Standards Without Shoulds

How Movement IQ™ measures strength, skill and capability.

Once we know where you are, we need some landmarks.

How long can you hang? How much can you carry? Can you get down to the floor and back up? How strong are you relative to your bodyweight?

And inevitably:

What should someone like me be able to do?

For some physical qualities, enormous datasets can help answer that question. For others, surprisingly good normative data simply don't exist.

Movement IQ draws from exercise science and aging research, organizations including the NSCA and ACSM, functional assessments such as the Senior Fitness Test, and performance systems including Mountain Tactical Institute and StrongFirst.

Each tells us something different.

But Movement IQ isn't trying to create another list of things you should be able to do.

Three ways to measure

You vs. You

This is the most important measurement.

Where did you start? Where are you now? What has changed?

Capability Landmarks

These are useful destinations on the map.

Hang for 30 seconds. Then 60. Carry a meaningful percentage of your bodyweight. Get off the floor without using your hands. Master a pull-up.

They're not judgments. They're capabilities worth developing or preserving.

Peer Comparison

When legitimate normative data exist, we'll show those too.

Want to know whether your grip strength is in the top 20% of people your age? Great.

That's useful context.

But context isn't destination.

The next landmark

Twenty years from now, we'll probably have better datasets for many of the things we're measuring.

We don't need to wait for them.

Because knowing what the average person your age can do still doesn't answer the most important question:

What should you do next?

Movement IQ starts with where you are, considers where you're trying to go, and identifies the next useful landmark along the way.

Compare for context. Train for capability. Measure progress against yourself.