FitAge

Estimate your functional (fitness) age from physical performance

Your Information

* Required — fitness norms differ by biological sex.


Strength & Power


Balance & Flexibility


Body & Reaction

Educational / wellness tool. Not medical advice.

Understanding Your Markers

FitAge combines eight physical-performance tests. Each is calibrated against age in a reference population using the Klemera-Doubal framework; markers that change steeply with age and are low-noise carry more weight.

Grip strength

Maximum hand-grip force — a strong whole-body marker of muscle strength and healthy ageing.

Protocol: Best single-hand squeeze on a hand dynamometer (highest of a few tries).

Tips
  • Train grip directly: dead hangs, farmer carries, heavy holds
  • Do regular resistance training for the whole body
  • Ensure adequate protein intake

Push-ups (modified)

Modified (knee) push-up repetitions in 40 seconds — upper-body strength-endurance.

Protocol: Knee push-ups, full range, as many as possible in 40 seconds.

Tips
  • Practice push-ups 2-3x/week, progressing reps
  • Build pressing strength (incline press, dips)
  • Strengthen the core and shoulders

Chair rise (5x)

Time to stand and sit five times from a chair — lower-body power. Faster (fewer seconds) is better.

Protocol: Arms across chest, 5 full sit-to-stands as fast as safely possible, timed.

Tips
  • Train squats and sit-to-stands
  • Add step-ups and lunges for leg power
  • Practice rising without using your hands

Floor sit-and-rise

Sitting down to and rising from the floor using as little support as possible (0-10). Higher is better.

Protocol: Start at 10; subtract 1 per hand/knee support used, 0.5 per wobble, for sitting and rising.

Tips
  • Practice getting up and down from the floor daily
  • Improve hip/ankle mobility and single-leg strength
  • Work on balance and core control

One-leg balance

One-leg standing balance score — a marker of neuromuscular control that declines with age.

Protocol: Stand on one leg, hands on hips; summed best-leg time (cap 120 s).

Tips
  • Practice single-leg stands daily (eyes open, then closed)
  • Add balance work: tandem stance, wobble drills
  • Strengthen ankles, hips, and core

Sit-and-reach

Forward reach past the toes — hamstring and lower-back flexibility.

Protocol: Seated, straight back, reach forward; cm past (+) or short of (-) the toes.

Tips
  • Stretch hamstrings and hips regularly
  • Add mobility/yoga sessions
  • Warm up before stretching for best range

Waist-to-height ratio

Waist circumference divided by height — central adiposity. Lower is generally healthier (aim < 0.5).

Protocol: Waist at the navel; both in the same units. Entered as waist + height below.

Tips
  • Reduce central fat through diet quality and activity
  • Combine cardio with strength training
  • Prioritise sleep and stress management

Reaction time

Simple visual reaction time — processing speed. Faster (lower ms) is better.

Protocol: Mean time to respond to a visual cue, in milliseconds.

Tips
  • Train with reaction drills and ball sports
  • Prioritise sleep and limit alcohol
  • Stay physically active to support brain processing speed

What is Functional Age?

Functional age estimates how well your body performs physically compared with others your chronological age. It is built from fitness tests — strength, balance, flexibility, body composition, and reaction time — rather than blood markers.

FitAge adapts the Klemera-Doubal Method (KDM) framework to these functional markers. Each marker is calibrated against age in a reference population, and the markers are combined into a single estimate, regularized toward your chronological age.

Exploratory and educational. Fitness markers are individually weaker age predictors than blood biomarkers, and FitAge has not been validated against health outcomes — it is not a clinical biological-age clock. Reference data are assembled from several population cohorts.

How to Interpret

Functional < Chronological
Fitter than typical

Functional ≈ Chronological
Typical for your age

Functional > Chronological
Room to improve

References

Klemera & Doubal (2006), Mech Ageing Dev — the KDM framework adapted here.
Coefficients assembled from NHANES, Aandstad 2016 (Norway), Mayhew 2023 (CLSA), Araújo 2020 (SRT), and UK Biobank.