Fitness standard for 17 year olds?

[cabinetbureau]

Is there a set of measures that can be used to assess fitness/physical capability for an older teenage? Not like a bleep test necessarily but, can they walk at moderate pace for 30 mins?

or any recommended quantities of daily activities?

My 17 year old is overweight and barely moves and I am so worried they are disabling themselves gradually. Attendance at college/grades are middling, work 2x 2 hours shifts a week and I am v anxious they will not be able to cope with further study or work when they finish this time next year. Doctor and blood test reveal iron and vitamin D deficiency so they are taking tablets but I fear it won’t help with energy levels muchif they are so sedentary.

You already know they are too sedentary and not very fit so I don't think you need to measure it as such as you won't find out anything you don't already know really. How does the teenager feel about their lifestyle? are they wanting to make changes? Will they resist suggestions of increasing activity etc?

Walking at a moderate pace for 30 minutes should be easily achievable.

Fatigue is normal with iron deficiency. As their iron improves they should be able to do more

I don't think you necessarily need to measure fitness but a fitness watch can be very motivating. I have one for £30 and it tells me everything I need to know. It can measure steps per day/heart rate/work outs/heart rate variability/standing time etc.
Some of the fancier ones can calculate something approximating VO2 max, which is a fairly good measure of fitness.

In an ideal world a person would need to do 2-3 strength training sessions per week to maximise their fitness/longevity
Plus
1-2 cardio sessions
Plus 1 X Nordic 4 x 4 to increase their VO2 max
Plus several hours of zone 2 exertion (maybe 7000 steps per day- not much more benefit in doing 10000 compared to 7000).

Zone 2 exercise optimises the body to burn fat for energy, rather than relying on easily available energy. It's a good starting point to go on walks where you can talk but need to speak in broken sentences due to exertion.

If you're looking at where a 17 year old can be, look at the British army fitness tests for SCA and RFT. With enough training, most 17 year olds could get to that point.

Start small. Even a walk is an achievement if someone is completely sedentary.

Thank you. I don’t want to measure as a way to berate but more as something they could aim for. lots of people find external benchmarks easier to believe than their mum telling them stuff

That is true but do you really think they don't know they are unfit? Have they expressed any desire to become fitter/less sedentary?

I think their outlook on this is very important. Sending them a list of what a average 17 year old can do in terms of fitness could be disastrous for their mental health.

Is it something you could do together. For example tell them you would like to feel a bit fitter/get a bit of fresh air so you are going to try to do a small walk each evening and ask them to keep you company? Then build on that. There is lots of evidence the magical 10,000 steps isn't really necessary especially at the beginning and puts people off starting.

What are they eating? What is there height and weighr? Ars you overweight?

There are the NHS guidelines of how much physical exercise per week

You can Google and find the NHS recommendations.
How long has he been like this?
What’s his diet like. It’s unusual for a young man to be iron deficient.

At 17 a healthy ( and therefor active ) child can run a half marathon without specific training in sub 2 hrs

could you start something like Parkrun/ walk together ? Once the tablets have kicked in

hes 17 - it’s hard but he is still a child and it is a parents duty to model good behaviours and help them find the activities that they enjoy most

the fact he’s now got meds from the doctors is great - a chance to reset

What food do you have in your house?

I have a 18 year old, and I can’t see him doing anything much because I tell him! And going for a regular walk with his mum? Yeah, no.

@cabinetbureau does your son want to get fitter? He needs to do it for himself. My son did want to join the army at one point so got himself up to the required fitness level (and beyond) by going to the gym and doing a lot of running. He’s slacked off a bit since changing career direction but it did give him a lot of motivation.

You can’t do it for him, but you can support him if he shows any interest in getting fitter. We paid for my son’s gym membership and to a boxing club, bought him decent running shoes and clothes, made sure he had access to decent food at home. We generally applauded and supported any efforts he made to keep fit.

Also, we try to lead by example - DH recently lost a ton of weight and takes his health / fitness very seriously, and talks openly about it. Me less so, but I eat healthy and cycle to work daily. we eat a ton of veg and salad, etc at home and are generally pretty active.

Also, what’s his social life like?

For both my boys fitness is something they do with their mates. They all belong to the same gyms, they meet up and workout together, they definitely like comparing muscles 😂. There’s a little bit of competitive energy there. They talk about fitness a lot and share info that they’ve found. They go running together, practice sparring etc. I guess it’s the natural progression from climbing trees and falling in ponds when they were younger 😂

I'm sorry did I miss where we found out this teen is a boy?

Get them a sport watch, and a dumb phone. Then a little goal, say walk a mile or something. Then ask if they would like a bike or swimming regularly.

Sorry, I don’t know why I assumed that. My mistake.

And I have a 17 yo son so maybe just thought of him.

Me too. But I confess I assumed fitness = boy. Tbf I only have teenage boys, and the teenage girls I do know generally aren’t into fitness in the same way - they don’t compare muscles or lap times anyway.

I’ll stop digging now…🤦‍♀️

At 17 a healthy ( and therefor active ) child can run a half marathon without specific training in sub 2 hrs

At 17 I was swimming for my county, I still couldn't have run a sub 2 hour half marathon without specific training.

Without knowing much about the child, a simple step counter is probably the way to go for now. With an app that rewards for hitting 10k per day. Or 8k to start with if that’s more achievable.

You need to help them associate activity with feeling good, not bad. So a walk to town / library is just as good as a hike in the mountains for now. A swim in a lake is as good as a treadmill. A game of padel with you ? Work with what you have. If you share more details about what they like that would help. Overall you are right that not being able to walk 30 mins is faaaaaar far below a healthy acceptable fitness for a 17yo and so this needs careful management. Also need to consider barriers - for example have they got decent trainers? Small things like that might help.

Walking aa moderate pace for 30minutes may be fine for a 80 year old but not a 17 year old. What is their weight and height?

swmming - you probably had all the wrong muscles ! But I bet you would have surprised yourself

Maybe without specific running training but they’d need to have a pretty strong base from other sports. 13 miles is a long way.
I’d agree with you if it was 10k.

Not sure why I feel the need to answer questions from posters who haven’t answered mine but this has got my back up a bit.

i am not overweight, nor are siblings, other parent isn’t, or either step parent. I don’t keep junk food at home. She is given it by her equally fat friends or buys it at the corner shop on the 0.3 mile walk to college using money she has earned at her job.

role modelling: I gym, do Pilates and play sport. But I am not a sports pest/evangelist about it. Her dad mountain bikes and paddle boards. Olde sibling gyms, runs and boulders. Younger sibling plays out and bikes. She is not ok but will not talk. Accessed private therapy in year 11 and attendance improved a bit. I wasn’t intending on sending her an article or
a stat, just wanted to inform my own conversation with her, if I can get her to engage.

I don’t know her weight, fuck only knows how that conversation would go. She is about 5 foot 7, size 7 feet and wears size 16-20