What is Average?

[Eakin]

This is more a question I have about perspective then anything else. I've found that as I started to work out and get healthier, my perception of what the "average person's" fitness level would be has changed. Even now I don't know where I'd put myself. I ran a half marathon, so I figure that has to put me above a sizable chunk of folks, but whenever I think about it I can't help placing myself in the 60th - 70th percentile or so. Perhaps it's misleading to use a since linear "fitness axis" though. I'm curious as to what other people here think. Oh, and I'm American if that matters at all.

Can a person of average fitness...

*Run a mile? How quickly?

*Do any pull ups?

*Do a set of a dozen push ups? REAL push ups, not the kind from your knees.

*Complete a 5K if they slow down for parts of it?

[Waldo]

Average person?

None of those. The closest are probably the pushups.

I would bet that no more than 20% of the population can run a mile and less than 10% of the population can do a pull up. However a lot of those that could run a mile are the type that are not overweight and do things like walk a lot, so could push for a slow mile, but have little chance of running a 5K. I bet a fair % of guys can do 12 pushups.

[GoToTheGround]

I think it's entirely dependant upon the application of the exercise. I would assume the goal is an all-around badass in the cardio, strength, endurance, balance, speed, power, flexability, coordination etc....there's probably a few more functional measures.

Interesting read along a similar sort of theme (actually an online excerpt from a book I've got): http://www.menshealth.com/powertraining/cms/publish/about-the-program/Functional_Training_Real-Life_Strength.ph

My own perspective will doubtless seem a little odd to a lot of folks. In my mind, I've started taking the notion of fitness (or functional fitness) to the nth degree, a real kind of caveman approach: If it was me vs another till the end and only one of us walks away, am I in a suitable condition to be the victor no matter what occurs? Am I as physicaly prepared as I can be? Note: At this stage I add mental fortitude (or some other pithy term for drive/focus) to my desired list of fitness attributes.

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general" - Mark Rippetoe

[Waldo]

My own perspective will doubtless seem a little odd to a lot of folks. In my mind, I've started taking the notion of fitness (or functional fitness) to the nth degree, a real kind of caveman approach: If it was me vs another till the end and only one of us walks away, am I in a suitable condition to be the victor no matter what occurs? Am I as physicaly prepared as I can be? Note: At this stage I add mental fortitude (or some other pithy term for drive/focus) to my desired list of fitness attributes.

"Strong people are harder to kill than weak people and more useful in general" - Mark Rippetoe

LOL, I basically came to the conclusion yesterday that MMA fighter was probably the model for fitness type that I personally found most desireble.

[bigm141414]

I've noticed that when you start getting in shape you always underestimate your abilities because you constantly are looking ahead. Basically, you are always looking at people better than you (at whatever, running, lifting, swimming, Tiddly Winks, etc) because you want emulate them and pay little attention to those who you can beat because well it's not worth the time to gloat.

In this sense you will always view yourself a little lower than average because you set your sights high.

[GoToTheGround]

LOL, I basically came to the conclusion yesterday that MMA fighter was probably the model for fitness type that I personally found most desireble.

lol Kind of what I was getting at though I made that statement deliberately avoiding the notion of 'combat skillset' being a factor. Purely from a functional fitness perspective: MMA athletes, elite gymnasts etc - there's probavly a few sports that really hit the broadest cross sections of fitness performance.

[oystergirl]

After spending years as a ballerina and then doing gym work and yoga I have come to the conclusion of a few things. First, there is NO average. I have known people completely out of shape who could do ONE thing amazingly and blow everyone else in the room away, like ballet dancers who sat and drank diet coke and smoked a pack of cigs a day and still could kick your ass and wipe the floor doing squat jumps till the cows came home. Even on my worst days because of my flexibility I could kick almost anyone's ass doing yoga and place out in the highest class but ask me to do a strength move and I couldn't.

I think you only hold yourself back when you compare yourself to others. When I get into shape I like to track my progress in a notebook and challenge my own personal bests on a regular basis because at the end of the day, YOU getting into shape is all that matters, not how you compare to others.

But...to answer your question, I think at this point in time there are few people who could do the list of things you put up--even at my fittest I could do maybe 2 pull-ups--some of us are just not built that way...and with the sedentary lifestyle prevalent I think many would be hard pressed to perform at a Average level.

just my 17 cents...

[aj_rock]

You can only really talk about people in terms of how trained they are. Untrained = unable to do a lot of the things you mentioned.

Average is so hard to nail down though. Average changes with age, gender, genetics, race, upbringing, habitat... you really can't narrow it down.

I'd also like to chime in that most mixed-sports that require fitness AND strength are capable of achieving the same look and athleticism as MMA fighters. Indeed, when you look at weight classes they get about as varied as gridiron football, rugby, or hockey do.

Sorry; I couldn't let fighters get ALL the attention

[Marlowe]

As others have noted, it is deceptive what the average fitness level is. The average fitness level is, unfortunately, pretty bad. But, there is a "long tail" of fitness, and by that i mean, no matter how much you improve (half marathon to marathon to iron man to climbing everest, etc), you will find that there is always a new level where there are folks whose fitness and abilities make you look like a chump by comparison. But that "next level up" is populated by fewer and fewer people the higher you go.

And that long tail can really mess with us and make us feel like we're somehow under-achieving or not where we should be. Instead of feeling good about how far we've come, we look at those ahead of us and say, dang, I have a long way to go. We need to keep that in mind and feel good about our progress and just be realistic with ourselves that no matter how well we do, there will always be someone who is better. I try to flip that around and view those ahead of me as a motivator and say, wow, i've come so far in the last year, and I have an opportunity to go even further just like _____ has.

[Ryan Sannar]

Chuck Norris is at the top of that list.

[mikeinscho]

I'd say if you want to see where you stand in terms of "average" you need to decide to focus in a certain area of fitness and then use that population as a barometer for poor/average/elite. If MMA is piques your interest go sign up for a BJJ/kickboxing/judo class and then you'll have a better idea of what "average" for that area is.

I love sprinting (100m-400m) and consider myself above average speed, but put me in a 5k race or higher and I quickly slide down to poor. Thing is I don't even plan on competing in 5ks so it's well worth being seen as below average in that area.