my doctor made me squat ALL the way down to the ground and then try to stand up. I could get up hardly. Also. I had to do sit ups. At time could only do 5. Also, he made me do a crunch and then pushed on head to measure neck strength, which i pretty much failed. As far as lap tests go, they test for heart liver and other muscle enzymes. Also, CT, MRI, and Xray for swelling and fluid.

My Neuro always tests my strength themselves through several tests. They often poke me with a pin to see if I respond. The biggest thing they do to test me is check my CK level.

I am impressed you could stand from a squat and do sit ups. That wouldn't happen for me at all. But I'm quite a bit older than you. :-)

Neurologists and rheumatologists will test your strength: you are sitting on the table,1. they push against your forehead you try to push forward, 2. you put your arms with elbows out aligned with your eyes and they ask you to try and lift your elbows skyward while they push on them, 3. you try to lift your knees up against the push down, 4. with your leg extended, they push against the sole of your feet, 5. they ask you to grip two of their fingers on each hand and squeeze as hard as you can, 6. with you sitting on a normal chair, they ask you to get up while having your arms crossed against your chest, 7. standing, they ask you to squat and go back to your initial position. For each of these tests, they usually attribute a number from 0 to 3, 3 being normal and 0 being incapacity. They check for symmetry which is of importance in the differential diagnosis between IBM and PM. They also note if there is pain associated with these tests. The scale is usually from 1-10; pain is subjective.
Of course, there is the bloodwork that is used in diagnosis. You could also add EMGs and muscle biopsy.

My doctor always does the strength tests that levek mentioned, but the last time I went in they did this thing called "Quantitative Muscle Testing," which was the same as all those tests except they pressed against me with this button thing that actually measured the force I pushed back with. They're going to redo it every 3 months.

On my own I also experiment with lifting different objects above my head to see how much I've improved.

Thank you for all these responses.
Okapi I am interested in Quantitative Muscle Testing and will google it.

I found a functional rating scale on this site which i think is good as you can rate yourself and see progress or detioration in swallowing, handwriting, cutting food, handling utensils, dressing, hygiene, turning in bed, adjusting covers, sit to stand, walking and climbing stairs
http://www.ibmmyositis.com/scale.htm