Experts include four components in fitness- aerobic capacity, muscle strength, flexibility and weight control. Here are four self-assessment tests to help you measure your current fitness level. Use them to establish benchmarks to compare with future tests.

1. If you are older than age 40, sedentary or have chronic disease, heart disease, high blood pressure or problems with your joints or lower back, check with your doctor before taking these tests or beginning an exercise program.

2. Be sure to warm up your muscles before taking these fitness tests by walking slowly, increasing your pace until you feel warm, then doing the stretching exercises.

Aerobic fitness- If you can easily do all your daily activities at a reasonable pace without becoming breathless, dizzy, braking into a sweat, or having chest pain, youÁre reasonably fit.

To measure your aerobic fitness more accurately, try a 1-mile walking test. You will need a watch with a second hand. First, practice taking your pulse by placing your fingertips on the thumb side of your wrist. Count the number of pulses you fell for 15 seconds. Multiply by 4 to get the count for 1 minute. To take the walking test, find a place you can walk for a mile of level ground, such as in a park or at one of our school tracks. Note the time on your watch and begin walking at a comfortable pace. After a mile, check your watch and record your time in minutes, immediately taking your pulse and recording your heart rate.

Flexibility- Most older people need to increase shoulder, trunk and hip flexibility to counteract stiffness in major joints and the spine. Aging muscles also become less elastic and more susceptible to injury.

To check your flexibility, tape a yardstick to the floor with the ËZero” toward you. Place a tape perpendicular to the stick at the 15-inch mark. Sit on the floor with your legs extended on either side of the yardstick and your feet about 8 inches apart and flush with the tape.

Lower your head and creep your fingers along the yardstick as far as comfortably possible without bending your knees. Hold for 2 seconds. Note your reach in inches and record in your exercise log.

Reasonable weight- Because of health risks associated with obesity, most experts include maintaining a reasonable weight as a component of fitness. Body fat and its distribution are important indicators of health fitness. Here is a body-fat-distribution test.

Divide your waist size by your hip size in inches. Men with a result greater than 1.0 and women with a result of greater than 0.85 are at an increased risk of heart disease and possibly diabetes.

Contact your physician for a diet and exercise plan suitable for you.