This 4-Move Fitness Test Is the Ideal Benchmark for Busy Dads – See How You Stack Up

I was tempted to not put my name on this piece.

I think the idea that to be a ‘good dad’ you need to hit some sort of minimal fitness standard is… problematic. There are many, many qualities that make a good father, and physical capacity really is the slenderest slice of that pie.

That being said, we do know that men who have fitness as a strong compass point in their life tend to live longer, have better health outcomes, enjoy better mental health and, all other things being even, are generally able to show up with more energy for their children.

I personally cringe every time I see a ‘all dads should be able to do this!’ set of fitness standards, because some of the best dads I know would probably struggle to do 10 strict pull-ups, and their kids are none the worse for it. However it’s not a bad thing, as we age, to have some benchmarks to hold ourselves to. Something to keep ourselves accountable. Something to make sure the work we're putting in in the gym is productive.

This challenge – a mixture of bodyweight conditioning and running – can act as an evergreen litmus test. Can you move your own bodyweight through space? Can you move quickly off the mark? And can you repeat those feats again and again... and again?

It’s not an exhaustive set of standards. You’ll notice there’s no heavy strength portion here. But these are all things I’d like to still be doing long into my 50s, 60s and beyond. Which is why I keep them in my training arsenal.

So take this for what it is. Not a shocking indictment of your ability as a father. Nor a prescriptive set of standards that you must be able to perform if you even want to open your cards next Father’s Day. Just a fun test to benchmark yourself against and come back to repeatedly as you march into fatherhood – and grandfatherhood.

Start a running clock.

On 0.00 and every 2 minutes thereafter, perform:

5 Pull-Ups
10 Push-Ups
20 Alternating Reverse Lunges
100m Run

Rest for remainder of 2-minute window.

For the run, either perform 2 x 50m shuttles back to your pull-up bar, or 4 x 25m shuttles. This one is best performed outside, using a calisthenics park, swing set, goalposts or whatever else you can safely pull your bodyweight up on. But Dads, seriously… invest in an at-home pull-up bar, trust me.

You’re going to go again at the 2-minute mark, repeating the same protocol. Then again at 4 minutes, 6 minutes, and so on, until you can no longer fit the prescribed work into the 2-minute window.

The round you finish on is your score. Make a note of this, and come back to it regularly to check your fitness isn’t falling off – or simply to gauge your improvements.

The tests are simple, but they give you a good set of diagnostics as to where you’re at.

Can you pull up your own bodyweight? Do you have upper-body pushing strength and endurance? Does your lower body work unilaterally – one leg at a time? Are you quick off the mark, and able to repeat and maintain that pace and intensity over a longer timeframe?

None of this will tell you whether you’re a good dad. But it might tell you whether you’re still able to move like one who wants to keep up.

0-5 Rounds: Foundations to build

If I were a guessing man, I’d say it was the pull-ups that held you back here. Which is good, it means you’ve got one clear strength-skill to work on, and achieving that alone will unlock your fitness potential.

Follow our guide to getting your first clean reps to get started.

If you were nailing the chins but your cardio let you down… well, you know where the work needs to be done.

You don’t need to become a full blow hybrid athlete, but improving your endurance and stamina will increase the quality of your life, not just your fitness.

5-10 Rounds: Sports day dad contender

20 minutes of solid work. Up to 25 pull-ups, 50 push-ups, a whole bunch of lunges and half a kilometre all ticked off.

This might not sound like much if you spend a lot of time on fitness social media, but on a population level, you’re in the top 10% here. Odds on you’re going to perform well in the parent’s race at sports day.

It’s a solid foundation, and now you have something to repeat and beat. It’s all up from here.

10-20 Rounds: Your kids are asked, ‘Your dad is the one who works out, right?’

You probably already knew where you were going to land here. Chances are you train regularly and have a good gauge on your fitness levels.

You already know what the holes in your game are, but to be honest, if you can hold this standard long enough to chase your grandkids around the park, you’re in a great place.

20+ Rounds: Yeah, you’re that dad

40-plus minutes of solid graft. I bet you just got bored in the end, didn’t you?

You don’t need us to congratulate you on your efforts. And please, please, for the sake of the other dads, take a rain check on the dad’s race at sport’s day. You’ll look cooler for opting out, if anything.

But don’t rest on your laurels. Stick on a weighted vest, go every 90 seconds as opposed to every 2-minutes, and most of all: come back to benchmarks like this often – even if you’re not improving – just to keep yourself in check.

Remember, it’s one thing to get a good time, it’s another thing to keep that up for a long time.

If there’s one thing Kori Sampson knows, it’s how to optimise your body composition for performance. To tap into his knowledge as an elite athlete and coach, we asked him to create a 4-week plan to help you move faster, recover quicker and keep pushing when the fatigue sets in – all while improving your muscle-to-fat ratio.

Ready to build muscle, burn fat and come out the other side looking, feeling and performing better? Click here to get 14 days of free access to the plan via the Men’s Health app.

Andrew Tracey

With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.    

As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.   

Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.   

 You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.