Most people train hard for months and can't say whether it's working. They feel fitter, mostly. Benchmarks replace the feeling with a number. Used well, they're the most motivating thing in your training; used badly, they're just a hard day with a stopwatch.
Pick a small set
You don't need dozens. Four to six that cover different things is plenty, and you'll actually remember your scores. A sensible set:
- Fran, for short, intense mixed work: 21-15-9 thrusters at 43/30kg and pull-ups.
- Helen, for a mid-length piece with running: 3 rounds of a 400m run, 21 kettlebell swings at 24/16kg and 12 pull-ups.
- Cindy, for gymnastics volume and pacing: a 20-minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 air squats.
- A pure engine test: a 2,000m row or a 5km run.
- One or two strength numbers: a 3-rep max back squat and deadlift, for example. A 3RM is safer to test regularly than a single and tells you nearly as much.
Our benchmark workouts page has these and plenty more if you want to swap some in. Choose ones that match what you care about. If you're training for a hybrid race, a 5km run belongs in the set; if you'd never do a muscle-up in a competition, leave out benchmarks built around them.
Benchmarks for hybrid racing
If you're training for a hybrid race, the classic benchmarks don't test the thing that matters most, which is running when you're already tired. Add one compromised running test to your set. A good one: 4 rounds for time of a 1km run and 20 wall balls (9/6kg). It takes most people 25 to 35 minutes, it's easy to repeat in any gym with a treadmill or a measured loop, and it tells you clearly whether your running is holding up after work at a station.
Keep a plain 5km run in the set as well. Comparing the two over a few months shows you whether you need more running fitness or more fatigue resistance.
How often
For conditioning benchmarks, every 8 to 12 weeks. Any sooner and the change is often too small to separate from a good or bad day. Any later and you lose the feedback loop.
Strength numbers fit best at the end of a training block, usually every 6 to 12 weeks depending on how your program is laid out. Don't test them in the middle of a heavy block when you're carrying fatigue; you'll get a number that undersells you and a week of training that suffers for it.
And don't test everything in the same week. Spread them over two or three weeks, one or two benchmarks at a time, alongside lighter training.
A twelve-week testing calendar
Here's one way to lay it out across a block:
- Week 1: Fran on Tuesday, a 2,000m row on Saturday.
- Week 2: Helen, and a 3-rep max squat later in the week.
- Weeks 3 to 11: train. Maybe repeat one short benchmark around week 6 if you're curious.
- Week 12: the lighter week. Retest the strength numbers early in the week.
- Week 13: Fran and the row again, then Helen the week after, and start the next block.
Spreading them out means each test gets a fresh effort and you don't lose a whole week of training to testing.
Make the retest fair
A retest only means something if the conditions match. Same standards: if your first Fran had pull-ups with a kip, the retest has them with a kip, and if you scaled the thruster load last time, write down exactly what you used. Same sort of day: not the morning after a heavy leg session, not on four hours' sleep. Same warm-up, roughly. Same equipment where it matters, since rowers in particular vary between gyms.
The scaling point catches people out more than anything. A Fran at 35kg and a Fran at 43kg aren't comparable, and if you didn't record which you did in March you've lost the comparison. Log the load, the movement version and any substitutions every time.
When a benchmark gets slower
It happens, and it's not always bad news. If you've been in a heavy strength block, your conditioning benchmarks may slip a little; they usually come back within a few weeks of shifting focus. Illness, poor sleep or a stressful month at work will show up too. One slower result is information, not a verdict. Two in a row on the same benchmark is worth looking at properly.
And if you've been retesting the same workout for a year and it has barely moved, that's a sign to change something in your training, not to keep testing it.
What to do with the number
Look at what changed and why. If Fran dropped by 40 seconds but Helen didn't move, your short, intense work is improving and your running probably isn't getting enough attention. If your squat jumped and your 2,000m row got slower, you've likely been lifting a lot and not doing much easy aerobic work. Benchmarks are most useful when they change what you do next.
Every workout in the Fiz app has a leaderboard, so you can see where today's Fran puts you among everyone who's logged it, and Pro keeps your score history on each workout so March and October sit side by side. Whichever way you track it, write the scaling down.