FSHP Academy
Assessment & Screening — all lessons

Screening

Preparticipation health screening

Resting and Body Composition Measures

Resting assessments and anthropometric measurements

Fitness Testing

Cardiorespiratory assessmentsMuscular strength, endurance and power assessmentsAthlete assessment and evaluation

Movement and Postural Assessment

Postural and functional assessment (Prehab assessment tool)Limits of movement screens and postural assessment

Muscular strength, endurance and power assessments

How to test strength (1RM and estimates), muscular endurance, power (jumps) and grip — protocols, safety, reliability and what the numbers mean.

Intermediate Evidence: Strong evidence 3 min read Reviewed 2026-10-31 Status: draft

Learning objectives

  • Conduct a safe 1RM or repetition-maximum test and estimate 1RM
  • Administer common endurance tests (push-up, chair stand, plank)
  • Measure power using vertical jump variants
  • Use grip strength as a health marker and interpret results

Before this lesson

Why this matters

Strength, endurance and power each predict different things — performance, independence in older age, even mortality. Testing them well gives a baseline for programming and a powerful motivator.

Strength

1RM protocol (typical): general warm-up → ~5–10 reps at ~50% estimated 1RM → 3–5 reps at ~70% → 1–2 at ~80–90% → single attempts with 3–5 min rest, increasing load until failure, aiming to find 1RM within 3–5 attempts. 1RM testing shows high test–retest reliability when standardised [grgic2020].

For beginners, use a repetition maximum (e.g., 5RM) and estimate 1RM with the 1RM estimator.

Muscular endurance

  • Push-up test — maximal reps with a defined standard (e.g., chest to a fist-height target, full lockout, no pauses); modified knee version available.
  • 30-second chair stand — useful for older adults (see functional assessment).
  • Plank / trunk endurance holds — useful but technique failure criteria must be clear.

Power

  • Countermovement jump (CMJ) — dip and jump with hands on hips; measure with jump mat, app or force plate.
  • Squat jump (SJ) — from a held squat, no dip; isolates concentric power. CMJ and SJ show high reliability [markovic2004]. CMJ minus SJ reflects stretch-shortening ability — see force and SSC.

Grip strength

Measured with a handheld dynamometer (standardised posture, best of 2–3 attempts per hand). In the PURE study of nearly 140,000 adults in 17 countries, each 5 kg lower grip strength was associated with ~16% higher all-cause mortality [leong2015]. Grip is a marker of overall strength and health — an association, not proof that grip training extends life.

Practical application

Common mistakes and misconceptions

Case study

A 70-year-old client completes 9 chair stands in 30 s and a grip of 18 kg. The trainer explains these indicate room to improve, builds a strength and power programme, and re-tests after 12 weeks (13 stands, 21 kg).

Further learning: video lessons

Video links are only marked “verified” after a human has watched them. Unverified entries open a YouTube search for that channel and topic rather than a guessed link.

Practical demo needs verification — opens a YouTube search

How to perform a 1RM test safely

NSCA

You will understand: warm-up progression and attempt selection

Why: Professional standard procedure.
Practical demo needs verification — opens a YouTube search

Grip strength testing with a dynamometer

physiotherapy channels (search)

You will understand: position and scoring

Why: Standardisation matters for comparison.

Knowledge check

Knowledge check · 0/5

1. For a novice client, which approach to strength assessment is usually most appropriate?

Answer B. Estimates from submaximal sets are safer while technique develops.

2. Reliability of 1RM testing in a systematic review was…

Answer B. Grgic et al. (2020) reported high test–retest reliability across many studies.

3. In the PURE study, each 5 kg lower grip strength was associated with…

Answer B. Leong et al. (2015) found grip strength inversely associated with mortality.

4. A countermovement jump differs from a squat jump because it…

Answer B. The dip uses the stretch-shortening cycle.

5. Why must push-up test standards be identical on re-test?

Answer B. Technique variation is a major source of measurement error.

Short-answer & application questions

  1. Write a standardised 1RM protocol including warm-up and rest intervals.
  2. Explain why grip strength is used in older-adult assessments.
  3. Compare CMJ and squat jump results and what their difference suggests.

Key takeaways

  • 1RM testing is reliable when standardised; repetition-maximum estimates are safer for beginners.
  • Muscular endurance tests (push-ups, chair stands) are simple but technique standards must be consistent.
  • Countermovement and squat jumps provide practical power measures.
  • Lower grip strength is associated with higher all-cause mortality in large cohort studies.

Connected topics

assessment

Athlete assessment and evaluation

geriatric fitness

Functional fitness assessment: SFT, SPPB, TUG, gait speed, grip

sports technology

Dynamometry

strength conditioning

Progressive overload and programming variables (sets, reps, tempo)

This is the canonical lesson for: Personal Training (ACE-aligned) → Assessments, Programming and Progressions

References

  1. Grgic J, Lazinica B, Schoenfeld BJ, Pedisic Z (2020). Test–retest reliability of the one-repetition maximum (1RM) strength assessment: a systematic review. Sports Medicine — Open, 6(1):31. Systematic review check pending
  2. Leong DP, Teo KK, Rangarajan S, et al. (2015). Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. The Lancet, 386(9990):266–273. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62000-6 Cohort check pending
  3. Markovic G, Dizdar D, Jukic I, Cardinale M (2004). Reliability and factorial validity of squat and countermovement jump tests. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 18(3):551–555. Cohort check pending

Educational content only — not medical advice. Consult a qualified clinician for diagnosis or treatment.