The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Marksissons and is narrated by Brock Armstrong.

Eleven ways to assess your true fitness level. I once dated a girl who only went to the gym once a month. She'd do the

same workout, a tough high intensity circuit using weights, the stationary bike, the stepper, and a few

other machines every single time. And that was it. When you asked her about it, her reasoning was that if she could do the workout, she was

still fit, and that was enough for her.

Why go to the gym every day if she was already in shape?

While I wouldn't recommend that methodology myself, one thing she did have right was regularly assessing her fitness level.

This is something that most people, even many of those fitness buffs among us, don't do,

and I think that's a real mistake. So I thought we'd explore this topic. Do you have a measuring post to gauge how fit you are?

Is there a standard you aspire to reach, to surpass, to maintain? Let's look at several ways

you can assess your true fitness level.

Number one, do the Primal Blueprint fitness assessment. This is a simple way to check

your capacity for body weight fitness. Do the max number of consecutive reps for each primal

essential movement. The number of reps you can complete in each movement will determine where to

begin on that movement's progression.

If you haven't already, sign up for the newsletter and get free access to the Primal Blueprint

Fitness eBook. Number two, do the CrossFit Baseline Wad. For time, do 500-meter row, 40 body weight squats, full depth, hip

crease below the knee, 30 sit-ups, start with your shoulders touching the ground, 20 push-ups,

chest to floor, 10 pull-ups, chin above bar, full extension at the bottom.

That's a very reasonable standard. It tests strength, strength endurance, and the ability to endure a demanding workout.

Here's how CrossFit interprets times for males and females.

3 minutes and 45 seconds for males, 4 minutes and 40 seconds for females is elite.

...