Everyone’s got a fitness test.
The Navy SEALs have one. Special Forces has the Upper Body Round Robin — a gauntlet of bench press, rope climbs, and pull-ups. Law enforcement has its own. Firefighters have theirs. There are literally dozens of these standardized physical assessments floating around, each claiming to measure readiness.
But here’s a different way to think about fitness testing — one that might change how you view your training entirely.
If you’d rather watch/listen to this conversation, you can do that here.
Don’t Train to the Test
When training operators, law enforcement, firefighters, or athletes who face standardized physical tests, there’s a simple philosophy: be fit enough to crush that test at any time.
Not “train to the test.” Not “peak for the assessment.” Just be ready. Period.
Are we trying to make you jump higher if vertical jump is part of your test? Sure. But we’re not training specifically for the vertical jump test so you can pass some evaluation. Jumping higher is a quality you probably need in the real world, on the field, in the job, in life.
The goal is broader fitness. The kind that makes you capable regardless of what test someone throws at you.
What If They Change the Test?
Here’s the beautiful thing about this approach: it doesn’t matter if the test changes.
The Army completely revamped its fitness test a few years ago. The Navy could change theirs tomorrow. Your department could adopt a new standard next month.
And if you’ve been training for broad, general fitness — GPP — you don’t care because you’re ready for everything.
The Problem With Structured Tests
Most standardized tests are too rigid. They specify exactly which exercise comes first, how long you rest between events, and the precise order of everything.
But what if on test day the equipment is busy and you have to do trap bar deadlifts last instead of first? What if you do pull-ups before the run instead of after?
If you’ve trained narrowly for that specific test sequence, these variations matter. If you’ve trained for general fitness, you’ll crush it regardless of the order.
The testing environment itself is often too strict, without enough variety to actually reflect real-world demands.
The Limitations of Any Test
Let’s talk logistics. Even if you wanted to create a comprehensive fitness test, you hit practical limits fast.
Ten events? That’s already a lot. It’s a long test. When you’re trying to put 30, 40, or 50 people through it, the logistics become overwhelming, so every test has to limit what it measures.
But here’s the thing: there is a way to do an unlimited test. A test that covers pretty much everything you can think of.
The unknown and the unknowable.
You know where this is going.
CrossFit: The Daily Fitness Test
CrossFit is your test. Every single day.
You’re doing a fitness test daily. There are essentially 3 million events in this endless fitness test, and you’re chipping away at them one workout at a time.
The whole philosophy of CrossFit — physical preparedness, being ready to attack challenges in your job or life — aligns perfectly with the idea of comprehensive fitness testing. But instead of nine or 10 events once a year, you’re testing yourself across an unlimited variety of movements, time domains, and loading schemes.
That’s not a minimal approach. That’s a comprehensive assessment.
The Incomplete Picture
When someone says, “Do these six tests to demonstrate capacity for longevity” or “Here are the 10 tests you need to pass for job readiness,” the immediate reaction should be, “That’s a very incomplete picture.”
You can get far more data points just from working out daily and recording your times, keeping everything measurable, observable, and repeatable. That’s a more complete snapshot of both current performance and long-term health.
Consider this: you might improve in 47 different movements and qualities throughout a training cycle. But if the official test only measures 10 specific things, and those particular 10 didn’t happen to improve much during that cycle, the test suggests you didn’t progress. Meanwhile, your back squat went up 50 lb, your clean increased by 30, and your pull-ups improved by 20 reps.
The narrow test misses the actual story of your fitness development.
How to Use These Tests in Your Training
None of this means standardized tests are worthless. They can be fun, motivating, and useful if you use them correctly.
Here’s a potential approach: rotate through different testing batteries throughout the year. This year, do the SEAL test. Next year, try the Special Forces version. The year after, pick another one.
Run the test every few months — quarterly works well. Make it a Saturday community event or incorporate it into regular class programming. It’s fun. It builds camaraderie. Everyone likes testing day.
But here’s the key: between tests, you just do regular CrossFit training. You don’t specifically prepare for the test. You show up, run through it, and see how you do.
The magic moment comes when you realize, “Wow, I didn’t focus on these specific movements, and I barely trained some of them directly, but I got better at them anyway.”
That’s the power of broad, constantly varied training.
The VO2 Max Problem
Let’s address one of the darlings of fitness testing literature: VO2 max.
Yes, it’s touted as an important longevity marker. Yes, higher VO2 max generally correlates with better health outcomes. But there are practical problems.
Equipment and logistics. A true VO2 max test requires specialized equipment and cannot easily be done with large groups.
Real-world relevance. What does that number actually tell you? What do you do with the data? If you score high, great, but what changes? If you score low, what’s the action plan?
The answer is probably the same either way: do constantly varied functional movements at high intensity.
Modality variance. Your VO2 max score can vary depending on the testing modality — bike vs. run vs. row. So, which one is real?
And here’s the beautiful irony: CrossFit workouts tend to hit the same timeframes used for VO2 max testing. So you’re working and testing VO2 max on a relatively steady basis, across all different modalities.
Most people in the fitness literature constantly reference VO2 max, but almost nobody actually knows their VO2 max. It would be much easier to know your vertical jump, and yet most people don’t regularly test that either.
But if you’re improving your CrossFit numbers — your benchmark workout times, your lifting maxes, your gymnastics capacity — your VO2 max is probably going up anyway.
Keep It Simple
Here’s what doesn’t matter: a single test score, a specific number, a comprehensive battery of assessments.
What matters is being prepared, capable, and ready for whatever physical challenge life throws your way.
That’s what CrossFit tests every day.
Every workout is asking: Can you move your body efficiently? Can you lift heavy things? Can you sustain effort over time? Can you go fast when needed? Can you do all of this across countless combinations of movements and time domains?
Your Approach
So what should you do with all this information?
Train broadly. Don’t narrow your focus to pass a specific test. Develop comprehensive fitness that makes any test manageable.
Test occasionally. Pick a standardized test battery and run it every few months. Make it fun. Track your progress. But don’t make it the focus of your training.
Trust the process. If you’re consistently doing CrossFit, recording your results, and working on weaknesses, you’re testing yourself far more comprehensively than any ten-event assessment ever could.
Use the data. Every workout gives you information about where you stand and what needs work. That’s actionable intelligence you can use immediately.
The goal isn’t to pass a test. The goal is to be undeniably, comprehensively fit.
And when test day comes, whatever test it happens to be, you’ll be ready because you’ve been testing yourself all along.
About the Author
Stephane Rochet is a Senior Content Writer for CrossFit. He has worked as a Flowmaster on the CrossFit Seminar Staff and has over 15 years of experience as a collegiate/tactical strength and conditioning coach. He is a Certified CrossFit Trainer (CF-L3) and enjoys training athletes in his garage gym.