Are you ageing well? Try these simple tests to find out.

Take a minute to consider the last decade of your life.

- Dana G. Smith

A woman puts on her running shoes before working out in Atlanta, May 10, 2023. While there's no crystal ball to predict your future health, there are a few basic tests you can give yourself to gauge your current strength, power, cardiovascular fitness and balance.

(Dustin Chambers/The New York Times)

What type of physical shape do you hope to be in? And what are the activities you want to be able to continue doing?While there's no crystal ball to predict your future health, there are a few basic tests you can give yourself to gauge your current strength, power, cardiovascular fitness and balance — all of which will influence your physical abilities going forward. These kinds of tests have been associated with longevity and independent living. They're also proxies for activities that many people want to be able to do in old age, like getting down on the floor to play with grandchildren or travelling and exploring a new city by foot.

It's never too early to begin training for your later years, said Stuart Phillips, a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario. People naturally lose strength and muscle mass with age, so you want your starting point to be as good as possible. Getting a head start on training is "money in the bank", Dr Phillips said.

It's also never too late to improve your physical abilities, he added: "We've got data showing that nonagenarians, so people in their 10th decade of life, or in their 90s, can make gains in strength and function with just a little bit of even light activity."

Try these four tests to determine where you currently stand. If you don't perform as well as you might have hoped, don't worry: A few strength, conditioning and balance exercises, done regularly, can help you improve your score on each one.