Feasibility and Safety in health-related field-based physical fitness tests in adult population: The ADULT-FIT project

Studies on feasibility and safety of health-related field-based physical fitness tests in adults are limited, with a lack of methodological homogeneity in the definition of their items. The aim of the present study was to assess the feasibility and safety of the most frequently used health-related field-based physical fitness tests in adult population.

A total of 390 participants, homogeneously distributed by sex, age and physical activity level, were included in the study. Feasibility and safety items proposed from the scientific evidence were assessed for the most frequently used health-related field-based physical fitness tests in adult population. Overall, feasibility items presented a successful answer of 100% in all tests; “participants evaluated” were the 100% of the sample, with an adequate “ratio participants/evaluators” and “time of preparation” (i.e., ∼1 minute). Safety items presented a successful answer of 99% in all tests, “heart rate” (HR) was evaluated only in cardiorespiratory fitness tests; the 97% of the participants reached the “85% HRmax” in the 20-m shuttle run test. For “rate of perceived exertion”, the 51% and 88% of the participants reported a moderate and hard to maximum effort in the 30-s sit-to-stand and the front plank tests, respectively. For “tibial pain” the 32% of the participants reported pain in the 2-km walk test, and for “delayed-onset muscle soreness” the 45% of the participants expressed some degree of muscle soreness, with the 95% of them reporting that cardiorespiratory fitness tests could be the cause.

The most frequently used health-related field-based physical fitness tests are feasible and safe in adult population homogeneously distributed by sex, age and physical activity level.