical tips, just get in the gym regularly three times per week. If you've not been prioritizing do this, I've got a great program called minimum time maximum gains or maximum gains minimum time is to three day per week full body workout program. It's epic. You can get a free seven day trial. I'll put that link in the show notes and as always make sure you pair that with some first form formula one protein and creating monohydrate. I'll put that link in the show notes as well. I appreciate y'all for listening today.