Almost a year ago, we launched our “Fitness Level” feature as part of our new Analyze section. This feature was designed to give athletes more information and analysis about their workouts and their physical capacities. For every athlete on our site, we calculate a “Fitness Level”, which is a single number from 1-99 that represents their overall Fitness. This is a single number that captures how an athlete’s performance stacks up to the rest of the community.
In light of some confusion regarding the numbers associated with the feature, we’ll be dicsussing the distinction between Workout Levels and specific category levels associated with Fitness Level.
Fitness Level Overview
Workout Level
If a workout has enough sitewide posts, each of your personal results for it will be given a Workout Level. A Workout Level is a rating from 1-99 that evaluates your performance on a given workout. For example, a 4:22 on Fran (for men) will equate to about a Level 75. Users will be able to easily track their performance history for a given workout via the Workout Levels for their results. You can view a result’s Workout Level directly from the workout session page in both the Workout Level and Stats sections.
For the four Fitness Level Metcon Categories (Bodyweight, Light, Heavy, Long), a user’s Category Level is calculated using Workout Levels from a list of designated workouts belonging to each of the respective categories. Only prescribed results for those workouts will contribute towards the Category Level (and Fitness Level). You can find a list of workouts belonging to each category by clicking through to the specific Fitness Level category page and scrolling to the bottom.
Not every workout is a Fitness Level workout, but if it is, the achieved Workout Level will also be the level applied to the specific Fitness Level category. See the Helen example below.
Power Lifting, Olympic Lifting, Speed, Endurance
Things work a little differently for the other four Fitness Level categories (Power Lifting, Olympic Lifting, Speed, Endurance). For these categories we do not use a Workout Level from a specific workout. Instead, we look at the actual intervals and sets performed from any workout, and establish a Level from that.
For example, in the Speed category, we compare all 400m runs performed by athletes in any interval workout, not just the Run 400 m TT workout. This is the reason for differences between the “Run 400 m TT” Workout Level and the “400 m Run Level” shown on the Speed category page. When calculating the “400 m Run Level” the runs can come from Run : 4x 400 m, rest 2 mins, Run : 3x 400 m, rest 1 min, or any other interval workout created using a 400m run. We want to compare each athlete’s best runs period, not just the runs logged for a specific workout.
Similarly, when calculating your deadlift Level in the Power Lifting category, we compare your best deadlift set (using Potential Max) to every other best Deadlift set on the site. We don’t just use the Workout Level for “Deadlift: 1 Rep Max“. Instead, we evaluate results from all lifting workouts that include Deadlift sets (e.g. Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3).
Below is an example of a Workout Level being different from the Endurance category level for the exact same 5k Run result.
Why Levels?
Whenever possible, we try to show you relevant Levels for your performances. Workout Levels are important because they tell you how your results stack up for a given workout. Your Category Levels, and overall Fitness Level, are great for giving you a big picture idea of your overall physical capacity. Both offer you a simple, consistent metric to compare different things on a similar basis. As a result, lifts can be compared to runs, runs can be compared to metcons, and so on and so forth. This is paramount to understanding your personal strengths and weaknesses, and, ultimately, will put you on a path to filling any major holes.
Fitness Level is the most innovative feature of its kind. Still, we’re constantly thinking about ways to improve it further. We’ll be offering up more awesome updates for it in the near future, including user interface improvements that will make everything even easier to understand and follow.
