Eurofit Test Battery

Eurofit is a standardised battery of 9 physical fitness tests developed by the Council of Europe in 1988 for school-age children and adolescents. It is the most widely used fitness test battery in European schools and has been administered to millions of children across more than 30 countries.

Developed by
Council of Europe, Committee for the Development of Sport
First published
1988 (Eurofit: Handbook for the Eurofit Tests of Physical Fitness)
Target population
Originally school-age children and adolescents (ages 6-18); several tests also used in adult fitness assessment
Total tests
9 tests covering flexibility, strength, power, endurance, speed, agility, and balance
Norms available here
All 9 tests. Youth norms (ages 9-17) from Tomkinson 2017, 2018, and 2023; grip strength and sit-and-reach also cover adults (20-80+) from iGRIPS and CHMS.

Purpose

Eurofit was created to give European countries a common framework for assessing the physical fitness of school-age populations. By using identical protocols and equipment across nations, results can be compared across borders and over time. The battery covers the major health-related and performance-related fitness components in a single session lasting approximately 35-40 minutes.

Since its introduction, Eurofit data has been used to track secular trends in youth fitness, identify children at risk for low cardiorespiratory health, and evaluate the effectiveness of physical education programmes. The FitBack network has pooled nearly 8 million Eurofit test results from 34 countries into a single normative reference.

Tests in the Eurofit battery

Our norms come from different studies depending on the test, so the age coverage varies. Youth tests use large European datasets; adult tests use Canadian and US population surveys.

TestMeasuresAgesSource
Sit-and-Reach Flexibility 9-17, 20-69 CHMS (Hoffmann 2019), Tomkinson 2018
Grip Strength Static strength 9-17, 20-80+ iGRIPS, Tomkinson 2018
Standing Broad Jump Explosive power 9-18 FitBack (Tomkinson 2023)
PACER (20m Shuttle Run) Cardiorespiratory endurance 9-17 Tomkinson 2017
Flamingo Balance Static balance 9-17 Tomkinson 2018
Plate Tapping Speed of limb movement 9-17 Tomkinson 2018
Sit-Ups (30s) Trunk strength 9-17 Tomkinson 2018
Bent-Arm Hang Muscular endurance 9-17 Tomkinson 2018
10×5m Shuttle Run Running speed / agility 9-17 Tomkinson 2018

Administration

The full Eurofit battery is administered in a specific order to minimise fatigue effects. The recommended sequence is:

  1. Flamingo balance (static balance)
  2. Plate tapping (speed of limb movement)
  3. Sit-and-reach (flexibility)
  4. Standing broad jump (explosive power)
  5. Grip strength (static strength)
  6. Sit-ups (trunk strength)
  7. Bent arm hang (muscular endurance)
  8. 10×5m shuttle run (running speed / agility)
  9. 20m shuttle run / PACER (cardiorespiratory endurance)

Who is it for?

Eurofit was designed for school-age children and adolescents, typically tested during physical education classes. It requires minimal equipment, a stopwatch, a mat, a tape measure, a dynamometer, a balance beam, and an audio player for the shuttle run. Most tests can be set up as stations in a school gymnasium.

While originally developed for youth, several Eurofit tests (grip strength, sit-and-reach) are also widely used in adult fitness assessments. Our norms pages cover the age ranges available from the best published studies for each test.

Related batteries

Several other test batteries share components with Eurofit:

All test batteries