“Health exists on a continuum,” he says. “It’s not like if you can do nine push-ups instead of 10…you’re not achieving health-related [objectives].”
Pull-ups can be a great indicator of an overall healthy balance of muscle tissue to body fat, Sorensen says. Still, he admits, for many it may be more of a “skill-based assessment, rather than just fitness.” As a ballpark goal, he encourages men to aim for 10 pull-ups in a row and women to aim for four, which roughly corresponds to the repetition range for building muscle tissue.
Love it or hate it, the plank is another reliable marker of overall fitness and strength, Sorensen says. While there’s no universal agreement on how long to hold a plank, he recommends that all adults train towards a one-minute plank as a minimum. But good plank form is a must, he warns, otherwise “it often turns into more of a shoulder endurance drill than a core assessment.”
Why mobility may be the most overlooked measure of health
Fitness isn’t all about power and endurance. Mobility—the ability of your joints and muscles to move through their full range of motion—is one of the best predictors of long-term health and independence.
“The problem is we get older, we get stiffer, we lose joint mobility, and eventually [we] lose function,” Fredericson says. “The better your mobility, the better you can do everyday activities like get up from the floor, a chair, reach from behind.”