Longevity calculator
Sit-and-reach test calculator
Place a trunk forward flexion measurement against the Canadian CSEP norms for your age and sex. The page asks which box you used, because the two common scales differ by three centimetres and that is enough to change your category. Free, instant, no sign-up.
Sit with your feet flat against the box and no reach at all. Whatever number the scale shows at your soles is the convention your box was built to. If you cannot check, 26 cm is what the norms assume.
This is the number that was looked up in the table. On a 26 cm box it is identical to your measurement; on a 23 cm box it is three centimetres higher, which is the same adjustment as subtracting three from every value in the published chart.
The whole row for your age band
| Category | Starts at |
|---|---|
| Poor | — |
| Fair | 23 cm |
| Good | 28 cm |
| Very good | 33 cm |
| Excellent | 38 cm |
Lower bounds on the 26 cm scale. The published table prints contiguous integer ranges, so a lower bound loses nothing and removes the gap that appears the moment someone measures to the half-centimetre.
Hamstring and hip range responds to consistent work in weeks. The coach can slot it in without eating your training time.
What the sit-and-reach measures
You sit with your legs straight and your feet flat against a box, then reach forward along a scale on top of it and hold the furthest point. It is the standard field test for trunk forward flexion, and it measures the hamstrings and the lumbar spine together — it cannot tell you which of the two is limiting you. That single score covers two joint complexes and one morning's warm-up state.
Why this page asks about your box
Because the answer changes. The Canadian norms assume a box whose scale reads 26 cm at the footline, so a reach level with the toes scores 26, not 0. Boxes built to the other common convention read 23 cm there. The same person measured on the two boxes differs by three centimetres — a whole category in several age bands. Almost no calculator asks, which is why sit-and-reach numbers from different sites are not comparable and why a chart you found elsewhere may be describing a different scale entirely. Here the convention is a required input and the converted value comes back with the result, so you can see which number was looked up.
Where the norms come from
The CSEP-PATH Resource Manual (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Ottawa, 2013), reproduced in ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. It was chosen over the many unattributed sit-and-reach charts online for the plain reason that it has a citation and a stated protocol. The table covers ages 20 to 69 in decades; outside that this page returns nothing, because flexibility norms for adolescents and for adults over 70 are a separate literature rather than an extension of this one.
Long arms buy centimetres, not range of motion
The test is confounded by proportion. Arms that are long relative to the legs and torso add centimetres to the score without adding a degree of movement at any joint, which is why two people with identical hamstrings can land two categories apart. This matters most when you compare yourself with someone else. It matters far less when you compare yourself with yourself: your own proportions do not change between measurements, so the difference between March and June is real even when the absolute category is not very informative.
It does not predict injury
The evidence that greater static flexibility prevents strains is thin, and nothing in this table speaks to it. A "poor" score is a description of one joint complex on one morning against a Canadian reference sample, not a warning and not a diagnosis. Warm up before you measure, measure at the same time of day, and treat the category as a rough position rather than a verdict.