The International Fitness Scale (IFIS) was originally developed as a tool to subjectively assess physical fitness in adolescents from the HELENA project. In certain situations, the objective assessment of physical fitness becomes difficult due to the time, facilities and equipment required. This makes IFIS a promising alternative way to obtain valuable information about fitness levels in very large-scale population-based studies or in surveys in which assessment is done remotely. Hence, it was necessarily to develop a useful, feasible, simple and quick to assess tool that allows researchers to stratify a population into physical fitness level groups and to identify individuals with a very low physical fitness level which should be targeted for exercise-based intervention programs to improve health through enhancing fitness.

IFIS scale is a questionnaire that has been translated into nine different languages and whose aim is to assess overall physical fitness and the main components, such as cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, speed–agility and flexibility.

IFIS in its different languages and adapted to different age groups can be freely downloaded from the following Table.

The use of IFIS is free and the only requirement is to cite the original sources (this website + the original publications below). The contact person for any question related to IFIS is Francisco B. Ortega: --LOGIN--331fc77ce766a8182bbc0d4cd2330ca5ugr[dot]es

Several investigations led by the PROFITH research group have demonstrated a good validity and reliability of the IFIS scale to be used not only in adolescents but also in children, young adults and women with fibromyalgia. See the evidence behind IFIS scale by clicking in the following links that will direct you to the original validation studies conducted for different population groups:

• Children: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24942050
• Adolescents: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21441238
• Young adults: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22417235
• Women with fibromialgia: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26319424
• Older adults: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=28476584
• IFIS tested in Colombia: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=24914865
• IFIS tested in Chile: http://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/retos/article/view/44060
• IFIS tested in Brazil: http://www.adolescenciaesaude.com/detalhe_artigo.asp?id=800
• All studies using IFIS in PUMBED: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%22international+fitness+scale%22%5BAll+Fields%5D+OR+%28IFIS+AND+fitness%29&sort=date&size=200