FQ Test: The ideal fitness gauge

(This is the conclusion of the article written by lawyer Edson Eufemio. It deals with physical fitness and the science behind the Fitness Quotient Test in the realm of sports. The Peak Form Sports Medicine Center, together with sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Gar Eufemio, will stage the Extreme Fitness Challenge, an event which has the potential to change sports development programs at the grassroots level, at 2 p.m. today at Xavier School grounds. — Ed)

(Conclusion)

What is the basis for the scoring system?

A Pretest was done and the highest and the lowest 25 percent of scores per station were eliminated. The mean of the remaining 50 percent was then obtained (Peak Form kept tabs of the top and bottom numbers of the surviving 50 percent). Point equivalents were then added or subtracted for each repetition above or below the mean.

The participant with the highest total score is crowned the fittest athlete, similar to being the valedictorian. The top marks per station will also be noted, like being best in Math or English.

Once all the figures are in, we will be able to classify them into categories ranging from hanep (meaning elite), astig (above average), puwede na (average), pasang awa (below average) and lampa (poor).

Why do we need to come up with an FQ test?

At the very least, individuals may check their fitness levels before and after starting an exercise schedule. Different workout routines can now be pitted head-to-head to settle, once and for all, who among athletes in different sports, can produce the best results in an FQ Test.

In the long run, the data generated in a long-term study using the FQ Test can benefit the country’s sports development program.

If we apply the FQ Test to all grade school students in the country, hopefully we get to identify the ones that are “physically gifted” and enter them in a more advanced sports program (just like a genius student who is identified while young is often transferred to a special school for the gifted).

Or, doing the reverse, in the future, elite athletes can be evaluated based on their FQ Test results taken when they were younger, and maybe a correlation can be established between a particular station wherein the athlete excelled or had a high score and the sport, discipline or skill that the elite athlete developed.

Then, the FQ Test can truly be a scientific predictor of future star athletes. The challenge is simply to monitor as many athletes as possible to have significant results.

The FQ Test is definitely challenging to beginner and elite athletes and can be designed to be taken in an open competition format, with athletes actually being brought together to take the test simultaneously. It thus becomes more than just an FQ “Test,” it becomes an FQ “Contest.”

Peak Form plans to hold these contests via Peak Form Extreme Fitness Challenges using the FQ Test, in fun but challenging competitive sporting events.

This can be done within a school, for example, where varsity students of different sports will compete against each other (intramurals), or among different schools, where their top athletes compete against each other (extramurals).

This can also be done in the corporate setting where executives and employees are checked for their FQ scores to evaluate overall fitness.

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FQ Test: The ideal fitness gauge