Boost Longevity Post-65: 4 Crucial Fitness Areas, Research Reveals

On Sep 13, 2026

Understanding the Correlation Between Fitness and Aging

Fact checked by Nick Blackmer

Emerging research suggests that your strength, mobility, flexibility, and balance could be indicators of how well you’re aging.

These indicators are especially important as they help in preventing falls, a common cause of injury among older adults.

These tests can be done at home unless you have a history of falls or pain. However, lower performance on these tests doesn’t necessarily indicate an increased mortality risk.

Conduct Your Own Fitness and Aging Tests

You don’t need sophisticated testing equipment to gauge your aging process. Simple fitness tests can be performed at home to give you insights about your health and longevity.

According to a recent study, older adults who showed better performance in strength, mobility, and flexibility tests had a reduced risk of death.

Domenic Angelino, MS, MPH, CSCS, a certified personal trainer and chief exercise scientist who wasn’t involved in the study, explains that poor performance in these tests might simply suggest that your fitness level could be lower.

Study Focus: Fitness Tests

The study, published in JAMA Network Open, aimed to find the relationship between physical assessment scores and mortality. The study used objective test scores rather than self-reported experiences.

Participants consisted of 13,000 primarily female Taiwanese adults aged 65 and above, who completed seven fitness assessments between January 2015 and November 2016. The assessments spanned four significant areas of physical fitness: cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, flexibility, and balance and agility.

The Study Findings

Upon reviewing the health insurance records of the participants, those scoring high in balance and agility, lower-body strength, and cardiorespiratory fitness tests had a lower risk of death over the seven-year follow-up period than those with low scores.

Balance, agility, and strength play a “central role” in preventing falls and avoiding injury, says Milica McDowell, MS, DPT, C-EP, a physical therapist and exercise physiologist not involved with the study.

Falls are the leading cause of injury among adults aged 65 and older, and the risk of dying from a fall increases with age.

The research also revealed differences based on sex. Among men, the lowest mortality risk correlated with strong performance in balance-and-agility tests, while among women, this was associated with greater lower-body strength. Both groups had similar risks based on cardiovascular fitness.

Important Considerations

While the link between fitness measures and longevity isn’t new, the study reaffirms their importance as indicators of overall health status and mortality risk.

However, it’s worth noting that the study does not prove that poor performance on these tests leads to early death, only that there’s a correlation between high test scores and lower mortality risk.

The study also offers a snapshot of the participants’ physical abilities at a single point in time, and other factors may have influenced the results. Furthermore, most participants had a healthy BMI, so the findings may not apply to older adults with frailty or other chronic illnesses.

Should You Take These Tests?

McDowell suggests that it’s not necessary to take these tests at home to evaluate your aging status. Instead, these tests could potentially be incorporated into routine evaluations for older adults.

“Simple physical fitness tests could help us to identify community members that are at risk for falls and ultimately death related to falls,” McDowell explained.

However, if you’re interested, you can take these tests at home, provided you have a stable chair and enough space. If you have a history of falls, unsteadiness, or pain, it’s advisable to consult a doctor before attempting these physical challenges.

Remember that these tests don’t replace regular aerobic exercise and strength training, which are associated with healthier aging. Your test results can help identify which areas of fitness to focus on.