Week 2: Assessing Baseline Fitness

Understanding where you stand is the first step to improvement. Estimated time: 60–90 minutes.

Welcome Back — Time for Your Diagnostic

This week, we’re taking the car to the mechanic for a full diagnostic. Before you can fix or improve anything, you need to know exactly what you’re working with. Today we measure the physical capacities that will determine whether you can achieve your Marginal Decade goals.

Remember your goals from Week 1? The activities you never want to give up? Today we measure the specific physical systems that make those activities possible — cardiovascular fitness, strength, mobility, stability, and more.

What you’ll accomplish this week:

Understand why baseline measurements matter for your health journey
Work through cardiovascular, strength, mobility, and stability assessments
Demonstrate your understanding in the Week 2 knowledge check

Safety First: These tests are designed to be safe for adults of all fitness levels. However, stop any test that causes pain, dizziness, or discomfort. If you have concerns about any assessment, consult your healthcare provider first.

Your Information

Enter your details once here — they’ll be used for all assessments below.

Assessment Date

Age

Biological Sex

Your Baseline Assessments

This section walks you through every beginner baseline assessment. You don’t have to complete them all in one sitting — your progress saves automatically. Work through each category at your own pace.

Dual Entry: Your results save automatically to your AG102 profile. You can also enter them in the Google Form for additional tracking.

Self-report surveys capture your confidence, health perception, and fall risk. These provide important context for your physical test results.

Why Use AI for the COPM?

The COPM was designed to be administered by an occupational therapist in a one-on-one interview. Most people don’t have immediate access to an OT — but you can replicate that guided interview experience at home using Claude (claude.ai), a free AI assistant. Claude will ask you the right questions, help you reflect on your daily activities, guide you through the scoring process, and summarize your results.

Three Prompts — Copy and Paste into Claude

Open claude.ai and paste one of the prompts below to begin your session. Choose the one that fits your situation.

PROMPT 1: Full COPM Interview (Initial Assessment)

Use this the FIRST time you complete the COPM.

Act as a healthcare professional administering the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM). Help me reflect on the activities I do in my daily life across three areas: self-care, productivity, and leisure. Ask me to list specific activities in each category that I want to do, need to do, or am expected to do, but find difficult or unsatisfying. Then help me rate each activity on a scale from 1 to 10 for importance. After that, ask me to choose the five most important activities. Then guide me to rate each for performance and satisfaction (1-10 scale). At the end, summarize the scores and ask if I'd like to save this list for future reassessment.

PROMPT 2: Reassessment Session

Use this 4-8 weeks AFTER your initial assessment to measure change.

Act as an occupational therapy provider conducting a reassessment using the COPM. I've previously identified five activities that were important to me, and I'd now like to re-evaluate them. Ask me to recall or restate those five key activities. Then guide me to rate how well I perform each task now (performance score) and how satisfied I am (satisfaction score), using a 1-10 scale. Calculate the change in performance and satisfaction scores by comparing to my initial scores. Tell me whether each change is clinically meaningful (≥2 points). Finally, ask how I feel about the changes and whether I want to set new priorities or continue working on the same goals.

PROMPT 3: Narrative Exploration

Use this if you want a gentler, conversation-style approach — great for people who prefer open-ended reflection.

Act as a compassionate coach using the COPM to help me identify areas in my daily life that I find difficult or less fulfilling. Guide me slowly through each category: Self-Care (personal care, mobility, meals), Productivity (paid/unpaid work, managing the home), and Leisure (physical activities, hobbies, social time). For each category, ask open-ended questions like: What activities do you miss doing? Are there tasks you avoid or struggle with? What would success or improvement look like? Then help me select my top five issues and rate them for importance, performance, and satisfaction (1-10). Summarize and ask what support I might need to improve.

Tips for Best Results

Be specific: Instead of “cooking is hard,” say “standing at the stove for 20 minutes causes my back to ache and I have to sit down.”
Be honest: Rate your performance and satisfaction based on how YOU feel, not what you think the “right” answer is. There are no wrong answers.
Save your results: Copy Claude’s summary at the end and save it (email, print, paste into a document). You’ll need your initial scores for reassessment.
Bring it to your provider: Share your COPM results with your PT, OT, or primary care provider.
Reassess every 4-8 weeks: A change of 2 or more points in performance OR satisfaction is clinically meaningful.

Connection to Your Aging Gracefully Journey

The COPM connects directly to your Marginal Decade goals from Week 1. The activities you identify as difficult are often the SAME activities you wrote on your Marginal Decade list. This tool helps you:

Quantify HOW difficult those activities are right now (performance score)
Measure HOW satisfied you are with your ability (satisfaction score)
Track improvement as you follow your training plan from Week 7
Provide your healthcare team with objective data about your progress

Note about professional care: This does NOT replace professional care. If your scores reveal significant challenges, bring your results to your healthcare provider. Contact: 101aginggracefully@gmail.com

Balance and stability prevent falls — the leading cause of injury-related death in adults over 65. These tests progressively challenge your balance system.

Go deeper: Three-Tiered Balance Assessment. Measures your balance under three sensory conditions — eyes open, eyes closed, and eyes closed with head turns. The result reveals which sensory systems your balance relies on most (visual, vestibular, or proprioceptive), so your training can target the right system.

Take the Three-Tiered Balance Assessment →

Tier 4A — Unsteady Surface (Foam). The next stage of balance training, on a foam pad. Unlocks once you reach Balance Master in the Three-Tiered Balance Assessment — a bilateral single-leg hold across all three sensory conditions.

Then you progress through four foam positions in order: side-by-side → semi-tandem → tandem → single-leg. Each position consolidates over multiple sessions before the next one opens.

Start with Three-Tiered Balance →

Tier 4B — Toes Up. A parallel advanced track: balance with your toes (or entire forefoot) lifted off the floor — loading weight onto the heels and shifting your base of support rearward. Unlocks once you reach Balance Master in the Three-Tiered Balance Assessment — the same gate as Tiers 4A, 4C, and 4D.

Two sub-tracks unlock together: Standard Toes-Up (4 positions, ball of foot stays grounded) and Forefoot-Up Bonus (2 positions, balancing on heels only). Spotter behind you is required.

Start with Three-Tiered Balance →

Tier 4C — Heels-Up. A parallel advanced track: balance with your heels lifted (plantarflexion). Unlocks once you reach Balance Master in the Three-Tiered Balance Assessment — the same gate as Tier 4A.

You then progress through the same four positions with heels lifted: side-by-side → semi-tandem → tandem → single-leg. A spotter or stable wall is mandatory.

Start with Three-Tiered Balance →

Tier 4D — Arch Lift. A third advanced track: balance with an active arch lift (short-foot / posterior tibialis / intrinsic foot core). Unlocks once you reach Balance Master in the Three-Tiered Balance Assessment — the same gate as Tier 4A and 4C. This is bonus content and intentionally demanding.

You then progress through the same four positions with an active arch lift: side-by-side → semi-tandem → tandem → single-leg.

Start with Three-Tiered Balance →

Week 2 Knowledge Check

Let’s check your understanding. These 8 questions test WHY baseline measurements matter — not your specific scores. Don’t worry, you can retake it if needed.

What’s Next: Week 3 Preview

You’ve now had your full diagnostic. You know your numbers. Next week, we build the frame — Week 3 is all about Strength Training. You’ll learn the science behind muscle fibers, sarcopenia, and why resistance training is the single most important type of exercise for aging adults.

Week 3: Strength Training — Learn safe and effective compound exercises (squat, hinge, push, pull, carry), calculate your protein needs, and build a personalized strength plan.

You now have something most people never get: objective data about your physical capacity. That’s powerful. Those numbers are your starting line — and they’re going to change.

Return to Course Overview

Week 3 will be available soon. Return to the course overview to track your progress.

Week 2: Assessing Baseline Fitness

Welcome Back — Time for Your Diagnostic

Your Information

Your Baseline Assessments

Why Use AI for the COPM?

Three Prompts — Copy and Paste into Claude

PROMPT 1: Full COPM Interview (Initial Assessment)

PROMPT 2: Reassessment Session

PROMPT 3: Narrative Exploration

Tips for Best Results

Connection to Your Aging Gracefully Journey

Week 2 Knowledge Check

What’s Next: Week 3 Preview

Week 2 Complete!