Profiles Online - Spring - 2002 - Features: TASK MASTER

TASK MASTER

IN A PINCH Norm Gledhill and his team at Fitness York can tell whether your body's got the conditioning of an elite athlete or a couch potato.

In fact, pinching (along with prodding, pushing and pulling)is all part of how you measure up in the various fitness tests Gledhill, a York kinesiology and health science professor, has developed over the last 20 years in his fitness lab. At the end of the day, the numbers will show if you're fit as a fiddle or need to slap down a few extra miles on the treadmill.

A lot of top-notch athletes (and their coaches and team managers) want to know just that. Since so much money in pro sports is riding on players' performance, investors need to bank on getting their millions worth.

WHETHER IT'S IN the basement of Tait McKenzie or out on the road with lab gear in tow, some of North America's best athletes regularly sweat it out under the watchful eye of Gledhill and his team of physicians, exercise physiologists, fitness consultants and fourth-year York kinesiology and health science students.

"For NHL players we look at how many concussions they've had, their fatigue index, visual acuity, and everything in between," says Gledhill. "There are 20 different tests involved, but it's just one piece of the puzzle for NHL entry draft choices."

Although pro hockey didn't embrace the idea of fitness testing until about 10 years ago, now it's seen as a media-op. Every year members of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the New York Islanders and the Winnipeg Jets line up for Gledhill's brutal battery of tests.

"Some players throw up after the stationary bike sprints...a lot of the players hate these tests," he says. "But they know they're necessary. And the trainers need to know if these guys have any problems."

Gledhill, whose area of expertise is cardiovascular/respiratory physiology, has been doing fitness testing for groups like Team Canada, firefighters and even the police anyone who requires unusual physical strength and stamina to do a job. Among the many fitness tests athletes undergo is one Gledhill invented himself, called the Gledhill Force Metre (GFM) that measures the push-pull strength of players' arms from the chest.

"The lab does research that benefits the fitness industry and York students," says Gledhill. "The fitness business is one of the fastest growing sectors in North America."