Coaching & Mindset
Three Kinds Of Fitness Test, And The One Most Clients Need
From the FASTER syllabus: this article is taught in full in the Movement Trainer (AFT) course, £375 →
In short: Movement Trainer names three kinds of fitness test: a proven academic test built to prove a hypothesis in lab conditions, a comparison test borrowed from a sport's own averages (the NFL combine's 40-yard dash is the course's own example), and a self-built test made for one client's specific goal. The course focuses on the third kind, because it's the one most trainers need and it needs no lab and no equipment beyond a stopwatch or a tape measure. Built well, a self-built test still follows real principles: specificity to the client's goal, validity, reliability, objectivity, feasibility, safety and progressive overload, the same standards a lab test has to meet, just aimed at one person instead of a study.
The short version
Somebody hears "fitness assessment" and pictures a lab, a clipboard and a piece of equipment they'll never own. Movement Trainer starts by taking that picture apart. There are three kinds of test, and the one most clients need isn't the one that sounds impressive on paper.
Key Takeaways
- Movement Trainer names three kinds of test: a proven academic test, a comparison test borrowed from a sport, and a self-built test made for one client.
- The course focuses on the third, because it needs no lab and no equipment beyond a stopwatch or a tape measure.
- A self-built test still follows seven real principles, specificity, validity, reliability, objectivity, feasibility, safety and progressive overload, so it stays fair rather than becoming a guess.
The three kinds, and what each one is for
An academic test is built to prove one specific hypothesis, written to survive review before it's ever used, and usually run in lab conditions on a small group. It's accurate. It also isn't built with any particular client's goal in mind, because it was never meant to be.
A comparison test borrows its numbers from a sport's own averages. The course's own example is the NFL combine, the 40-yard dash, the vertical jump, the bench press at 225 pounds, a battery built to compare one professional athlete against another. Useful if the client in front of you is trying out for that sport. Close to meaningless if they're not.
A self-built test is built around one client and one goal, and it's the kind Movement Trainer teaches, because it's the kind that fits the person paying for the session.
Why "self-built" doesn't mean "made up"
A test somebody invents on the spot, done once, with no plan for doing it the same way twice, tells a trainer almost nothing. The course sets seven principles a self-built test still has to meet:
- Specificity — relevant to this client's actual goal
- Validity — it measures what it claims to measure
- Reliability — the same conditions give the same result
- Objectivity — the outcome doesn't depend on who's watching
- Feasibility — doable with the space and kit on hand
- Safety — no extra injury risk to get the number
- Progressive overload — it can get harder as the client does
Meet those seven and a test built for one client in a normal gym is just as trustworthy, for that client, as anything run in a lab. It's aimed at a different question, that's all.
Building one, in the order the course teaches it
List the movements worth testing. Decide which of them connects to the client's goal. Work out the biomechanics involved, the forces acting on the body and the joints and muscles doing the work. Decide what physical marker counts as success. Then build a smaller version of the test first, so the client meets a chunked-down version before the real one.
Point it at your next client
A client chasing a first pull-up needs a test built around that pull-up, not a battery built for a sprinter. A client returning to five-a-side after months out needs a test built around what five-a-side asks of a body, not a lab's idea of general fitness. The method stays the same client to client. Only the target changes.
PT Manager opens the moment you sign up with any FASTER course, and adding real clients unlocks the day you pass one. Read more about the Movement Trainer (AFT) course this method comes from.
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Also worth a look: where a self-built test gets saved against a real client.
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Frequently asked
Do I need to be good at maths to build a client test?
No. The course's seven principles, specificity, validity, reliability, objectivity, feasibility, safety and progressive overload, are plain checks on whether a test is fair and repeatable, not a statistics exercise.
What's the NFL combine got to do with a normal client?
It's the course's own example of a comparison test, a battery built for one specific population, professional athletes, and it's there to show why that shape of test is usually the wrong fit for a regular client with a different goal.
Does building my own test mean I've made something up?
No. A self-built test still has to meet real standards, the same ones a lab test does, it's simply built around the one person in front of you instead of a study population.
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