Task 1 Fitness testing

Flexibility - the sit and reach test.

This test involves sitting on the floor with legs stretched out straight ahead. Shoes should be removed. The soles of the feet are placed flat against the box. Both knees should be locked and pressed flat to the floor (the tester may assist by holding them down). With the palms facing downwards, and the hands on top of each other or side by side, the participant reaches forward along the measuring line as far as possible. When pushing forward the participant must ensure that their hands remain at the same level, not one reaching further forward than the other, as the distance is measured with the hands together. After about 1-3 practice reaches, the participant reaches out and holds that position for 2-3 seconds while the distance is recorded. The movement must be controlled and unstable movements won't count. Also scores are recorded to the nearest centimeter or half inch as the distance reached by the hand.

Advantages of this test:

The sit and reach test is easy and quick test to perform. If using a standard procedure, which is easy to replicate. Also there is a lot of data for comparison. The test is also fairly reliable. It is also a fairly cheap test to run and isn't time consuming. It also has a fairly low skill requirement.

The test being easy and quick to perform is an advantage as it means that's it can be set up by any athletes who wish to test this component, simply and effectively on their own, which saves time for them to concentrate on other commitments. Also this leads to it being easily replicated as it is easy to remember and set up again. Furthermore when athletes test in groups or in their teams their results are easy to compare with others and with the national average, which is seen as an advantage as it educates the athlete promptly allowing them to be aware of their results and being able to analyze whether it is a strength or weakness. This test also shows that it is reliable as it is a controlled measures test which gives clear results which can be compared. Nevertheless it can be argued that warming up properly and not warming up will have an effect on the results and its reliability. This test is cheap as it just involves using the sit and reach bench, which is a one off investment and then just an apparatus which is needed to be looked after. This is an advantage as athletes will be able to test more frequently to help note progression on any previous weakness.

Disadvantages of this test:

There are variations in arm, leg and trunk length in individuals which can make comparisons between individuals misleading. This test is specific to the range of motion and muscles and joints of the lower back and hamstrings, and may not be relevant to other part of the bodies' flexibility. This test also has poor validity.
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Variations in the arms, legs and trunk lengths will have misleading comparisons between athletes as it makes it unfair as people with long arms and/or short legs would get a better result, while those with short arms and/or long legs and therefore it's not fair to compare these results . Also the test is specific to the range of motion, muscles and joints of the lower back and hamstrings, and this may not be relevant to other body areas, therefore the results may not be specific enough or accurate for athletes, to get a right feedback which may ...

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