The idea
Fitness is one of the strongest predictors of how long people live. In a study of 122,000 people, the fittest group had about a fifth of the death risk of the least fit. A lab test of it costs hundreds of dollars. Watches estimate it, but only on their own hardware and usually only on outdoor runs.
There are simple tests, validated decades ago, that need only a step, a timer and a heart rate reading. This app runs them for you.
The session
- Step up and down a 30 cm step for three minutes in time with a beep.
- Sit still for one minute. How far your heart rate drops is your recovery score, and the same minute gives the VO2max estimate.
- Count how many times you can stand up from a chair in 30 seconds.
- Balance on one leg.
What exists
Apps that do one of these tests, mostly on iPhone only, often asking you to count your own pulse. Nothing combines them on both phone platforms with a strap and lets you export your numbers.
Honest limits
It measures. It does not make you fitter. The step test is a decent estimate, not a lab result, and the balance test is too easy for most people under 40.