10 Fitness Benchmarks for Men Over 40
"If you have the aspiration of kicking ass when you're 80, you can't afford to be average when you're 50." — Peter Attia
Consistent exercise is one the most powerful inputs to living a long, healthy life. We all know this – there’s nothing controversial about that statement.
But how we define exercise matters…
Going for a walk and sprinting max effort are both “exercise”, but they are not the same thing and will do different things to your body. (Hint - you should probably be doing both.)
Lifting heavy weights vs doing yoga will produce very different adaptations in your body. (Hint - you should probably be doing both.)
So the million dollar question becomes…
Are you doing the right exercise to produce the right outcomes in your body?
And just as important, how do you know what those outcome standards should be?
Well, good news, I’ve done much of that work for you..
Below you’ll find science-backed fitness benchmarks across 4 different areas of physical health.
Strength. Cardio. Balance. Joint health.
I’ve provided simple tests you can do to assess yourself.
Of course it all depends on what you want to do – some areas of your fitness will be more important than others based on your individual goals.
No Weak Links = More fun, Less Injury
But regardless of what you want to do, the goal is to have no weak links, here’s why…
Every activity in life has some risk. Playing basketball or tennis at 45 has more risk than swimming or biking.
But the more fit you are, and the fewer weak links you have, the less risk there is!
For example, let’s say you have a sedentary, overweight, weak 40 year old with fragile joints – put him on the tennis court and you’ll have a high chance of disaster!!
On the flip side, I have a friend who is almost 60 but he’s strong and lean, he moves well and has great cardio and decent joint health - put him on the tennis court and he can play for hours with a very low chance of something going wrong.
That’s my goal for you!
You have strength, good cardio, solid balance and healthy joints - so no matter if it's tennis or golf or basketball or skiing or swimming or running - you are more robust and you have less risk of injury. Not only that, but you’ll also improve performance, have more capacity to do it more often, and have way more fun..
That is what it’s all about!
I’ve also created this spreadsheet tracker Benchmarks for Optimal Health (MEN) so you can have all your info in one place and track it over time.
There’s also some other health markers for optimal health on that sheet. I’ll have a guide on that coming soon.
Lastly, if you want help implementing practices to improve your outcomes, let’s hop on a quick chat to see if I can help. I open my calendar to a few free chats every week.
OK let’s dive in to see where you stand..
4 Pillars of Physical Fitness
There are 4 main areas of fitness that you need to pay attention to if you want to age well and stay healthy.
Strength
Balance
Cardio
Joint Range of motion
Strength:
We know strength and muscle mass correlate to longevity. The strongest handshake in the nursing home will last the longest.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/13/755
Cardiovascular Health:
The better your ability to get oxygen and blood to tissues, the better you will feel and the longer you will live.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2022/08/10/bjsports-2022-105519
Balance:
The better balance you have, the lower your chances of a life-threatening fall. Better yet, they’ve shown that those who can maintain balance for more than 10 seconds on one leg will likely live longer.
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/56/17/975
Joint Range of Motion:
The better range of motion your joints have, the more movement options you will have. This means less wear and tear on connective tissues and better capacity in your body to stay active and move pain free.
So if you can maintain strength, develop good cardio fitness, and improve balance and joint range of motion, you will be an unstoppable physical force for years to come.
Let’s get a sense of where you stand when it comes to these 4 pillars of fitness.
Strength:
With muscle mass and strength, you’ll get immediate benefits like the following:
You'll look and feel better.
Your bones will be more robust and durable.
You'll have more capacity with your body.
But you’ll also be much more metabolically healthy.
Insulin sensitivity will go up which is a sign of a better functioning glucose metabolism lowering your chance of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
You’ll increase your resting metabolism so you’re burning more calories at rest. (Muscle tissue requires more energy to maintain, which burns more calories.)
Ultimately, being strong with some muscle on your body will give you a leg up on fighting the aging process.
We naturally lose muscle as we get older so it's crucial that we do whatever we can to preserve the muscle we have and in many cases to even build some more through a smart functional strength training program.
While there are many different ways to measure strength and various types of strength, let’s keep things simple with these 4 bodyweight tests.
1) Wall Squat (for time)
Stand with your back against the wall with your feet hip distance apart. Drop down to where your thighs are parallel to the ground. Record how long you can hold that position.
Red flag / Needs Improvement < 20 seconds
Good 20-40 seconds
Great: 40-60
Excellent > 60 seconds
2) Max Push-up (for reps)
If you can do push-ups, drop down and do as many push-ups as you can. You can rest at the top of the push-up if needed, but once your stomach or knees touch the ground, that is it.
Poor - < 10
Good - 11-20
Great - 21-35
Excellent - 36-50
Superior - 50+
3) High Plank Hold
If you are unable to do push-ups for whatever reason, try the plank hold test.
This is done from a high push-up position where your hands are on the ground. Simply start a timer and hold that static position for as long as you can.
Poor - < 30 seconds
Good - 31-60 seconds
Great - 61-90 seconds
Excellent - 90+ seconds
4) Dead Hang
Find a pull up bar or any other horizontal bar you can hang from. Time how long you can hang from the bar.
Poor - unable to perform / less than 10 seconds
Good - 11-30 seconds
Great - 30-45 seconds
Excellent - 40- 60 seconds
Superior - 60+ seconds
Cardio:
Your cardiovascular system is what keeps you alive.
It’s the engine that keeps your body running.
It delivers vital nutrients to cells and clears away damaged tissues.
A poor cardiovascular system can lead to low energy, lower healthspan, and less capacity with your body.
On the flip side, a robust cardiovascular system will give you tons of energy, increase healthspan, help you recover from stress better, and give you more capacity with your body.
This is not new news. But how do you know where you stand?
Again, there are numerous ways to measure cardiovascular fitness, but many require fancy equipment or lab technicians.
Side note, if you do have access to a metabolic cart and you can get a VO2 Max test, I would do it.
Otherwise, here are some more basic screens to see where you stand..
5) Resting HR
While by no means a comprehensive gauge on total cardiovascular health, a resting HR will give you a simple reading of how hard your heart is working at rest. There are genetic differences that might account for abnormally high or low resting heart rates, but all things being equal, a lower resting HR is a sign of better health.
Red flag - Over 70
Good 60-70
Great 50-60
Excellent: 40-50
6) HRR - Heart Rate Recovery (60 secs)
If you want a better sense of cardiovascular fitness, you can take something called a heart rate recovery score. This is the measure of how well your heart recovers after an intense bout of exercise.
Measure your heart rate at full exertion. Rest 60 seconds and measure your heart rate again. Subtract that number from the peak HR and you have your HRR.
For example, if my peak HR is 160 and 60 seconds later it’s 130, my HRR = 30 beats.
Benchmarks for HRR:
Not great < 20 beat difference
Good 20-30
Great 30-40
Excellent > 40
7) Vo2 Max
This is one of the most robust measures of cardiovascular health. As mentioned above, the only way to truly know your VO2 max is by doing it in a lab with fancy equipment.
For most of you reading this, there’s no need to go to the lab. You can approximate your VO2 max in any of the following ways:
2K Row Test
This is my favorite low impact VO2 max test. Find a rower, set it to 2,000 meters (normally there is a setting that might say 2K or something like that).
Start rowing and try to finish in the fastest time possible. Plug your numbers into this calculator here.
12 Minute Cooper Test
This basic test has been used for years. This approximates your VO2 max by measuring how much distance you can run in 12 minutes.
Dust off the running shoes and give this a shot. Plug your distance in this calculator to find your VO2 estimate:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/MinuteRun
Smart Watch VO2 Max Calculation
This is not the most accurate but many smart watches will give you a VO2 max estimate. Make sure you have your age, weight, and sex entered correctly in your watch settings to get the most accurate information.
This article gives good background on using wearables to measure VO2 max.
https://www.wareable.com/health-and-wellbeing/vo2-max-guide-understand-and-increase-789
Once you have your VO2 max, find your location on the following chart.
Balance:
Having good balance requires a complex coordination of many different systems in the body, but the 2 most important parts of the balance equation are the feet and the hips.
The Feet
You want to have strong, mobile feet that can move freely.
The foot has over 33 joints and 20 muscles and is by far the most important piece of the balance equation. Unfortunately, most people completely neglect their feet and it has a serious negative impact on their balance. Go here to learn more about how you can restore your foot health and improve balance.
The Hips
Just as the feet, you want strong, mobile hips that can provide stability for the lower body.
The muscles in and around the hip joint stabilize the lower body. The modern environment of sitting in chairs, cars, and couches turn off many of these vital muscles and again negatively impact one’s ability to balance.
In many instances, other muscles like the calves or hamstring take on the role of stabilizing the lower body so if you’re dealing with chronically tight calves or hamstrings, this is something you want to look at.
Now with that out of the way, let’s get to a simple balance test.
8) Single Leg Balance Test (eyes closed)
Stand barefoot on a flat hard surface. Pick one leg off the ground, close your eyes and record the time until you lose balance. Make sure to do both legs.
Needs work < 10 seconds
Good 11-30 seconds
Above average 30-60 seconds
Excellent 60+ seconds
Joint Range of Motion (JROM) / Flexibility / Mobility
Why does this matter?
Reduce injury risk
Have less back pain
Be able to do more with your body
Lack of flexibility is one of the most common issues I see with guys over 40. It's the classic example of the "if you don't use, you lose it" principle of human movement.
For example, if you sit all day in a chair and never get into a position with your butt below your knees - a deep squat position - your brain will no longer allocate resources for that movement.
It makes perfect sense from a brain energy conservation perspective – why would your brain allocate resources there if you don’t go there.
The problem comes when you go to play with your kids on the ground or play a sport that requires that squatting movement. Your body can’t get there using the proper joints and muscles (the hips, foot, ankle) and this is when you blow out a knee or throw out your lower back.
It's not about eliminating injuries.
If you're using your body and pushing yourself physically, injuries will happen.
The goal is to be resilient to injury.
A friend of mine told me a story of how he slipped on a wet sidewalk and completely blew out his knee and tore a groin muscle all in the same fall.
This is the opposite of resiliency.
The goal is that when you slip on the ice or take that awkward step on the sidewalk, you have the capacity to handle it better. Maybe you’ll slightly strain a muscle or sprain a joint, but you won’t blow out your knee or throw out your back.
That to me is being resilient. That is the power of working on your joint range of motion.
Here are a few tests to see how much range of motion you have in the major joints of the body:
2 Master tests for lower body:
9) Sit / Stand Test
Can you get off the ground without using any support from your hands, elbows, knees, or any other external support? If yes, congrats, you are in rare company - most people can’t do this.
The less support you need, the longer you will live, at least according to this study
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23242910/
10) Deep Squat Hold
A deep squat requires full expression of ankle, knee, and hip range of motion. Simply stand hip distance apart barefoot and sit back into a squat as deep as you can. Make sure to keep your heels on the ground and feet straight ahead.
Benchmarks:
Red flag - pain or can’t get butt below knees
Good - butt below knees with normal breathing
Great - butt below knees, back straight, normal breathing > 30 secs hold
Superior - butt within 1ft of the ground, back straight, normal breathing > 60 secs hold
Conclusion / What to do Next
Ok, you made it!
There’s a lot in this document. There’s also a lot more that I couldn’t fit into 10 pages so please understand this is not everything!
Start by assessing yourself on at least 1 benchmark for each of the 4 pillars so you know what you need to focus on.
And I highly recommend you track your progress over time.
You can use this below spreadsheet I created:
Benchmarks for Optimal Health (MEN) -
(You’ll have to go to “file → make copy” to create your own doc that you can edit.)
And If you want help implementing anything, let’s hop on a free chat to see if I can help. Use this schedule link to pick a time that works for you.
That will do for now. Take care of yourself and be well!
Nick Holt
https://nickholtfitness.com/
P.S. If there’s someone you know who might be interested in this guide, please feel free to share this with them, I would appreciate it!
Additional Resources:
Peter Attia — Outlive
Kelly Starett - Built to Move
Ben House - Deconstruct Nutrition