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Chapter Five

The Examen

“The Christian soul knows it needs Divine Help and therefore turns to him Who loved us even while we were yet sinners. Examination of conscience, instead of inducing morbidity, thereby becomes an occasion of joy.”

— Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Pretty much every fitness company, resource, or book (this one included) will encourage you to both talk to a physician or other medical professional before beginning a fitness program, as well as take a close and serious look at your life to see where you’re starting from, and where you want to get to. Unfortunately, when people start a fitness program, they nearly always start based on where they wish they were physically, rather than where they really are.

Saint Ignatius of Loyola begins his Spiritual Exercises by recommending we start every day with an Examen, an examination of our conscience. It forces us to pause a moment, be honest with ourselves as to what our current state of our life is, draw awareness to what sins and imperfections we are fighting, and consciously resolve to improve those that day. He then says that we should do a second examination around midday and a third at night, so that throughout the day we are checking in with ourselves and God to see where we are, and where we need to be.

Saint Ignatius’s call to us to examine our consciences and spiritual lives daily echoes throughout our Catholic tradition. As early as the writing of 1 Corinthians (11:27–31, if you want to get specific) Saint Paul calls for, at minimum, a weekly examination of our lives to discern whether we are in a state of grace sufficient to receive holy Communion. Likewise, a competent spiritual director will help us take an honest inventory of where we are before suggesting where we need to grow and how we might do that.

As far as prayer and the spiritual life go, in this book I’ve tried to incorporate things into the text and the “workouts” that all can benefit from, and yet most of us don’t do. But, in almost no realm of life is there such a thing as a “one-size-fits-all” solution. So, it’s always good to seek the guidance of a competent pastor, spiritual director, deacon, religious brother or sister, or lay minister.

But when it comes to fitness, how can we figure out where we are starting from? When I used to work as a personal trainer, I would always have clients start by telling me about any injuries, surgeries, etc., they had had. In the case of joint replacements, major hospitalizations, or entire muscles being removed or permanently altered, get the help of a professional physical therapist. There are ways to heal our bodies from almost any starting point, but you will need something a little more custom-tailored.

Here I’m going to break down starting points in general fitness, strength, speed, endurance, and flexibility so you can have a working idea of where to begin.

I. General Fitness

How do I feel? This may seem like a silly or woo-woo question, but it’s actually a pretty good starting place. If you’re honest with yourself, do you feel like you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced athlete? Does the word athlete intimidate you, feel good when you try it on for size, or do you scoff at it? (In which case, come on, let’s calm down on the pride front a little bit here.) Again, be honest.

How long has it been since I worked out regularly? If the answer is “never” to “one year ago,” consider yourself a beginner. Every opportunity you have to take pride out of the equation, do it. You can always progress more quickly if beginner stuff feels too easy.

Heart rate. One other important measure to be aware of is your “maximum heart rate.” This can be a great metric in any of your fitness training. There are more precise ways to calculate it, but the simplest is 220 beats per minute (bpm) minus your age. So, if you’re thirty years old, your “maximum heart rate” is 190 bpm.

Your maximum heart rate becomes important because during different kinds of training, you may have a goal of pushing to 80–90% maximum heart rate, 50–60% heart rate, etc., depending on what skills you’re trying to develop.

When you’re training, if you do have a heart-rate goal, you’ll need to check it. To do so, pause what you’re doing and place two fingers on your carotid artery on the right side of your neck. Count how many beats/pulses you feel in 20 seconds, then multiply by 3. You can do a 10-second count and multiply by 6, but 20 seconds is a little easier to be accurate. Obviously the most accurate way is to get a heart-rate monitor that you wear, but you can do that if and when you feel ready for it.

II. Strength

A. The Pull-up/Push-up/Squat test. These three movements serve as a great way to gauge where your strength level is, because together they work pretty much every muscle in your body.

1. Female Beginners:

a) 0–1 pull-ups

b) 0–5 pull-ups

c) Squat < 50% bodyweight for 8 reps

2. Male Beginners:

a) 0–2 pull-ups

b) 0–10 push-ups

c) Squat < 50% bodyweight for 8 reps

3. Female Intermediate

a) 1–5 pull-ups

b) 5–15 push-ups

c) Squat 50–75% bodyweight for 8 reps

4. Male Intermediate

a) 2–10 pull-ups

b) 10–30 push-ups

c) Squat 50–100% bodyweight for 8 reps

5. Female Advanced

a) > 5 pull-ups

b) > 15 push-ups

c) Squat > 75% bodyweight for 8 reps

6. Male Advanced

a) > 10 pull-ups

b) > 30 push-ups

c) Squat > 100% bodyweight for 8 reps

B. As in the general fitness section, you should also factor in frequency of workouts into your calculations.

III. Speed

A. 1-mile time. If we’re talking overall fitness, your 1-mile time is a pretty good measure of the speed component. It doesn’t really take into account your starting/stopping/plyometric speed, but it gives us an idea of how well your body is processing lactic acid buildup (an acid that your body produces when you exert yourself, that makes it more challenging to continue to exert yourself) and your current level of cardiovascular fitness.

1. Female Beginner

a) Can’t complete a mile — 12-minute mile

2. Male Beginner

a) Can’t complete a mile — 10-minute mile

3. Female Intermediate

a) 12-minute mile — 8-minute mile

4. Male Intermediate

a) 10-minute mile — 6-minute mile

5. Female Advanced

a) Sub 8-minute mile

6. Male Advanced

a) Sub 6-minute mile

IV. Endurance

A. Time. The most consistent metric to use to measure your endurance level is how long you can maintain an elevated heart rate without needing to rest. I tend to use 75–80% of maximum heart rate (oh, look, it’s already becoming important!). Here the time is the same for both males and females. You’ll see there is a large range, and that’s because we’re talking endurance, the ability to exert yourself for a long time. You could even divide up the advanced section into multiple brackets, but these serve as good starting places.

1. Beginner

a) < 1 minute — 20 minutes

2. Intermediate

a) 20 minutes — 90 minutes

3. Advanced

a) > 90 minutes

V. Flexibility

A. In the included workouts, flexibility will be the only component that doesn’t categorize you as beginner, intermediate, or advanced. Wherever you start, you will end up doing the same amount of flexibility work. But it is important to get a clear idea of where you’re starting from, so here are good ways to check. Bonus: most of them double as pretty good stretches for flexibility training when we get to workouts!

1. Single Leg Floor Touch Test (100); Two-Legged Variety (101) With this test, you are checking for imbalance between your hamstrings and back — and the ability to hold a position, rather than getting there by bouncing or quick movement. In the case of flexibility, bouncing is both dangerous and can lead to muscle pulls, strains, and tears.

a) Find a short stool (6–10 inches high)

b) Put one foot on the stool, keep the other leg straight, and reach slowly for the foot on the floor with both hands

c) Hold the stretch for 10 seconds at a time

d) Switch sides

2. Groin Flexibility Test (102)

a) Sit on the floor, with knees to each side and feet together

b) Pull your heels back toward your groin, keeping your feet together

c) See how close to your groin you can pull your feet without significant discomfort

3. Trunk Twist (103)

a) Standing in a bent over position, place your left hand on the outside of your right leg

b) Reach your right arm up toward the ceiling while opening up your body to the right side

c) Hold where you begin to experience discomfort for 10 seconds

d) Switch sides

4. Back Scratch Test (104, 105)

a) Reaching back over your shoulder with one arm, place your fingertips on your back

b) Reaching the other arm behind your back, place the knuckles on the back

c) Try to bring both hands to touch

d) Preferably, have a partner measure the distance between your hands so you can gauge it

e) Switch sides and repeat

Okay, so those are ways to discern where you are starting from. Again, each one, the point is just to get a clear idea of where you are beginning. You may be ahead in one category and behind in another. You may be significantly ahead or behind of where you expected to be in a category, or overall. No matter what the circumstances, resist the temptation to despair or to be too self-satisfied. Both come from pride, and both will inhibit the possibility for real learning, growth, and change.