Table 1.

Physical activity and physical fitness measures for PhenX Toolkit

	Measure	Description of Measurement Protocol
1	Cardiorespiratory Fitness—Submaximal Exercise Test Estimate	A submaximal exercise test used to estimate maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). The heart rate is measured during the test and is one of the variables required to complete the equation to estimate VO2max.
	(a) 1-Mile Walk	The participant is asked to complete a 1-mile walk test as quickly as possible on a track. Walk time and heart rate are used to estimate VO2max.9
	(b) Treadmill Test	The participant is asked to walk on a treadmill at a 5% grade for 4 minutes. Heart rate is used to estimate VO2max.10
2	Cardiorespiratory Fitness—Non-Exercise Test Estimate	Cardiorespiratory fitness is estimated from a non-exercise test model that includes gender, age, BMI, resting heart rate, and self-reported physical activity.11
3	Integrated Fitness	Multiple tests used to assess a person’s general fitness.
	(a) Child	Children’s fitness test includes the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test (similar to a shuttle run); curl-up; trunk lift; push-up (or modified push-up); and back-saver sit and reach.12
	(b) Adult	Adult fitness test includes half sit-ups (abdominal muscle strength), standard or modified push-ups (upper-body muscle strength), and sit and reach (flexibility).13
	(c) Older Adult	A battery of tests for older adults is completed with the assistance of an examiner.14
4	Muscle Strength	Hand-grip strength is measured with a device called a dynamometer. The dynamometer is squeezed as forcefully as possible.15
5	Physical Activity— Neighborhood Environment	Self-administered questions about the characteristics of the participant’s neighborhood that may influence opportunities to exercise (e.g., walk, run, bicycle).16
6	Physical Activity Readiness	Self-administered physical and medical questions used to determine whether the person needs to visit a doctor or fitness expert prior to an increase in physical activity.17
7	Physical Activity Self- Efficacy	Scales that include self-administered questions used to assess the person’s perceived ability to exercise on a regular basis.
	(a) Adolescent	A scale that includes questions about situations in which respondents have free time and whether they perceive they could be physically active during those times.18
	(b) Adult	A scale that includes questions about the person’s perceived ability to overcome barriers that may impede participation in physical activity on a regular basis.19
8	Physical Functioning— Objective	Brief performance tests used to evaluate a person’s balance, gait, strength, and endurance.20
9	Physical Functioning— Subjective	The interviewer asks the participant (or proxy) a series of questions about the level of difficulty he or she has performing everyday activities.21
10	Sitting/Sedentary Behavior	A self-report estimate of how many hours and minutes the person spends sitting or doing sedentary activities.
	(a) Adolescent	The self-administered questions provide an estimate of how many hours and minutes an adolescent spends doing sedentary activities each day before and after school during a typical school week (including the weekend).22
	(b) Adult	A self-reported estimate of how many hours and minutes a person spends sitting watching TV or traveling in a vehicle on a typical weekday or weekend day.23
11	Total Physical Activity —Comprehensive	These recall questionnaires are used to capture physical activities from the last several days to estimate general physical activity levels.
	(a) Adolescent	The adolescent is asked to recall all of the physical activities he or she engaged in during the previous 3 days by completing an activity log.24
	(b) Adult	The 7-Day Physical Activity Recall (7-Day PAR) is an interviewer- administered instrument used to recall and record all of the physical activities the participant engaged in during the previous 7 days.25
	(c) Older Adult	A self-administered questionnaire is used to capture physical activities the respondent engaged in during the past 4 weeks.26
12	Total Physical Activity —Objective Measure	An accelerometer is used to continuously measure the frequency, duration, and intensity of movements; a minimum of 4 days is recommended.27
13	Total Physical Activity —Screener	Self-administered questions about the usual level of physical activity associated with the person’s job and leisure-time activities in the past year.28
14	Walking—Ambulation Objective Measure	An accelerometer-based pedometer is used to measure the number of steps the respondent takes during a measurement period (e.g., 3 days).29

Note: References for each measure are key publications describing the development or validation of the measure. Additional references for each measure are in the toolkit on the PhenX Toolkit website (www.phenx.org).