Cited · Hedged · Free to test

The Standards

Every number we score you against. Where it comes from. What it proves. What it doesn’t.

This page is the receipts. Every physical standard behind the HEFT (Hazard-Event Fitness Test) — the Army’s push-up table, the Marine Corps pull-up table, the 10-second balance cut, the Cooper run formula, the strength-coach carry marks — with the citation and the honest limits of each.

Three things straight, up front:

This is an analyst’s approach, not an operator’s. Nothing on this page is our own lab work. Every number is cited to whoever actually measured it.

Where no standard exists, we say so. There is no validated population norm for dead-hang time, loaded-carry distance, or the single-leg squat. We do not manufacture percentiles to fill the gap. You get the honest reference marks that do exist, labeled for what they are.

The HEFT as a whole is not a validated predictor of emergency performance. Each test is an evidence-backed proxy for one capacity, labeled as one. The combination is a defensible synthesis, not a certification. Anyone claiming a home test proves you could handle a crisis is selling something.

Catch an error on this page? Tell us. We would rather fix it than defend it.

Skip the reading — test one capacity free. 60 seconds, no login.

The standards

Each card carries one marked, quotable line — self-contained, hedged, cited. Copy it clean; the rest is the supporting story.

Card 1 · Push endurance

Test: 2-minute hand-release push-ups, self-paced, max reps. Same 2-minute self-paced AMRAP format as the U.S. Army Fitness Test.

Quotable

On the 2-minute hand-release push-up event — the same 2-minute self-paced AMRAP format as the U.S. Army Fitness Test — the Army's 2025 standards put the pass line for a man aged 37–41 at 12 reps and a maxed score at 59, with every age and sex band published; but our hand-lift is simpler than the Army's T-position release, so the scores are not directly comparable and an at-home count tends to run higher than a graded AFT. It is a military scoring standard for this event, not evidence that any rep count makes you ready for an emergency.

Why this capacity earns a slot. In roughly 1,100 male firefighters, the men who completed more than 40 metronome-paced push-ups had far lower 10-year cardiovascular-disease incidence than the men who couldn't do 10 — a point estimate near 96 percent lower, but carrying a wide confidence interval from a small, occupationally-fit subgroup (Yang et al., JAMA Network Open, 2019). That cohort was male, occupationally fit, and paced by a metronome — a different protocol from the self-paced test we score. Read it as a strong signal that push-up capacity tracks with heart health, not as a universal "40 reps = safe" threshold.

What this does NOT prove: that 40+ push-ups protects anyone outside that studied group, or that a self-paced count maps directly onto their metronome-paced count. Different protocol, different population.

U.S. Army Fitness Test, 2025 standards (age- and sex-banded; male figures are the combat sex-neutral scale). Yang et al., JAMA Network Open, 2019. U.S. Army Fitness Test — official standards (army.mil) →

The deeper story

Card 2 · Grip endurance

Test: dead hang from a bar, max time.

Quotable

There is no validated population norm for dead-hang time — the famous grip-and-mortality research (Leong et al., The Lancet, 2015: about 140,000 adults across 17 countries, roughly 16 percent higher all-cause mortality per 5 kg of lower grip strength) measured maximal force on a dynamometer, a different capacity — so a dead hang is scored against the rough marks strength coaches use (30 seconds is a start, 60 is solid, two minutes is serious) and against your own last number, not against a population.

Why this capacity earns a slot. Grip endurance is holding on when letting go is not an option — a ledge, a ladder, a load. The Lancet research earns grip a place as a capacity worth training. But the hang measures endurance under your own bodyweight, not maximal squeeze force, and we keep those separate.

What this does NOT prove: your hang time does not place you anywhere on the Lancet mortality curve. Different test, different construct. Anyone telling you a 90-second hang "predicts longevity" is stretching the research past what it says.

Leong et al. (PURE study), The Lancet, 2015. Hang-time marks: strength-coaching practice, explicitly not a research norm.

The deeper story

Card 3 · Aerobic capacity (estimated VO2max)

Test: 12-minute run/walk, max distance, any surface or machine.

Quotable

Cover as much distance as you can in 12 minutes and the Cooper formula (Cooper, JAMA 1968; VO2max ≈ 22.351 × km − 11.288, r = 0.90 against lab testing) converts it to an estimated VO2max — an estimate, read against the FRIEND registry's fitter-than-average clinical reference sample, not a lab measurement and not a true population percentile.

Why this capacity earns a slot. Across 122,007 adults, cardiorespiratory fitness was one of the strongest modifiable predictors of all-cause mortality, with no observed ceiling to the benefit (Mandsager et al., JAMA Network Open, 2018). The engine matters more than any single lift.

What this does NOT prove: a 12-minute field test is not a metabolic cart. Pacing, surface, and motivation all move the number. And the FRIEND comparison is approximate — its sample skews fitter than the general population, which we tell you again on the results screen.

Cooper, JAMA, 1968 (12-minute field test and formula). Mandsager et al., JAMA Network Open, 2018. FRIEND registry (reference band, labeled approximate).

The deeper story

Card 4 · Balance

Test: single-leg stand, eyes open, max 45 seconds per leg, better leg counts.

Quotable

In 1,702 adults aged 51 to 75, failing a 10-second one-leg stand (eyes open) was associated with roughly 84 percent higher all-cause mortality (Araujo et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2022) — a real cut point for that age range, not a finding you can stretch to 25-year-olds, and an association, not proof that balance drills extend life.

Why this capacity earns a slot. Balance is the capacity that catches you before a stumble becomes a fall, and it is hard to fake: it leans on your eyes, inner ear, and body position sense at once. The 10-second stand is the one balance cut point validated against mortality that we have. Past it, the next mark is the 30-second hold used as clinical-normal in balance screening. For context at 60+, average one-leg times run about 27 seconds (ages 60–69), 17 seconds (70–79), and 9 seconds (80+) (Bohannon, 2006). Eyes-open single-leg balance shows no meaningful sex difference (Springer, 2007), so this is the one test we don't split by sex.

What this does NOT prove: that a 30-year-old who wobbles at 9 seconds carries the same risk — the studied population was 51 to 75 — or that balance training alone changes mortality. It is an association from an observational cohort, and we score it as a capacity, not a prognosis.

Araujo et al., BJSM, 2022. Bohannon, 2006 (age means). Springer, 2007 (no sex split).

The deeper story

Card 5 · Load carriage / relative strength

Test: carry 50% of your bodyweight (dumbbells, kettlebells, or sandbag), max distance.

Quotable

No validated norm exists for how far a person should carry 50 percent of their bodyweight — the 50 percent is our own entry floor, loosely informed by strength-coaching practice (Dan John's own loaded-carry marks are heavier: bodyweight total, up to half-bodyweight per hand), not a population study — so we score carry distance as a repeatable floor-check tracked against your own trend, and we call it what it is: the closest honest proxy for moving a person or a load to safety, not a rescue certification.

Why this capacity earns a slot. Carrying is relative strength — the load divided by your bodyweight. In soldiers, higher relative deadlift strength tracked with better scores on the Army's standardized fitness test battery (Grier et al., Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2024). And the task is the point: this is the test closest to "carry someone or something to safety."

What this does NOT prove: that a calm carry on flat ground equals a rescue under smoke, stairs, and adrenaline. It tells you whether the raw strength exists. That is all — and that is worth knowing.

Load floor (our 50% entry): loosely informed by Dan John's loaded-carry coaching practice; his own marks are heavier. Labeled practice, not a norm. Relative-strength signal: Grier et al., JSCR, 2024.

The deeper story

Card 6 · The Force Multiplier (how it's all scored)

Not a test — the scoring rule that makes the others honest.

Quotable

Score five tests at 100 and one at 10, and a plain average says 85 while the HEFT's weighted geometric mean says roughly 68 — deliberate, because one weak capacity should not hide behind five strong ones — and the lowest-scoring test is named your Force Multiplier, the highest-return place to train; a design choice about training priority, not a validated law of how emergencies unfold.

Why it's built this way. Emergencies do not let you pick the event. A marathoner can have no carry strength; a powerlifter can be flat on his back in 90 seconds. The geometric mean penalizes imbalance harder than an average does, every test has a built-in floor so nothing collapses to zero, and the output is one actionable target instead of a wall of numbers.

What this does NOT prove: that your weakest test will decide a real event. People compensate, improvise, find another way. The claim is smaller and more useful: training your worst capacity buys the most options per hour of work.

Scoring method is ours, documented in full at /heft/what-is-fitness. Stated as a design choice, not a research finding.

The deeper story

The rest of the battery

The remaining HEFT tests, with the honest version of each benchmark:

Strict pull-ups — scored against the U.S. Marine Corps PFT 2025 age/sex bands (a man 21–25 passes at 5 and maxes at 23; men's bands run 4–5 to pass and 19–23 to max, women's 1–4 and 4–12). Protocol-matched: dead-hang start, chin over bar, no kip.
3-minute burpees — the only published benchmark is young adults, ages 18–25 (Podstawski et al., 2019, n=9,833): young men average 47–66 with 76+ very good; young women 37–60 with 72+ very good. Past 25, that is a stiff yardstick, not your standard — and our burpee is a harder variation (no chest-to-floor, no jump), so treat these as rough context, not a direct comparison. We say so on the results screen.
Standing broad jump — published benchmarks cover ages 20–29 only (NSCA, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning): men average 75–87 inches, 88–94 good, 95+ excellent; women 57–69, 70–77, 78+. No validated all-ages adult norm exists, so we score against fixed marks and your own trend — never a fake percentile.
Single-leg squat — a movement screen. No population standard exists; "good" is the depth coaches and physios treat as functional control, scored on a consistent scale and tracked against your own progress.

Questions people actually ask

How do I test if I'm physically prepared for an emergency?

Test the capacities emergencies actually demand — balance, grip, push endurance, aerobic capacity, and carrying a load — not gym numbers like a bench press. A practical at-home version: a 10-second one-leg stand, a 2-minute hand-release push-up count, a dead hang, a 12-minute run, and a loaded carry at 50 percent of bodyweight, each scored against the published standards on this page. Two honest caveats: each of these is a proxy for one capacity, and no home battery — ours included — has been validated as a predictor of real emergency performance. TactiCool Gear's HEFT runs this battery in your browser: the first level is five tests, about 15 minutes, no equipment and no login.

How fit do I need to be to handle an emergency?

There is no validated fitness threshold that certifies you as "ready" — anyone selling one is guessing. What the evidence supports is checking yourself against a few cited marks and fixing the worst one first: hold a 10-second one-leg stand (failing it was associated with roughly 84 percent higher all-cause mortality in adults 51–75, Araujo 2022); clear the Army's 2-minute hand-release push-up pass for your age and sex band (12 reps for a man aged 37–41, though our simpler hand-lift is not directly comparable to a graded AFT and tends to run higher); build a 30-to-60-second dead hang, a solid working hold by strength-coach marks; and carry 50 percent of your bodyweight a useful distance. Those marks come from different populations and different protocols — they are reference points, not a certification.

What's a good at-home physical assessment that scores my weakest area?

A useful at-home assessment tests distinct capacities separately and refuses to let strong areas average away a weak one. The HEFT (Hazard-Event Fitness Test) does this with a weighted geometric mean: score five tests at 100 and one at 10, and instead of an 85 average you get roughly 68, with the weakest test named as your Force Multiplier — the highest-return thing to train next. That scoring is a deliberate design choice, not a validated predictor of emergency outcomes, and the 0–100 scores are fixed evidence-anchored rulers plus your own trend, not peer rankings. It is browser-based, no login; the no-equipment level takes about 15 minutes.

Is there a simple test to see if I could carry my kid out of a fire?

The closest honest proxy is a loaded carry: pick up 50 percent of your bodyweight in dumbbells or kettlebells and measure how far you can carry it. The 50-percent load is our own entry floor, loosely informed by strength-coaching practice (Dan John's own carry marks are heavier); no population norm exists for carry distance — and a calm carry on flat ground is not smoke, stairs, and a frightened, moving child. No test proves you could make a rescue; this one tells you whether the raw strength is there, which is the part you can measure and train. The HEFT scores the carry and tracks your distance over time.

Is there a free readiness self-test for parents?

Yes. The HEFT is a free physical readiness test that runs in your phone's browser: no login, no equipment at the first level, about 15 minutes for five tests — balance, broad jump, single-leg squat, 2-minute push-ups, 3-minute burpees — each scored 0–100 against the cited standards on this page, with your weakest capacity named so you know what to train first. For the non-physical side, the Prepared Dad Test adds 20 scenario questions across medical, family planning, skills, and sustainment. Both are self-administered honest proxies, not validated predictors — and your results stay on your device unless you choose to sync them.

Test one capacity right now

Sixty seconds. No login, no email, no equipment. Pick a single test — the one-leg stand needs a patch of floor and nothing else, and we run the clock for you. You get a score against the standards above and a number to beat next quarter.

Start a 60-second test

Or run the full first level: five tests, about 15 minutes, no equipment. Take the HEFT →

Free. Results stay on your device unless you choose to sync. We sell nothing on this page.

Equipped isn’t ready.

Get new tests and breakdowns

Optional. New picks and gear updates only. No spam, never sold, unsubscribe anytime.