What the results mean
Half Sit-Up. The half sit-up test is mainly an indicator of your abdominal muscular strength and endurance. However, you also use other muscle groups while performing the test. Scoring in the “below average” to “very poor” category shows that your muscular strength and endurance may be low and needs to improve. Low abdominal muscular strength and endurance may lead to muscle fatigue and may lead to back injury.
Push-Up. The push-up test score is an indicator of your upper-body and shoulder muscular strength and endurance. Scoring in the “below average” or “poor” category shows that your muscular strength and endurance may be low and needs to improve. Poor upper-body and shoulder muscular strength and endurance may lead to shoulder pain. Remember, better strength and endurance make everyday activities easier to do.
How to improve muscular strength and endurance
You can improve your strength and endurance by repeating the same exercise more often, or by working against a heavier load and keeping the number of repetitions the same.
You can repeat the half sit-up movement and vary the load by having your arms in front of you (easiest) or placing them folded across the chest or behind your head (more difficult).
You can repeat the push-up movement and make them easier by doing them against a wall or harder by doing the standard push-up (most difficult).
Muscular strength and endurance:
Frequency: Do exercises at least 3 days week.
Intensity: Vary the intensity (as mentioned in the “How to improve muscular strength and endurance” section above), but only as long as you can maintain the proper posture during the movement and keep movements controlled.
Time: Gradually do more push-ups or half sit-ups until you can do three sets of a movement. For half sit-ups, work towards doing three sets of 25 half sit-ups, and for push-ups work towards doing three sets of 10-20 push-ups (taking a short rest between each set).
Type: Start by mastering the testing movements (half sit-up and standard or bent knee push-up). Gradually add in more exercises and consider using equipment such as balance balls, barbells or dumbbells, or elastic tubing.