Field intelligence
The science behind the assessment
Every test in this assessment was chosen because researchers have followed the physical capacities behind it and examined what happens to people as they age. These are not arbitrary exercises. They are windows into how the body currently manages movement, gravity, force, balance, and fatigue.
Eight tests · One physical baseline
On this page
The premise
Why these eight
The premise of baseline testing is simple: certain physical capacities decline with age, and the rate of that decline is closely connected with long-term health, independence, and physical function. The harder question is knowing which capacities actually matter—and which are simply fitness theater.
The eight tests in this assessment were selected because each is connected to peer-reviewed research involving all-cause mortality, cardiovascular health, fall risk, disability, or functional independence.
In some cases, the landmark study used the exact movement found in this assessment. In others, the study measured the same underlying capacity through a laboratory or clinical test. That distinction matters.
Where Systematic adapts that evidence into a practical field test, the protocol and scoring model are our standardized interpretation of the research rather than cutoffs taken directly from the cited study.
The Bedrock Study
establishes why the physical capacity deserves attention.
The Deeper Reality
looks beyond the headline statistic and examines the physical, neurological, or mechanical systems that may be driving the result.
The Mechanistic Driver
connects that deeper research to what the Systematic test is designed to reveal.
Every score tells us something about that day’s performance. When viewed together, the eight tests create a broader physical baseline showing where the body is strong, where it is compensating, and which capacities deserve greater attention.
Scored by distance from the floor and depth of hand contact
What it flags
- Movement Clearance: Whether the hips, pelvis, lower back, and posterior chain can work together through a controlled forward fold
- Backside Muscle Tension: The amount of tension being held through the calves, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back
- Hips-to-Spine Coordination: How well the pelvis and lower spine share the movement
- Protective Movement Strategies: Whether the body may be limiting the pattern because of stiffness, discomfort, neural sensitivity, instability, or previous injury
- Movement Efficiency: Whether a restriction that appears to be “tight hamstrings” may involve a larger coordination problem
Behind-the-Buzz
The toe touch is the only tool in this testing battery that functions strictly as a pass/fail gateway rather than a ranked score. It addresses a foundational safety question: does the backside of your body maintain the basic mechanical mobility needed to protect your spine? Because lower back strain remains a primary source of physical discomfort in adults, clearing this baseline pattern is non-negotiable before progressing to loaded training.
The Bedrock Study
Global clinical data tracking hundreds of thousands of adults confirms that lower back pain and spinal dysfunction are the leading structural causes of physical disability worldwide, directly impacting individual autonomy and daily movement velocity.
Hoy et al., Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 2014
The Deeper Reality
It is common to assume that a limited toe touch simply means the hamstrings are short. The movement is more integrated than that. A standing forward bend reflects contributions from hip motion, pelvic movement, posterior-chain extensibility, and spinal motion, and the relative contribution of those regions differs from person to person. Pain, previous injury, neural sensitivity, confidence, and movement strategy can also influence how far someone is willing or able to move. Systematic therefore uses the toe touch as a simple movement-clearance screen rather than a diagnosis of one tight muscle or one unstable joint.
The Mechanistic Driver
A toe touch is an integrated forward-bending task rather than an isolated hamstring-length test. Research on lumbopelvic rhythm shows that the lumbar spine and pelvis contribute differently throughout forward bending, and those contributions vary with age, task demands, fatigue, and pain history. Direct toe-touch studies also show that shorter hamstrings reduce pelvic motion and can change how motion is distributed through the trunk.
Systematic therefore uses the toe touch as a movement-clearance screen. A limited result can reflect posterior-chain extensibility, available hip/pelvic motion, spinal contribution, movement strategy, pain or protective sensitivity; the test does not diagnose which structure is responsible.
Vazirian M, Van Dillen LR, Bazrgari B. Lumbopelvic rhythm in the sagittal plane: effects of participant and task characteristics. 2016.DOIPubMed
Gajdosik RL et al. Influence of hamstring length on pelvic/lumbar/thoracic motion during the toe-touch test.PubMed
Scored in seconds · eyes closed
What it flags
- Ankle and lower-leg stability
- Side-to-side hip and core stability
- Pelvic control without visual compensation
- Hidden weaknesses that become visible when the eyes are closed
Behind-the-Buzz
Balance isn’t just an isolated trick; it represents how smoothly your brain integrates sensory data from your entire frame. A landmark 2022 study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that adults who couldn’t complete a 10-second single-leg stance faced an 84% higher risk of all-cause mortality over the subsequent decade compared to those who succeeded.
The Bedrock Study
Long-term international health data tracking middle-aged and older adults revealed that people who cannot stand steady on one leg for a clean 10 seconds face an 84% higher risk of dying from any cause over the following decade.
Araújo CGS, et al. Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2022.DOI
The Deeper Reality
Balance is a dynamic conversation between the sensory systems and the brain rather than an isolated trick. The landmark mortality study used an eyes-open one-legged stance. Vision is one of several major inputs used to maintain upright control, so a person can sometimes preserve an eyes-open stance by relying heavily on visual information. By closing the eyes, Systematic intentionally reduces that visual contribution and places greater demand on vestibular and somatosensory information.
Springer BA, Marin R, Cyhan T, Roberts H, Gill NW. Normative Values for the Unipedal Stance Test with Eyes Open and Closed. Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy. 2007;30(1):8–15.DOIPubMed
Tedeschi R, Labanca L, Platano D, Benedetti MG. Assessment of Balance During a Single-Limb Stance Task in Healthy Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2024;131(5).DOI
The Mechanistic Driver
Balance is maintained by continuously integrating visual, vestibular and somatosensory information. When vision is removed, the nervous system must place greater weight on the remaining sensory information and reorganize postural control.
Aging can make that process less flexible. Research shows declines in leg proprioceptive sensitivity and integration, greater reliance on vision, increased antagonist coactivation, and changes in postural strategy with age. The eyes-closed Single-Leg Balance test therefore challenges sensory integration and postural control rather than measuring one isolated joint or sensory organ.
Peterka RJ. Sensorimotor Integration in Human Postural Control. J Neurophysiol. 2002.DOIPubMed
Henry M, Baudry S. Age-related changes in leg proprioception: implications for postural control. J Neurophysiol. 2019.DOIFull text
Scored 0–10 on movement quality
What it flags
- How well you control your own body weight against gravity
- Available movement space in the hips, knees, and ankles
- Relative lower-body strength-to-weight ratio
- Balance and control while lowering the center of mass
- Coordination while returning from the floor
- The ability to regain standing without relying on external support
Behind-the-Buzz
This test gained global recognition because Dr. Claudio Gil Araújo’s research confirmed that floor agility predicts survival outcomes with startling accuracy. A massive study tracking over 2,000 adults found that those with the lowest scores were significantly more likely to face age-related health complications over a 6-year period compared to those who maintained a high score.
The Deeper Reality
The first requirement is mobility: the hips, knees, ankles, pelvis, and spine need enough usable motion to access an efficient floor-transfer strategy. The second is stability: the body has to control its center of mass as the base of support changes from the floor into standing.
A support or balance deduction tells us that the participant needed an additional strategy somewhere in that transition. It does not, by itself, identify one specific joint, muscle, or neurological system as the cause.
The Bedrock Study
The Sitting-Rising Test has been studied directly as a functional measure in middle-aged and older adults. In a prospective cohort, lower SRT scores were associated with higher natural and cardiovascular mortality. The test does not identify one isolated muscle or joint; it captures the combined physical capacity required to move between the floor and standing with minimal external support.
Araújo et al. Sitting-rising test scores predict natural and cardiovascular causes of deaths in middle-aged and older men and women. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. 2025.DOIPubMed
The Mechanistic Driver
Mobility and stability are only part of the story. The nervous system also regulates how much muscular force can be expressed in a given movement. Pain, joint irritation, swelling, previous injury, altered sensory input, or protective muscular patterns can reduce voluntary muscle recruitment and change the strategy a person uses to rise from the floor.
Research on floor-transfer and sit-to-stand mechanics shows that older adults often use different joint strategies, more trunk movement, greater postural sway, and altered lower-extremity muscle coordination during rising. Research on neuromuscular inhibition also shows that altered joint or tissue input can down-regulate voluntary activation around an affected region. The SRT cannot identify which inhibitory mechanism is present; it reveals whether the participant can organize enough mobility, stability, and usable force to complete the task with minimal support.
Sadeh M et al. Neuromuscular and biomechanical strategies adopted by older adults during sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit transitions: a systematic review. 2023.PubMed
Lepley AS, Lepley LK. Mechanisms of arthrogenic muscle inhibition. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. 2021.PubMed
Scored using age- and sex-informed reference data
What it flags
- The nervous system’s ability to switch on lower-body power quickly
- Rate of force development from a stationary position
- Fast-twitch muscle recruitment
- Hip, knee, and ankle extension working together
- The body’s ability to absorb force and brake safely
- Landing control and lower-body alignment
- Early changes in explosive muscle capacity
Behind-the-Buzz Reality
Strength and power are related, but they are not the same physical quality. Strength describes how much force the body can produce; power adds the requirement to produce force quickly. With aging, rapid force production is affected not only by changes in muscle tissue but also by changes in the nervous system that recruits and drives high-threshold motor units. This is one reason explosive capacity can decline even when slower strength still appears relatively well preserved.
The Bedrock Study
In a prospective cohort of 3,889 middle-aged and older adults, relative muscle power was a stronger predictor of mortality than relative strength. The study did not use a standing broad jump; it establishes why the ability to produce force quickly deserves separate attention from strength alone.
The Deeper Reality
A standing broad jump is a practical field expression of rapid lower-body force production. Generating the jump requires the nervous system and lower-body musculature to build force quickly enough to accelerate the body horizontally. The test does not end at takeoff: the participant must also absorb that momentum and hold the landing under control for two full seconds.
Systematic therefore treats distance and landing control as inseparable parts of a valid attempt. A farther jump that ends in a step, stumble, hand contact, or loss of control is not scored as successful performance.
The Mechanistic Driver
Rapid force development depends heavily on how quickly the nervous system can activate muscle. Neuromuscular research shows that the earliest phase of explosive force production is strongly influenced by rapid voluntary activation and motor-unit discharge rate. Aging research also demonstrates changes in motor-unit discharge behavior and lower-limb muscle power across the lifespan.
Direct adult validation work supports the standing long jump as a field measure of lower-body explosive muscular strength: maximal horizontal power and force were major contributors to jump distance in adults. Together, these findings support using the jump as a practical expression of rapid lower-body force production while recognizing that it is not a direct laboratory measurement of rate coding or muscle-fiber type.
Maffiuletti et al., European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2016DOIPubMed
Marin-Jimenez et al., European Journal of Sport Science, 2024DOIFull text
Scored in repetitions · three seconds down, one second up
What it flags
- Upper-body muscular endurance through the chest, shoulders, and triceps
- The ability to keep the trunk rigid and organized under load
- Relative strength compared with body weight
- Form breakdown under a strict and unhurried pace
Behind-the-Buzz
In 2019, a highly publicized study in JAMA Network Open revealed that male firefighters who could complete 40 or more push-ups had a 96% lower risk of cardiovascular events over a ten-year period compared to those who could complete fewer than ten.
The Bedrock Study
A 10-year study tracking over 1,100 active male first responders found that those who could smoothly knock out 40 or more push-ups had a 96% lower rate of heart attacks and cardiovascular events than those who could complete fewer than 10.
Yang J, Christophi CA, Farioli A, et al. Association Between Push-up Exercise Capacity and Future Cardiovascular Events Among Active Adult Men. JAMA Network Open. 2019;2(2):e188341.DOI
The Deeper Reality
The firefighter study does not mean that completing 40 push-ups causes cardiovascular protection or establishes a universal 40-repetition threshold. It showed that within that occupational cohort, greater push-up capacity was associated with fewer subsequent cardiovascular events. Systematic deliberately changes the task by controlling pace; our goal is not to reproduce the study's 40-repetition cutoff but to examine upper-body muscular endurance and whole-body positional control under a repeatable cadence.
Rozenek R, Byrne JJ, Crussemeyer J, Garhammer J. Male-Female Differences in Push-up Test Performance at Various Cadences. J Strength Cond Res. 2022;36(12):3324–3329.DOIPubMed
The Mechanistic Driver
A strict push-up is not simply a chest-and-arm repetition. In a closed-chain push-up, the upper extremities transmit a substantial portion of body weight while the trunk must remain stiff enough to prevent the body from collapsing or changing shape. At the shoulder girdle, serratus anterior and trapezius activity help coordinate the scapula as force is transferred between the hands and trunk.
Repetition under a controlled cadence adds fatigue to that coordination problem. Systematic therefore uses the tempo push-up as a relative-bodyweight muscular-endurance and positional-control task, not as a direct measure of cardiovascular fitness or body composition.
Howarth SJ, Beach TAC, Callaghan JP. Abdominal Muscles Dominate Contributions to Vertebral Joint Stiffness during the Push-up. J Appl Biomech. 2008;24(2):130–139.DOIPubMed
Suprak DN, Dawes J, Stephenson MD. The effect of position on the percentage of body mass supported during traditional and modified push-up variants. J Strength Cond Res. 2011;25(2):497–503.DOIPubMed
Scored in feet · up to 120 seconds · 50% of total body weight split evenly between the hands
What it flags
- Grip endurance under a continuous load
- Core bracing while the body is moving
- Pelvic and hip stability through a full gait cycle
- Shoulder and upper-back endurance
- Postural control under downward force
- The ability to walk efficiently while carrying weight
- Real-world loaded movement capacity
Behind-the-Buzz
Grip strength and walking speed are both widely studied markers of physical function and long-term health. But the Farmer's Carry is not simply a grip test or a walking-speed test. It asks whether you can continue moving while maintaining a meaningful external load and the postural position required to carry it.
The Bedrock Study
Large prospective data show that usual walking speed is strongly associated with survival in older adults. In a pooled analysis of 34,485 community-dwelling adults age 65 and older, faster gait speed was associated with progressively better survival across the measured range.
The Deeper Reality
Ordinary walking captures only one part of the challenge. A Farmer's Carry combines locomotion with sustained grip and the requirement to maintain the trunk, shoulder girdle, spine, and pelvis under external load.
That combination matters because the test ends when any major part of the task fails. If the grip can no longer support the implements, the carry ends. If the participant can no longer maintain the required postural position, the carry ends. Distance therefore reflects the amount of controlled loaded locomotion the participant was able to sustain, not gait speed alone.
The Mechanistic Driver
Direct loaded-carry research shows that locomotion changes the muscular demands of carrying. Electromyography comparing a Farmer's Carry with an intensity-matched Farmer's Hold found greater activation of several trunk muscles when locomotion was added. Separate biomechanical research comparing the Farmer's Walk with unloaded walking found changes in stride characteristics, forces, and lower-extremity/trunk mechanics under load.
Ellestad et al., International Journal of Exercise Science, 2024DOIFull text
Winwood et al., International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2014DOIPublisher
Scored in seconds at 90 degrees
What it flags
- Quadriceps isometric endurance
- Fatigue resistance under constant mechanical tension
- The ability to maintain knee and hip position
- Local muscular tolerance as metabolites accumulate
- Position-specific lower-body endurance
- The ability to maintain alignment without using the arms for support
Behind-the-Buzz
A large network meta-analysis of randomized exercise-training trials found isometric exercise training particularly effective for reducing resting blood pressure, with wall-squat training ranking highly among submodes.
The Bedrock Study
A massive health review found that static holds—like the wall sit—are actually the number-one most effective style of exercise for dropping high resting blood pressure.
Edwards JJ, Deenmamode AHP, Griffiths M, et al. Exercise training and resting blood pressure: a large-scale pairwise and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;57(20):1317–1326.DOIPubMed
The Deeper Reality
The blood-pressure research concerns repeated isometric training, not the seconds achieved on one wall sit. A sustained contraction compresses local vasculature and changes blood flow while maintained; recovery produces reperfusion. Systematic uses the wall sit for a related but different question: how long can the quadriceps maintain a standardized isometric position while fatigue and local metabolic stress accumulate?
Wiles JD, Goldring N, Coleman D. The effects of isometric wall squat exercise on heart rate and blood pressure in a normotensive population. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2014;32(2):129–136.DOIPubMed
Edwards JJ, Coleman DA, Ritti-Dias RM, et al. Isometric Exercise Training and Arterial Hypertension: An Updated Review. Sports Medicine. 2024;54:1459–1497.DOI
The Mechanistic Driver
A wall sit creates sustained isometric tension in the quadriceps. Unlike a dynamic repetition, the muscle remains contracted continuously. That raises intramuscular pressure and can restrict local blood flow, allowing fatigue-related metabolites to accumulate.
Sensory nerves within working muscle respond to both mechanical tension and the changing chemical environment. Those signals contribute to the exercise pressor reflex—the nervous-system response that raises cardiovascular support during sustained work. Systematic uses hold time as a practical measure of local isometric endurance under standardized position; it is not a direct blood-pressure or vascular-health measurement.
Teixeira AL, Vianna LC. The exercise pressor reflex: An update. Clinical Autonomic Research. 2022.DOIPubMed
Scored in seconds
What it flags
- Support-grip endurance
- The ability to hold and control body weight against gravity
- Forearm and hand muscular endurance
- Tolerance of a fully lengthened upper-body position
- Shoulder comfort under bodyweight traction
- The ability of the hands, arms, shoulders, and upper back to work as a connected chain
Behind-the-Buzz
Grip strength is heavily cited in longevity research because your hands are the functional end of a physical chain; when your baseline grip goes, it often signals an overall drop in your physical autonomy. A major study in The Lancet (Leong et al., 2015) tracking over 130,000 adults found that every 5kg decrease in absolute grip strength was associated with a 16% increase in all-cause mortality.
The Bedrock Study
A massive global health tracking study following over 139,000 adults showed that a decline in handgrip squeeze pressure is a powerful predictor of early death and heart complications—even beating out standard measurements like systolic blood pressure.
Leong DP, Teo KK, Rangarajan S, et al. Prognostic value of grip strength: findings from the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) study. The Lancet. 2015;386(9990):266–273.DOIPubMed
The Deeper Reality
Population studies usually measure grip with a dynamometer. That quantifies squeeze force but does not tell us how long someone can maintain a support grip while suspending body mass. The Dead Hang changes the question by combining sustained support-grip endurance with tolerance of a fully lengthened overhead position.
The Mechanistic Driver
A dead hang is more than a squeeze-strength test. The hands must sustain bodyweight while the wrist, elbow, shoulder girdle and postural musculature coordinate an overhead support position. As fatigue develops, the nervous system changes how those regions share the task.
Direct dead-hang research shows fatigue-related redistribution of coordination from distal to more proximal joints and increased intermuscular coupling. Systematic therefore interprets hang time as sustained support-grip endurance within a coordinated upper-body loading task—not as a direct measure of whether the shoulder is “open,” relaxed or compressed.
Exel J, Kaufmann P, Froschauer O, Baca A, Kainz H, Mochizuki L. Upper-Body Neuromechanical Coordination Strategies During Fatiguing Sustained Dead Hangs in Climbers. European Journal of Sport Science. 2026;26(6):e70197.DOIPubMed
The whole picture
What the eight tests create together
No single test can define a person’s healthspan.
Healthspan also includes medical health, cognition, cardiovascular function, metabolic health, mental health, social participation, sensory function, and freedom from disease.
These eight tests examine one important part of that larger picture:
Physical healthspan
Together, they create a baseline across:
- Movement clearance
- Balance
- Joint workspace
- Relative strength
- Explosive power
- Landing control
- Muscular endurance
- Grip capacity
- Loaded locomotion
- Postural control
- Fatigue tolerance
- Physical independence
The result is not a medical diagnosis.
It is not a promise about how long someone will live.
It is a repeatable physical baseline that shows how the body currently handles several of the capacities most closely connected with maintaining function across the lifespan.
Zero to ten
About your score
Each test produces a score from zero to ten based on the participant's raw performance and the Systematic standards relevant to that test.
Each test uses the variables relevant to its approved scoring model. Some use age- and sex-specific references; some preserve side-to-side information; and some use body measurements to prescribe the test itself. For example, height is retained as context for the Standing Broad Jump, while body weight determines the prescribed Farmer’s Carry load.
When all eight tests have valid scored results, the eight individual scores are averaged to produce one overall Systematic Healthspan Score. If a required test has no valid score, the assessment remains incomplete rather than presenting a seven-test average as a complete score.
The score is designed to make the assessment easy to understand and repeat over time.
It does not represent a biological age, a predicted lifespan, or a calculated probability of disease.
The standards combine published reference data where appropriate with Systematic's standardized field-test methodology.
They are designed to be refined as higher-quality reference data and larger professionally observed Systematic cohorts become available.
Performance is currently below the selected Systematic standard for the participant’s age and sex. A red result does not diagnose a medical condition or calculate an individual’s risk of all cause mortality. It identifies a physical capacity that is limited enough to deserve attention.
Performance demonstrates a usable baseline of physical capacity for the participant’s age and sex. This is the level we want participants to establish, protect, and continue improving.
Performance exceeds the functional target and demonstrates unusually strong capacity for the participant’s age and sex.
The greatest value is found in the individual test results.
They show which capacities are already strong, which are meeting the functional target, and which deserve more focused training.
What we store
Data, privacy & comparison
Your name will not appear in public rankings or comparison data.
With your permission, your test results may be included in secure, de-identified group data organized by factors such as age, sex, and assessment method.
This allows participants to understand how their performance compares with others while protecting individual identity.
Self-reported results, professionally verified results, and Systematic HQ results will remain identified as separate assessment categories.
A self-reported score and a professionally observed score use the same mathematical scoring system, but they do not carry the same level of measurement confidence.
Separating those groups allows comparisons to remain as fair and useful as possible.
Your information contributes to the growing baseline.
In return, the growing baseline helps every participant understand their own performance with greater context.
Final submission
Submit & reveal your score
Your results will show:
- Your score for each of the eight tests
- Your overall Systematic Physical Healthspan Score
- The capacities currently meeting the functional target
- The capacities demonstrating exceptional performance
- The areas that deserve the greatest attention