SLOfit Glossary of Terms

Here is a glossary of terms commonly used on this website. We describe below the definition of some of the most common terms used across the SLOfit system, website, and support documentation.

Centile: 1) a value ​​that divides a ranking series (i.e. values ​​are arranged in ascending order of size into 100 equally-numbered parts, or centile groups). For example, if someone’s results fall within the “25th centile" this means that in a given generation of schoolchildren, there are 25% (one quarter) of people with lower results than you, and 75% who have higher results.  

Exercise capacity for SLOfit is index score calculated to estimate the overall motor efficiency of body movement for that individual. It is calculated using the average utility points for all motor tests (excluding anthropometric tests of height, weight and skinfold thicnkess).  

Motor development is a process by which a child acquires new movement patterns and skills. The development from basic movement patterns to mastering the most complex motor skills enables a person to choose different movement strategies depending on the circumstances they find themselves in.  

Movement habits refer to an individual's established or preferred movement activities which they perform on a regular basis. These movement habits are often developed effectively during childhood and adolescence. 

Physical competence refers to how an individual is able to move their body efficiently, and perform basic movements so they can participate in a variety of sporting or moving activities.  

Physical fitness is the ability to carry out daily tasks with enough vigour and energy to enjoy the movement; it’s also important when to reacting to unforeseen emergency situations (e.g. fleeing a fire, jumping over a fence, lifting something heavy away quickly). Physical fitness refers to the entire spectrum of one’s physical characteristics, (i.e., cardiovascular capacity, muscle strength, speed, agility, coordination, mobility, as well as body composition). Higher physical fitness in childhood and adolescence is associated with healthier cardiovascular and metabolic profiles, and a lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, later in life.  

Physical fitness index, (abbreviation PFI), indicates the general efficiency of the body in movement from the point of view of all motor abilities and physical characteristics of the individual . It is calculated as the average score of utility points for  physical performance, including two body measures that are related to health outcomes (BMI - body mass index and upper arm skin fold) and all eight motor tests. The PFI is expressed on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best), as a centile value; so, for example, a PFI of 25 would mean that for this person, 25% of their peers have worse (and 75% have better) physical performance than they do.  

Points in the SLOfit reports and literature represent the value of the score on the utility function, (in SLOfit, always in the interval between 0 and 100). E.g. if an 18-year-old student has a body mass index of BMI=26, this means that they are slightly above the optimal (healthy) range of 18.5-25 and will therefore receive less points than the maximum possible number of 100 (in this case, around 97 points awarded). 

Raw (measured) score is a score obtained by directly measuring a fitness task, e.g. 600 m run speed expressed in time, or the length of a standing long jump in centimetres, etc. 

Utility function is a function that determines how many points a certain result is worth. Each test result is separated by age (years) and gender.