Fitness Testing
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Testing for the World's Fittest Athlete
Fitness itself is hard to define, so it makes this often asked and debated topic equally difficult to answer. Fitness is a variable thing, you can be fit for one job but not another. A very fit marathon runner would struggle in a sprinting race, and vice versa. We have gone to great length discussing the world's greatest athlete, a title that requires not only superior fitness but exceptional sporting skill and possibly other attributes. The following discussion is solely about how we can test for the fitness athletes. As you will see there are some athletes with exceptional fitness who would struggle in any competitive sporting situation. You may also be interested in reading about the Fittest Sports, which looks at sports which are considered to have the fittest athletes, and some fittest athletes lists.
How many Can You Do?
One way to test fitness is by measuring the performance in a standard fitness exercise or test. The title of the world's fittest human may come from the athletes who push themselves to the limit, which they often do with more than one exercise. The world's fittest human may be Japanese athlete Minoru Yoshida, who performed 10,507 non-stop push ups in October 1980. That is certainly someone who I would call fit. There are many athletes who have put up world best performances in things like push-ups and sit-ups, walking across the USA, climbing mountains. It is a tough thing to decide who can claim to be the world's fittest, and that is why you will hear that title placed on so many people. See also the Fitness Test Records.
Guinness World Record Physical Fitness Challenge
In an attempt to define the fittest person in the world, the great people at Guinness World Records ratified this supreme test of fitness, to be completed in the shortest possible time. The specifics of the test may have changed a little over time, and there are several people who claim to currently hold this title - either way they are all 'quite fit'! Here two versions of the test. A version of this test is called The World Fitness Championship - see the comparison below. It makes me tired just reading the lists.
| Guinness World Record Physical Fitness Challenge (as defined by Paddy Doyle) | The World Fitness Championship (as defined by Rob Powell) |
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Some Fitness Champions
These are some of the worthy holders of the fittest human for completing the above Fitness Challenge in the shortest time. There may be others that can claim this title too.
- Steve Sokol, 1998
- Joe Decker. 2000
- Rob Powell - 22 hrs 11 mins, and 40 secs. (2001), 18:36:15 (2003), 18:15:02 (2004)
- Paddy Doyle - 18 hrs. 56 mins in 2005.
- Robin Simpson of the UK completed the Guinness Physical Fitness Challenge in 18 hr 25 min 40 sec at the Fitness First gym in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK, on 28 November 2008. (current Guinness Record Holder).
More Fittest Pages
Related Pages
- Debate about the World's Fittest Sports
- who is the World's Greatest Athlete?
- vote for the Greatest Athlete of All Time?
- ESPN List of most demanding sports
- Fitness Testing for Sports
