Posts Tagged with: "Challenge"

How fit are you?  How do you determine your fitness level anyway?  Dr. Gar Eufemio of Peak Form had the same question and went a step further by developing a series of tests to determine one’s Fitness Quotient.  He then launched an event called the Peak Form Fitness Challenge to give everyone the opportunity to determine their Fitness Quotient.  Interesting eh?  Read about the Fitness Quotient in Dr. Gar’s own words and see below for more info on participating in their event…

WHAT IS YOUR FITNESS QUOTIENT?
FAQs on the FQ

By Edgar Michael T. Eufemio

We have all heard about the intelligence quotient (IQ) and how test scores can be used as predictors of educational attainment, performance at work and income. Various classifications have been used to categorize individuals. With a median score of 100 implying average, you can be considered a genius (140 and above) all the way down to an idiot (24 and below).

In the late 1960’s, the “Stanford Marshmallow Experiment” started the trend toward the creation of the emotional quotient (EQ). Its first published use was in 1987 (Beasley).

What do these tests have in common? They serve as forecasts into life outcomes; like a crystal ball looking into the future…

Having been involved with orthopedic surgery, sports medicine and the sports sciences for the past twenty years, I have yet to encounter an examination that can prophesy who among our young ‘wannabes’ will be the next Manny Pacquiao, Paeng Nepomuceno, Caloy Loyzaga, “Bata” Reyes or Lydia de Vega.

Initially, I was merely planning to come up with an assessment that determines a person’s fitness level; to label someone as superior, above average, average, below average or poor. Then I got to think, “Why not design a trial that can assess not only one’s current condition, but actually narrow down the list of athletes who may, one day, achieve world class status?” A fitness quotient. FQ!

So, together with my partners, friends and staff, we proceeded to formulate the PEAK FORM FITNESS QUOTIENT TEST.

Where do you begin?

The first thing was to determine which components of fitness we wanted to analyze. We came up with ten:

1) Strength
2) Explosiveness
3) Speed
4) Agility
5) Coordination
6) Balance
7) Flexibility
8) Endurance
9) Recovery
10) Mental

topendsports also describes ten factors – eight are similar to ours; the other two are body composition and motor skills. We replaced body composition with recovery. Think about it, should an individual who is very fast and strong be penalized just because he has a high percentage of body fat? We wanted ALL elements to be measurable and “test”-able, and we feel a player’s ability to recuperate quickly is also important. Motor skills can actually fall under coordination so we substituted it with mental – the proficiency to plan and strategize, the capability to maintain composure and the knack of information recall under physical duress.

The next task was to come up with the stations. Since we started out with ten aspects, we decided on ten posts, each with a mean score of ten points. A total of 100 will mean a participant is average. One can score more or less than ten, depending on how they perform in each stop.

What are the characteristics of an ideal fitness test?

1) MEASURES THE DIFFERENT COMPONENTS – The various body parts as well as the multiple facets of fitness must be evaluated by the diverse situations. (“not just counting how many bicep curls you can do in one minute carrying a ten pound dumbbell”).

2) CAN BE STANDARDIZED – Most fitness assessments put the “testees” under the same conditions, regardless of height and weight. We needed to come up with something wherein the tasks are adjusted to everyone’s physical dimensions – the amount to be lifted and the distance to be covered being a fixed percentage of their mass and stature. This levels the playing field. We came up with six categories for each – from 100 to 220 pounds and from 5 feet to 6 feet 8 inches.

3) HAS A SCORING SYSTEM – Your report card does not simply state that “You are fit” or “You are not fit”; it is not a pass or fail thing. Having a numerical grade enables you to determine if you are better, equal or inferior to someone else. If two or more students are told they are the best in their batch, there must be an objective basis (a digit count) for the tie. The more diverse the criteria and the more elaborate and strict the tallying scheme, the less likely that you will have more than one class valedictorian.

4) IS REPRODUCIBLE – If the same investigation will be conducted at an alternate time or place, the methods of assigning points must remain the same. The equipment and the conduct of the trial must be constant. Every single time.

5) CAN COMPARE RESULTS – At any given moment, scores of different people can be matched up against each other. Furthermore, the same personality may be checked again at another period, and there must be an impartial and objective way of determining if conditioning has improved or deteriorated.

6) USES FUNCTIONAL MOVEMENTS – Not everybody can do a chin up. Or jump rope. Are we to say somebody in the pink of health who cannot perform these movements is not in shape? Furthermore, if we ask two contestants to do as many chin ups as they can in one minute, the first challenger tries with all his might but is unable to do one repetition while the second is a ‘couch potato’ who does not even bother to attempt, do they both deserve a zero? We limited our parameters to activities that almost anybody can do – pushing, pulling, throwing, walking, running, jumping, bending and twisting.

7) CAN BE DONE IN A SHORT PERIOD – You want your analysis to take less than an hour.

Other tests have been designed to measure overall fitness. There is the SPARQ Rating System, which stands for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction and Quickness. There also is the Athletic Standard Index and the RealFit Test. Criticisms are that they either have too many stations (23), too few (3) or use arbitrary formulas to calculate the scores. More importantly, all these tests use the same conditions for everybody, whatever the height or weight. In addition, not all components are tested. We took all of these into consideration when we came up with our challenge.

What are the stations of the Peak Form FQ Test?

1) Vertical Rope Pull – pulling a weight which is a percentage of your body weight over a distance that is a percentage of your height

2) Box Jump – jumping on and going down from a box which is a percentage of your height

3) Suspension Cable Push Up – doing push ups at an angle based on the size of your shoe

4) Balance Board – keeping your balance on a board while moving medicine balls that are a percentage of your body weight alternatingly from both sides, from containers that are a percentage of your height

5) Horizontal Rope Pull – pulling a weight which is a percentage of your body weight over a distance that is a percentage of your height

6) Gang Plank – walking on a plank whose length and width are a percentage of your height while carrying kettlebells that are a percentage of your body weight

7) Sand Bag Throw – throwing sand bags that are a percentage of your body weight

8) Cone Run – placing and taking tennis balls from cones (these are positioned at distances that are a percentage of your height)

9) Sit Up Shot – while lying on a plank (elevated to a percentage of your height), you take medicine balls (that are a percentage of your body weight) from racks positioned at a percentage of your wingspan, doing a sit up and then shooting the balls in receptacles

10) Ball Up, Ball Down – taking medicine balls (that are a percentage of your body weight) up and down platforms that are positioned on the floor and at your shoulder level

We designed it to be like a move-system type examination in anatomy class; similar to speed-dating. Our subjects will occupy a place each and will move to the next location until they accomplish all ten. Each of the ten activities takes one minute. Then there will be two minutes in between – for the group to rest and the marshals to prepare the items for the next competitor and calculate the totals. So that is twenty-eight minutes for every ten contenders. We had to draw up each situation to be equally taxing so that it should not matter where one starts.

To make it trickier, the stations are laid out such that they are not beside each other. After being briefed, the participants are given time to walk through the course so they can try them out, attempt to remember the locations and to strategize how to approach the challenge and pace themselves.

What is the basis for the scoring system?

A pre-test was done and the highest and the lowest 25% of scores per station were eliminated. The mean of the remaining 50% was then obtained (we kept tabs of the top and bottom numbers of the surviving 50%). Point equivalents based on the above figures are 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 AND component 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 ay-dol (meaning elite), astig (superior), hanep (above average), puwede na (average), pasang awa (below average), lampa (poor) or buhay ka pa? (idiot, oops I mean very poor).

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

1) At the very least, individuals may check their fitness levels before and after starting an exercise schedule.

2) Different workout routines can now be pitted head-to-head to settle, once and for all, who can produce the best results.

Since we will be able to identify which components are tested by each station:

3) We can now start asking who scored well in explosiveness, agility, coordination or balance. Certainly, there are sports and events that have positions that need those elements highlighted.

The data can benefit the country’s sports development program. We just have to monitor as many athletes as possible to have significant results. All the high school and college students screened will be followed throughout their athletic careers. Some will reach crème de la crème status. Others will excel at certain aspects of their sport (for example – best rebounder in basketball or hardest hitter in boxing or most accurate kicker in soccer).

4) We can backtrack and find out which stations they excelled in and determine if there are any trends. They can now truly serve as prognosticators for what is yet to come.

5) Grade School and High School students who perform well in this test may now be placed in a training pool where more specialized training will be made available to them.

Too many prospects have slipped through the cracks. We may be grooming the wrong players for a particular sport. We could be missing out on the ‘next-big-thing’…
________________________________________________________________________

Peak Form invites everyone to join its Peak Form Fitness Challenge. Peak Form says this is not a marketing event, but a long term project. They intend to come out with a standardized FITNESS QUOTIENT (FQ) that can be used to measure the fitness level of an athlete. If you would like to determine your own FQ, you may want to participate in this:

Event: PEAK FORM FITNESS CHALLENGE
Date/ Time: 18 May 2014 Sunday, 8am to 10pm
Venue: Atrium, Upper Ground Level, Fisher Mall, Quezon Ave., Quezon City
Who can join: Open to the public!
Registration Fee: P1,500 (includes shirt, water bottle and sling bag and FQ Certificate)
Where to Register: All Chris Sports outlets
Past FQ Events: All past FQ’s were by invitation only. The past three invitationals were all held at Xavier School, Greenhills and attended by celebrity athletes, varsity students of XS, and coaches of XS. This time they are opening the opportunity to the public.

For inquiries regarding the Peak Form Fitness Challenge, please call (+632) 478-9408 or (+63) 916 353-4485. You may also get in touch with Dr. Gar at (+632) 726-1696 or (+63) 917 813-5740.

PEAK FORM CONTACT DETAILS
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/peakformmanila
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PeakFormManila
Address: Unit 807, Infinity Bldg., 26th Avenue, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
Telephone +63.2.478.9408

On December 14, 2013, McDonald’s is inviting families to once again put their running shoes to good use and participate in this year’s McHappy Day Fun Run.  Personally, I’m quite excited about that new Ronald McDonald Challenge! What an awesome idea!

Here are more details about the McHappy Day Fun Run.  If you read until the bottom, you’ll get a chance to win 1 of 3 race kits I’m giving away.

McHAPPY DAY FUN RUN DISTANCES & REGISTRATION FEES

Kids aged 8 and under can participate in the 1k Catch Hamburglar dash, where they have to chase after the feisty McDonaldland character, for a registration fee of just Php350. Kids (aged 15 and under) and adults are also sure to have a great time with the 3k Run Grimace Run (open), the registration fee of which is Php450. For families of 4 who want to run together, the 3k McDonald’s Family Dash is definitely a great way to bond with the kids. Families can register for a fee of Php1, 400 for the entire family. Morning people aged 16 and above will like the 5k Early Birdie individual race for Php750. McDonald’s will also be adding a new race to the program—the Ronald McDonald Challenge, a 9k individual race for seasoned runners aged 16 and above. For a registration fee of Php950, participants will have to complete the 5k, 3k and 1k race categories to be able to complete the challenge. Finishers of each race category will receive special tokens, and the Top 3 finishers will each receive a prize.

McHAPPY DAY FUN RUN RACE KIT

Each McHappy Day Fun Run race kit includes: 1 race bib (4 bibs per race kit for the 3K family category), McHappy Day race route, activity area map and parking information, a breakfast meal stub, a baggage claim stub, a special McHappy Day singlet and McMoney worth 100 for fair activities.

FUN FOR THE FAMILY & FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Fun booths will also be available for families and individuals to enjoy after the race. Watch out for the different McDonald’s booths, face painting, balloon twisting and other fair activities, game areas for Ultimate Frisbee, basketball and football and Giant Happy Meal Boxes.

Proceeds of the event will go to the Ronald McDonald House disaster relief program, Bigay Tulong, currently responding to the needs of the victims of typhoon Yolanda.

McHAPPY DAY FUN RUN REGISTRATION CENTERS

Register for McHappy Day 2013 in the following stores—McDonald’s Macapagal, McDonald’s Greenbelt, McDonald’s BGC Forum, McDonald’s Katipunan, McDonald’s Frontera Verde, McDonald’s Alabang or McDonald’s Southwoods until the 11^th of December anytime from 11AM to 8PM on weekdays and 8AM to 8PM on weekends. For online registration and more information on McHappy Day 2013, log on to www.mchappyday.com.ph.

WIN 1 of 3 McHAPPY FUN RUN RACE KITS!

1) Post a comment below answering this question: Which McDonald’s product would make you dash to the finish line and why?   (Please limit answer to one sentence.)

2) Include the following details in the comment:
– Full name
– Email address

3) Contest ends November 24, 2013 at 11:59 PM.

4) Top three (3) answers will be chosen by TBR.  Each will win a McHappy Day Ronald McDonald race kit.

5) Only one answer per person. Duplicate entries will lead to disqualification. Failure to follow rules will lead to disqualification.

6) Winners will be announced on this blogpost. Winners will be asked to claim their race kits.

Good luck and see you on race day!

UPDATE! Congratulations to the 3 winners who each win a complimentary race kit:

Jay Francis Estallo
Eugene Lim
Anthony Cabiao

Please expect an email from EON regarding your prize.  Thanks for joining!

This is part of a series of posts under the Quaker Challenge. It’s about the quest that my kids and I have to achieve our Quaker Goal to swim, bike, and run more. Read about it HERE.

When we started our Quaker Challenge in August, I was completely uncertain over how far I could take the kids with it. Sure, they were willing, even excited, to swim, bike, and run once in a while, but I didn’t know if they were ready to commit to regular training sessions for sports.

In the past, one or both of them had signed up for soccer, baseball, tennis, swimming, ice skating and more, and almost all the time they would quit in less than a month. I could’ve put up a TBR Sports Store with all our barely used equipment at home.

But, the past weeks, things have definitely changed. I fetch both kids from school on Tuesdays and Fridays and they know that they take swimming sessions after. Most of the time, I swim along with them.

– Before one of our swim sessions –

On Sundays, Anton looks forward to triathlon training sessions with Coach Norman and all the other tri kids that he’s made friends with. Last Saturday, Anton joined the BGC Cycle for kids too.  (Separate post on that in a bit!)  It’s almost normal for them to engage in some form of activity at least twice a week now. It’s a world of difference from the way they spent their time after school or on weekends. I’m not even sure if these are the same kids who used to have their eyes glued to Minecraft and Club Penguin all the time!

So, what helped to make my kids more active and healthier? This is what we did:

1) WE SET A CLEAR GOAL. Thanks to the Quaker Challenge I set a clear goal for the kids to swim, bike, and run more. It became even more measurable for Anton when we signed him up for Ironkids. Sit your kids down and agree on a target together. Discuss ways on how you will achieve it as a team. Gently remind them about this during the week since they tend to get distracted with school work and friends.

2) WE MADE NO EXCUSES. There were times, especially during exam week, when Anton would say that he had too much homework and he couldn’t train. I took it as an opportunity to teach him about proper time management. Together, we agreed on how much time he would spend on training and studying. Both had to be given their fair share of time and focus.

3) I LISTENED AND EXPLAINED. Not all days are good days. So, on days when the kids would complain, I would listen to them, yet I would explain. When Nia said she was having difficulty, I told her that all sports are hard in the start. One doesn’t learn the perfect swim stroke or running technique overnight. When she said it was a bit boring. I told her only after a few “slow” technical sessions can she join other kids and engage in the fun drills and races against each other.

4) WE CHOSE BETTER FOOD. With more activities, I needed to make sure that both kids were eating nutritiously. I have them eat a heavier breakfast to keep them fueled for the day, such as oatmeal and fruits. I give them fruit/veggie juice everyday.

5) WE HAVE FUN. My greatest fear is to have the kids engage in sports hating every single minute. I make sure that they’re having fun while they’re swimming, biking, or running. Thankfully, each and every time I’ve asked them: “Did you have fun?” They both answer “Yes!” even if it’s immediately followed by “Can we pass by McDo?” I know, I know. We still have to get rid of fastfood. That’s an entirely new goal altogether.

Thanks to Hitme, I got invited by Peter_ob (from Philmug) to my first Nike+ Challenge a couple of days before I even tried out the nifty little gadget on the road. I had no idea how these challenges work, but anything that could give me more reason to run faster and longer sounded like good news to me!

The Manila Miles 25 Days Challenge was to begin on a most auspicious date: 07/07/07. (I felt luck would be by my side throughout the race, but I’m sure so did all the other 40+ runners!) So, I did register and crossed my fingers hoping that I would win the race to the most distance in 25 days without obssessing about it to the point that it took over my life (as running has obviously done!) I looked through the profiles of the other contenders on the board, evaluated their pace and distance, and developed my winning strategy. Okay, I’m kidding about the last two phrases!

It’s been a little over a week since the challenge started and fortunately it has not consumed me. Phew, thank God for that! I’ve stuck to my regular running program—which basically covers 40 to 45 km a week—and I just upload this to the Nike+ site and pray a silent prayer that the other runners experienced one of the following to shorten their distance: 1) heavier workload, 2) diarrhea during a long run, or 3) stolen rubber shoes. Hey, I’m kidding…again! This challenge is all about friendly competition, just to get all of us runners more motivated and excited about running further than we usually would.

During the early parts of the challenge, this is how the board looked…

– Manila Miles Challenge: July 10, 2007. A bull run run run, a bull run run! –

Oh, my son was just so proud of me! When he saw this, he screamed “Yes mama, you are the winner!” with both hands jubilantly raised up in the air. I almost burst into tears with joy about my son’s reaction when he suddenly pauses and asks “Wait a minute. You are the bullrunner, right?”

Last night, I rechecked the board to see the changes that occurred in a mere week’s time. Ack. I don’t think I can match up to njrunner_fred’s distance. I concede! Njrunner_fred is apparently training to qualify for the Boston Marathon so go go go njrunner_fred! I am right behind you…literally!

– Manila Miles Challenge: July 16, 2007. A bull run gone gone, a bull run gone –