How Fit Are You?

3 Simple Tests to Find Out

Ask 10 experts for their definition of fitness, and youll hear 10 different answers. Thats because how you define the word depends on the type of performance you expect. Some athletes need to develop a particular type of fitness over all otherspowerlifters at one extreme, marathoners at anotherbut most of us are at our best when we achieve balanced fitness. In other words, were good at everything a healthy, active man needs to be able to do. On these points the experts agree: You need core stability. You need lower-body strength and power to run, jump, and lift heavy objects off the ground. You need torso strength to lift your own body weight in repeated challenges. And you need enough endurance to run a mile without stopping for defibrillation. Thats why we asked our experts to create seven fitness tests that will help you assess the shape youre in. Start with the three challenges below, which measure core and upper-body strength areas guys generally care about most. (You can see all 7 fitness tests in Are You MH Fit?) But don't just do these exercises once; make them part of your regular workout and you'll quickly broaden your shoulders, build your biceps, and chisel your torso. And become as fit as you've ever been. Try the fitness challenge to find out how strong you are. And dont aim for average. Keep working at these exercises until you're not just fit, but Mens Health Fit. Let the games begin. Fitness Test #1: Core Stability Fitness begins in the middle of your body. Thats also where it ends, if your core isnt strong and stable. Not only do the muscles in your torso defend your spine against unwanted movementsthe twists and jolts that produce injuriesbut they also enable the movements you do want. Theyre the linchpins that allow coordinated actions of your upper- and lower-body muscles. So well start with the plank, a fundamental test of core stability and endurance. The average guy should be able to hold a basic plank for 60 seconds, says strength coach Nick Tumminello. If you aspire to be Men's Health Fit, you should be able to do a more challenging version for the same amount of time.

Youll need something long, solid, light, and straight, like a broom handle or dowel. Assume a basic plank position, with your weight resting on your forearms and toes. Your body should form a straight line from neck to ankles. You want your feet hip-width apart and your elbows directly below your shoulders. Have a friend set the dowel along your back. It should make contact at three points: the back of your head, between your shoulder blades, and your tailbone. Hold that position. Stop if your body loses contact with the dowel at one of these three points. If you can hold your position for 60 seconds, stop and rest for two minutes. Then do the plank with your feet on a bench. (You wont be able to use the dowel, because it will slide off.) Nailed it? Rest two minutes and try this version: With your feet back on the floor, move your arms forward so your elbows are beneath your eyes instead of your shoulders. If you can hold this one for 60 seconds, congratulations: Youre Men's Health Fit. Planks are a big part of the 2012 Spartacus Workout, which readers are calling their favorite workout ever. The best part is its simplicityall you need are dumbbells, a stopwatch, and some serious grit. Are you tough enough to try it? THE SCORECARD Below average: You cant hold a basic plank 60 seconds Average: You go 60 seconds Above average: You can hold a plank 60 seconds with your feet elevated on a bench Men's Health Fit: You can hold a plank with your arms extended for 60 seconds How to push past a fitness plateau. Fitness Test #2: Pushups The bench press is the best size- and strength-building exercise for your chest. And yet the lowly ground-based pushup actually works more muscles, even if it doesnt allow you to hit certain ones with maximum intensity.

Like the bench press, the pushup works your chest, shoulders, and triceps to exhaustion. Its also a core exercise, forcing muscles in your abdomen, hips, and lower back to work hard to keep your spine in a safe position. But the biggest benefit of the pushup may be the way it forces the web of muscles surrounding your shoulder blades to man up and support your shoulder joints, which can become dysfunctional on a steady diet of bench presses. This test, courtesy of Martin Rooney, one of the world's top strength and conditioning coaches, may be humbling for you, particularly if youre at your best with your back on a bench and a barbell in your hands. Assume a pushup position with your hands directly below your shoulders, your feet hipwidth apart, your weight resting on your hands and toes, and your body in a straight line from neck to ankles. Lower your body until your chest is about an inch above the floor, pause for 1 second (this is essential), and then return to the starting position. Complete as many consecutive pushups as you can while maintaining strict form. THE SCORECARD Below average: Fewer than 15 pushups Average: 16 to 29 pushups Above average: 30 to 44 pushups Men's Health Fit: 45+ pushups Fitness Test #3: Chinups Just as the bench press has replaced the pushup in many exercise programs, so has the lat pulldown replaced the chinup. And thats a shame. Both exercises hit the featured muscles in the upper and middle backthe lats, lower trapezius, and rear deltoidsbut the chinup goes lower and deeper. Because youre hanging from a bar rather than sitting on a padded seat, you force muscles in your middle back to work with the muscles in your hips and lower back to keep your spine in a safe position.

Chinups are a great test of upper-body strength and endurance, core stability, and spinal stabilization, says Mens Health advisor Alwyn Cosgrove, C.S.C.S., coauthor of The New Rules of Lifting for Abs. Pulldowns are certainly easier, but as with so many things in life, limited effort produces limited rewards. Grab a chinup bar using a shoulder-width, underhand grip. Hang at arms length. Pull your chest up to the bar, pause for 1 second, and then slowly lower your body back to the starting position and repeat. A repetition counts only if you start from a dead hang with your arms straight. THE SCORECARD Below average: Fewer than 3 chinups Average: 3 to 7 chinups Above average: 8 to 10 chinups Men's Health Fit: More than 10 chinups And dont miss Testosterone Transformation, a new book from Mens Health that reveals how to unlock the power of your most important hormone to build muscle, lose fat, and live longer! You'll be Men's Health Fit in no time flat!

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Stare at the red dot on this woman's nose for thirty seconds. Then, look over at a blank white space (a piece of paper or an empty browser tab will do). Did you see the "correct" version of the image? Here's how it works: stare long enough at an object and the eye's photoreceptors (particularly the color-sensitive cone cells) lose sensitivity from overstimulation. Divert the eyes to a blank space, and the surrounding cone cells send out a ... more Stare at the red dot on this woman's nose for thirty seconds. Then, look over at a blank white space (a piece of paper or an empty browser tab will do). Did you see the "correct" version of the image? Here's how it works: stare long enough at an object and the eye's photoreceptors (particularly the color-sensitive cone cells) lose sensitivity from overstimulation. Divert the eyes to a blank space, and the surrounding cone cells send out a much stronger signal. The brain interprets this discrepancy as looking at the precise opposite colors, in what is known as a 'negative afterimage.' Nifty, no?

Isolated Peru tribe makes uncomfortable contact

LIMA, Peru (AP) Peruvian authorities say they are struggling to keep outsiders away from a clan of previously isolated Amazon Indians who began appearing on the banks of a jungle river popular with environmental tourists last year. The behavior of the small group of Mashco-Piro Indians has puzzled scientists, who say it may be related to the encroachment of loggers and by low-flying aircraft from nearby natural gas and oil exploration in the southeastern region of the country. Clan members have been blamed for two bow-and-arrow attacks on people near the riverbank in Madre de Dios state where officials say the Indians were first seen last May. One badly wounded a forest ranger in October. The following month, another fatally pierced the heart of a local Matsiguenka Indian, Nicolas "Shaco" Flores, who had long maintained a relationship with the Mashco-Piro. The advocacy group Survival International released photos Tuesday showing clan members on the riverbank, describing the pictures as the "most detailed sightings of uncontacted Indians ever recorded on camera." The British-based group provided the photos exactly a year after releasing aerial photos from Brazil of another tribe classified as uncontacted, one of about 100 such groups it says exist around the world. One of the Mashco-Piro photos was taken by a bird watcher in August, Survival International said. The other two were shot by Spanish archaeologist Diego Cortijo on Nov. 16, six days before Flores was killed. Cortijo, a member of the Spanish Geographical Society, was visiting Flores while on an expedition in search of petroglyphs and said clan members appeared across the river from Flores' house, calling for him by name. Flores could communicate with the Mashco-Piro because he spoke two related dialects, said Cortijo, who added that Flores had previously provided clan members with machetes and cooking pots. The Mashco-Piro tribe is believed to number in the hundreds and lives in the Manu National Park that borders Diamante, a community of more than 200 people where Flores lived. Although it's not known what provoked the Mashco-Piro clan to leave the relative safety of their tribe's jungle home, Beatriz Huerta, an anthropologist who works with Peru's agency for indigenous affairs, speculated their habitat is becoming increasingly less isolated.

The upper Madre de Dios region where the tribe lives has been affected by logging, she said. "They are removing wood very close." Meanwhile, Huerta said, naturalists in the area and Manu National Park officials told her during a recent visit that a rise in air traffic related to natural gas and oil exploration in the region is adversely affecting native hunting grounds, forcing increasing migration by nomadic tribes. The clan that showed up at the river is believed to number about 60, including some 25 adults, said Carlos Soria, a professor at Lima's Catholic University who ran Peru's park protection agency last year. "It seemed like they wanted to draw a bit of attention, which is a bit strange because I know that on other occasions they had attacked people," Cortijo said by phone from Spain. "It seemed they didn't want us to go near them, but I also know that the only thing that they wanted was machetes and cooking pots." Cortijo said the group lingered by the river a few minutes, apparently to see if a boat would pass by so they could ask for some tools, something authorities say they had done in the past. "The place where they are seen is one of heavy transit" of river cargo and tourist passage, and so the potential for more violent encounters remains high, Soria said. That is compounded by culture clash. The Mashco-Piro live by their own social code, which Soria said includes the practice of kidnapping other tribes' women and children. He said the Mashco-Piro are one of about 15 "uncontacted" tribes in Peru that together are estimated to number between 12,000 and 15,000 people living in jungles east of the Andes. "The situation is incredibly delicate," said Huerta, the government anthropologist. "It's very clear that they don't want people there," she said of the area where the clan has been loitering, noting that it had ransacked a jungle ranger's post that authorities later removed. One of the clan's likely fears is being decimated by disease borne by outsiders, as has occurred with other uncontacted peoples, Huerta said. But its also a mystery why they have appeared in an area so heavily trafficked, she added. After the first sightings, and after tourists left clothing for the Mashco-Piro, state authorities issued a directive in August barring all boats from going ashore in the area. But enforcing it has been difficult as there are few trained and willing local officials. Authorities say they aren't sure why Flores was killed. It could be that the Mashco-Piro were angry because he hadn't provided them with more machetes and cooking pots. Or perhaps it was because they considered the farming plot where he was killed too close to what they considered their territory.

Cortijo, the Spanish archaeologist, said the loss of Flores makes reaching any understanding with the Mashco-Piro very complicated. "The problem is that 'Shaco' was the only person who could talk to them," he said. "Now that he's dead it's impossible to make contact." ___ Frank Bajak on Twitter: http://twitter.com/fbajak