A week of testing by the gym staff, in conjunction with the University Physiology Dept., and the Health Service, revealed some quite suprising results: suprising not only to the staff, but to many of the students who, secretly harbouring hopes of 'superfitness', came down with a bump.

Every lunchtime for that week the gym was aside for a battery of tests which the 'patients' passed through, gaining a score on each test. Their scores were entered onto a chart, and [unclear: ar the end] of the circuit, the student plotted his/ her scores against norm tables. The resulting profile indicated several aspects of the subject's fitness, and whether there was any cause for concern.

The implications at this stage would seem to favour an increase in more sustained and strenuous Physical Exercise for the women at least. The results of the various tests used are discussed later in this article, but the highly evocative statement just made can be justified.

We suspect that the results were, on the whole, flattering to the men, e.g. The Harvard Step Test q.v. We feel that perhaps the men entered the test with the idea of proving just how 'superfit' they were, whereas the women came along just to find out their state of fitness. There were a larger number of men who passed through the test than women, and although the men scored noticeably better on the tests, this is by no means evidence to prove an overall male superiority. I wonder just how many of the 'unfit' men we did miss out on? I suggest a considerable number.

Two of the more important tests produced results which may be of relevance to the student body, as they indicate some interesting trends.

The Peak Flow

This test of lung efficiency, measured the amount of air which the subject could forcibly expire at one effort. The figures produced are directly related to height, the taller the subject the higher the expected reading.

However, as Figures 1 and 2 show, the majority of students tested produced markedly lower readings than the norms. Unfortunately, not enough smokers turned up to be tested; thus there was no opportunity to see whether or not VUW smokers have lower readings on the test. Previous studies have shown there to be a marked decrease in lung function from smoking.

The Harvard Step Test

This test was used as a measure of heart/lung cardio-vascular efficiency. This test involves stepping up and down onto an 18 inch bench at a set rate for 5 minutes. The general scoring basis is that a score of 80 or above is good, 50 to 80 average, and below 50 poor.

The overall picture for men showed that 7% of males tested were below average, with a worst score of 16. 55% fell into the average category with the median in this section falling at 70. 35% of males tested were above average and in fact 2 subjects scored virtually 100% with scores of I 29 out of a possible 130. An encouraging picture all round.

It is worthwhile outlining the limitations of this test before we list the women's scores. Physically it is a demanding test with a BIAS in favour of the taller subject. Therefore as the women were on average shorter than the men, they would have suffered from leg fatigue more rapidly. However ... this does not obviate the fact that the women scored poorly on this test, with 55% falling below average. 35% fell into the average category with the median for this section falling at 65. Only 8% of women tested were above average, with the top mark being 105 out of 130.

The remainder of the tests revealed a fairly average picture, with blood pressures on the whole registering within the normal ranges, as were resting pulses.

The strength tests using the hand dynamometer, aroused considerable interest, especially when international weightlifter Tony Ebert nearly blew a valve trying to put it off the scale ... but to no avail. Not too much score should be set by those figures, for unless you were unable to get the machine to move, most people did pretty well on these tests, and gave us a more reliable set of figures to work with next time.

As for the next time, interest was such that we hope to have a repeat week this year. The results we obtained in this Fitness Week, will give us more accurate norms to work to, in some of the tests and we hope to increase the range of the profile.

So if you are worried about your physical state, and our opinion is that you should be worried; then get over to the Gym, and son something out with Allan, Lynda or Hugh ... Now.