2-minute step test · Senior Fitness Test step test
Purpose
Use this test to measure aerobic endurance when there is no room for a walking test. Your client steps in place for 2 minutes, lifting each knee to a marked height.
Rikli and Jones introduced it in 1999 in the Senior Fitness Test for older adults. A 2019 review found good support for its validity, but little evidence yet on its reliability.
Procedure
- Preparation
- Stand your client beside a wall. Find the point midway between the kneecap and the top of the hip bone (the iliac crest), and mark that height on the wall.
- Equipment
- Tape measure, tape to mark the wall and a stopwatch
Mark the knee height
With your client standing, measure midway between the kneecap and the iliac crest. Mark that height on the wall beside them.
Step in place
Say “Go” and start the stopwatch. Your client steps in place as fast as they can, lifting each knee to the mark.
Count the right knee
Count each time the right knee reaches the mark.
Stop at 2 minutes
Stop at 2 minutes and note the count.
Scoring
The score is the number of times the right knee reaches the mark in 2 minutes.
Interpretation
Compare results for the same client over time. The calculator shows the count without a label.
Sources
- Bohannon and Crouch: two-minute step test of exercise capacity, a systematic review (2019)Journal of Geriatric Physical Therapy 42(2):105–112. The original procedure, the variations in 30 studies, and the evidence on validity and reliability.
- Rikli and Jones: criterion-referenced fitness standards for maintaining physical independence in later years (2013)The Gerontologist 53(2):255–267. Standards for the Senior Fitness Test, men and women aged 60 to 94.
Sources checked by SoloTrainer.net · 25 Sep