Free 10-minute test

The 10-minute longevity test

This longevity test is 5 at-home tests that need no equipment: leg strength, balance, push-ups, the sitting-rising test and cardio fitness. Each is scored for your age and sex, and you get a longevity score out of 100 to share and track.

  • No equipment
  • Scored for your age and sex
  • Shareable score card
About you

Your results are compared with people of your age and sex.

Before you start: wear flat shoes or go barefoot, clear some space and keep a wall or worktop within reach. Stop if anything hurts, or you feel dizzy or short of breath. Skip any test that does not feel safe for you. If you have a heart condition, joint problems or are pregnant, check with your GP first.
1 Leg strength: 30-second chair stand
  1. Sit in the middle of a firm chair without arms, feet flat on the floor, arms crossed on your chest.
  2. Start the timer. Stand up fully, then sit back down. Repeat as many times as you can in 30 seconds.
  3. Count each full stand.

2 Balance: stand on one leg
  1. Stand next to a wall or worktop, hands on your hips.
  2. Lift one foot so it is not touching your other leg, and start the stopwatch.
  3. Stop it when your foot touches down, you grab for support, or you reach 60 seconds. Take the best of two tries.

3 Upper body: push-ups

Pick the version you can do with good form: body in a straight line, chest close to the floor, wall or worktop.

  1. Do as many as you can without stopping, at a steady pace.
  2. Stop when your form breaks or you need a rest. Count the good ones.

4 The sitting-rising test
  1. Barefoot, in a clear space, cross your feet and lower yourself to sit on the floor.
  2. Then stand back up, ideally without using your hands, knees or anything else for support.
  3. Count how many times you used a hand, knee, forearm or the side of your leg to help, going down and coming up.

Supports used sitting down

Supports used standing up

5 Cardio fitness
  1. Sit quietly for 5 minutes, ideally in the morning before coffee.
  2. Find your pulse on your wrist or neck. Start the timer and count the beats for 30 seconds.

Or type the resting heart rate from your watch:

Your answers stay on your device. Nothing is sent to us. Your past scores are saved in this browser so you can track them.

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Why these five tests

Each test measures something that falls with age and that researchers have linked to how long and how well people live. None of them needs equipment, and together they take about 10 minutes.

Test What it measures What the research found
30-second chair stand Leg strength and power We compare your count with reference values for adults aged 18 to 80, by age and sex (Rodríguez-Castro and colleagues, 2025).
One-leg balance Balance In 1,702 people aged 51 to 75, those who could not stand on one leg for 10 seconds had a higher risk of dying over the next 7 years than those who could (Araújo and colleagues, 2022).
Push-ups Upper body strength In 1,104 male firefighters, those who could do more than 40 push-ups had far fewer heart and circulation problems over 10 years than those who could do fewer than 10 (Yang and colleagues, 2019).
Sitting-rising test Strength, flexibility, balance and body composition together In 4,282 adults aged 46 to 75, lower scores were linked to a higher risk of death over 12 years (Araújo and colleagues, 2026).
Cardio fitness (VO2 max) How much oxygen your body can use We compare your VO2 max with 3,816 healthy adults aged 20 to 90 in Norway's HUNT study (Loe and colleagues, 2013).

How the scoring works

Each test is scored out of 100, and your longevity score is the average of the tests you completed. It is a summary for tracking your own progress, not a medical measure.

  • Chair stand and cardio fitness are percentiles. A score of 70 means you did better than about 70% of people of your age and sex in the reference study.
  • Cardio fitness from your pulse is estimated with the heart rate ratio method (Uth and colleagues, 2004), using 208 minus 0.7 times your age as your maximum heart rate (Tanaka and colleagues, 2001). It is a rough estimate, usually within about 5 points of a lab test. A VO2 max from a sports watch is usually closer.
  • Balance is scored in bands: under 10 seconds scores 10, and 45 seconds or more scores 100. The 10-second mark comes from the research; the bands above it are our own guide.
  • Push-ups use the bands from the firefighter study: up to 10, 11 to 20, 21 to 30, 31 to 40 and more than 40. That study only included men, so for women we halve the bands, a common rule of thumb. Knee and wall push-ups count for less, and score no more than 60 and 40.
  • The sitting-rising test starts at 10, loses 1 point for each support and 0.5 for a wobble, and is scored in the five groups the researchers used: 10, 8.5 to 9.5, 8, 4.5 to 7.5, and 4 or under.

How to improve your score

Your results page lists your three lowest tests with a simple routine for each. Retest every month or two, at a similar time of day. Your past scores are saved on your device and shown as a chart, so you can see the trend.

Sources

  • Rodríguez-Castro and colleagues. Reference values for sit-to-stand tests in Colombian adults. Colombia Médica, 2025. PubMed 42183074
  • Araújo and colleagues. Successful 10-second one-legged stance performance predicts survival in middle-aged and older individuals. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2022. PubMed 35728834
  • Yang and colleagues. Association between push-up exercise capacity and future cardiovascular events among active adult men. JAMA Network Open, 2019. PubMed 30768197
  • Araújo and colleagues. Sitting-rising test: sex- and age-reference scores derived from 6,141 adults. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2020. PubMed 31039614
  • Araújo and colleagues. Sitting-rising test scores predict natural and cardiovascular causes of deaths in middle-aged and older men and women. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 2026. PubMed 40569873
  • Loe and colleagues. Aerobic capacity reference data in 3,816 healthy men and women 20 to 90 years. PLoS One, 2013. PubMed 23691196
  • Uth and colleagues. Estimation of VO2max from the ratio between HRmax and HRrest. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2004. PubMed 14624296; and the 2005 follow-up for women. PubMed 16237622
  • Tanaka and colleagues. Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 2001. PubMed 11153730

This test is for general interest and is not medical advice. If you have a health condition, speak to your GP before starting a new exercise routine.

Questions about the longevity test

What is a good longevity score?

80 or more is excellent, 60 to 79 is good, 40 to 59 is fair and under 40 needs work. The chair stand and cardio scores are percentiles, so 50 means average for your age and sex.

What is the sitting-rising test?

You sit down on the floor and stand back up, ideally without using your hands or knees. You start at 10 and lose a point for each support you use, and half a point for a wobble. It was developed by Claudio Gil Araújo, and lower scores have been linked to a higher risk of death in adults aged 46 to 75.

How long should I be able to stand on one leg?

At least 10 seconds. In a study of people aged 51 to 75, about 1 in 5 could not manage 10 seconds, and they had a higher risk of dying over the next 7 years. In our scoring, 45 seconds or more gets full marks.

How accurate is the VO2 max estimate from my pulse?

It is a rough guide, usually within about 5 points of a lab test. A VO2 max from a sports watch is usually more accurate, and you can enter that instead.

I can't do a push-up. Can I still take the test?

Yes. Choose knee push-ups or push-ups against a wall or kitchen worktop. They count for less than full push-ups, and the results page shows how to work up through the levels. You can also skip any test that does not feel safe.

Do you store my results?

No. The test runs in your browser and nothing is sent to us. Your past scores are saved in your browser only, so you can track them over time.