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Published in the December 2011 issue
You might not remember, but the very first thing you did on God's green earth was take a fitness test. The Apgar measured your muscle tone, breathing, and reflexes.
Nowadays, I could totally ace the Apgar you should see my ability to react to an unpleasant stimulus and my strong, lusty cry. But adult fitness tests? Some I do well on, others make me emit a strong, lusty cry.
Yet I know this: I like to take fitness tests. I know the power of quantification. Here's the reason you should learn it, too: The more you pay attention to your body's numbers, the greater the chance you'll adopt a healthy lifestyle. Crunching numbers leads to crunching abs. "The ancients believed there is no improvement without measurement, and they were right," says Kevin Kelly, cofounder of the Quantified Self movement, which advocates constant self-assessment. "You can't fool yourself when your coach is a row of numbers.
Source: Esquire