Learn why you should commit to regular Equifit assessments.
The day you join an Equinox Club should be the day you book your first Equifit. Complimentary for new members, the comprehensive assessment establishes your baseline and helps you set realistic, achievable goals when you first begin your Equinox journey.
“I think that if you have access to this equipment and you get Coaches that can help you get this information, you need to be taking advantage of it,” says Diamia Foster, a COACH X at Equinox Woodbury. “You don't know where you are going if you don't know where you currently are.”
But your initial assessment shouldn’t be your last. Here, Foster details the Equifit process and the importance of repeating it again and again.
The Equifit, Explained
The Equifit starts with an in-depth questionnaire, in which you’ll detail your eating and sleep habits, current exercise regimen, goals, obstacles, and other lifestyle factors, says Foster. You’ll share your medical history (think: surgeries, injuries, medications, etc.), and your Coach will measure your resting heart rate and blood pressure, metrics that essentially show how hard your heart is working, says Foster.
Then, things get physical, starting with a functional movement screening. “We break out the wooden board and we take you through eight fundamental movements that you should be able to do without warming up. So off the bat, you should be able to do those,” says Foster. If you have a strength or performance goal, your Coach will take you through additional evaluations to determine, for example: how much weight you can bench press or squat for a specific number of reps, how far you can jump or throw a ball, or how long you can farmer’s carry a load that’s half your body weight, says Foster.
To top it off, you’ll get an InBody scan; the souped-up scale measures your weight, muscle mass, and body fat and calculates your basal metabolic rate (the number of calories your body uses to sustain its basic functions at rest). All in all, the assessment can take up to an hour to complete. (Note, Equifit in its entirety can feel overwhelming to some people; Foster reiterates that you can choose to perform select portions of the assessment at a time.)
Why You Need Regular Equifit Assessments
In Foster’s opinion, every member should have an Equifit assessment at least twice a year. The resting heart rate and blood pressure tests can clue you into the state of your heart health and if any changes should be made to your cardio training in the Club; higher resting heart rates have been linked with increased risk for all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, as has high blood pressure.
The Equifit is invaluable once you’ve been cleared to exercise post-injury, says Foster. The functional movement screening — which tests your ability to perform a deep squat with your arms extended overhead, an inline lunge, and other movement patterns without compensations — can help you pinpoint potential mobility and stability limitations that have developed. That way, you’re able to course correct to improve performance and prevent future discomfort and injuries.
Even if you’re an injury-free, high-performing member who feels like you could tackle any fitness challenge thrown at you, an Equifit can only help. The assessment can tell you whether you need to take a step back and work on certain fundamental movement patterns that have weakened over time as you focused on other goals, says Foster. For example, maybe your core and shoulder stability has declined after months of training for a marathon — something you might not notice without the functional movement screening. “Even if I'm someone who's super fit, I'm going to be lagging somewhere,” says Foster. “And even if I'm not lagging somewhere, I'm assessing to make sure that I'm staying optimal.”
All that’s to say: “The assessment is beneficial to anyone, no matter what your goal is,” adds Foster.
More often than not, you’re best off working one-on-one with a Coach after an Equifit. Depending on your experience level and other factors, you might need an expert to help you with a new program before letting you fly solo, or maybe you’d benefit from the accountability of training with a Coach every session.
Once you have your plan in place, Foster encourages you “to become a scientist” — write down what weights you're lifting, how far you're jumping, how you’re feeling mentally and emotionally with each workout. In order to see if you’re actually on the right path, you need to collect the necessary data as the experiment — that’s you — progresses. The Equifit is just the first step.