Gauging leg strength at He's Fit

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Gauging leg strength

Posted October 16, 2007 at 09:00 AM by Mark Scott

Section: His Fitness, Strength Training, Alt. Therapies

One of the best ways to determine how you are progressing on your fitness program and how good of leg strength you have in general is with a wall squat test. A wall squat test will primarily assess your quad strength however the hamstrings and glute muscles will also come into play as well.

The nice thing about a wall squat test is that it is going to mimic movements that you perform very often in every day life, whether it’s getting up and down from a sitting position or walking up a flight of stairs. Being strong in this type of body position will be of benefit to you because it will make these exercises easier as well as help to prevent you from suffering any injuries in the future.

To begin the assessment, stand with your back facing a wall, keeping it as flat as possible. You will want your feet to be approximately shoulder width apart and about one foot away from the wall.

Next, begin to slowly lower the body down into a squat position until you are in a comfortable position where this is not an excessive amount of strain on the knee. Note that it is very important to ensure that the feet are tracking over the knee so as to not begin experiencing knee pain.

Once you are in the position, hold for as long as possible while still maintaining proper form.

If you wish you can perform this test for three separate trials however make sure you are taking a rest in between to allow the leg muscles a chance to rest.

Once you’ve recorded your best score, repeat on the other leg and then compare your results with this standard:

Men (up to age of 35, for every 10 year block after, reduce standard by 5 seconds)
Excellent: >45
Good: 40-45
Above average: 35-39
Average: 31-34
Below Average: 29-30
Poor: 22-28
Very Poor: <22

Women (up to age of 35, for every 10 year block after, reduce standard by 5 seconds)
Excellent: >39
Good: 34-39
Above average: 29-33
Average: 25-28
Below Average: 21-24
Poor: 13-20
Very Poor: <20

If you did not do as well as you would have hoped on the assessment, then you should be sure to have a good look at your lifting routine and see where you might be able to make adjustments so that you can bring up your quad strength. Good exercises to include would be squats, back squats, deadlifts, lunges, one-legged squats and leg extensions

Research sources and for more information: [picture]

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Tags: endurance, exercise, exercise tests, hamstrings, health, leg strength test, men, men's fitness, men's health, quads, strength, wall squat test, women

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12 Responses to “Gauging leg strength” (Leave a reply)

John McGraw from Plano, TX said:

Guaging leg strenght.

1) How can you position your feet over the knees?

2) What do you mean to repeat with the other leg. The instructions don’t say anything about using one leg
October 16, 2007 at 03:16 PM
David said:

It’s pretty clear John, you use both legs to get set and begin the test on one leg.

Easy enough.
October 16, 2007 at 05:22 PM
Davidd said:

Since you’re one leg is on the ground in that squatting position, your other leg is raised up with the foot placed on the opposing knee in sort of a “cross-legged” sitting position.

I was able to do 95 sec so I guess I’m in good shape.
October 16, 2007 at 05:30 PM
Sarah from Las Vegas said:

Doesn’t say anything about using one leg, it says 1 foot [away] from the wall. Unless it has been edited since the last comments, ignore my response. :o)
October 16, 2007 at 06:07 PM
Wes from Woodstock, GA said:

John is right. How hard is it to describe the exercise correctly. LOL. From reading this, I would not have guessed as to what I’m supposed to do with the other foot…
October 17, 2007 at 07:41 AM
paul said:

it seems like these times are short? ive often seen people hold it for 15-30 minutes and once up to 50 minutes
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June 27, 2009 at 04:20 AM
BERTIE - bronchitis and contagious from US said:

Penso che questo sia una buona idea.
September 29, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Men’s health said:

Hi.
Mark out a 25 metre section on the straight section of the track with two cones. The athlete starts 10 to 15 metres behind the starting line. Using a jog run up, the athlete starts hopping on the dominant leg from the first cone.Men’s health The time taken to hop between the two cones is recorded. The test is then repeated with the other leg.
Thanks…
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