If reestablished to educate kids, the Presidential Fitness Test could address obesity in American children
If the reinstated Presidential Fitness Test emphasizes education over competition, it could benefit a generation of American children, many of whom are considered obese, a Northeastern University fitness expert says.
President Donald Trump recently announced he was reestablishing the test and named members to the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, which will develop the criteria for the program.
“Although the specific components of the fitness test have not yet been announced, if the assessment were to align with education-focused tools like FitnessGram, it could be beneficial,” says Darla Castelli, professor and chair of the Department of Physical Therapy, Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences at Northeastern as well as the author of the award-winning Fitness for Life textbook.
FitnessGram is an educational tool focused on goal-setting and individual well-being, introduced when the fitness test was revamped in 2012.
Castelli was also a co-author/investigator on the 2013 Institute of Medicine report “Educating the Student Body,” which issued guidelines on fitness testing.
“However, if the test relies more heavily on traditional, skill-based assessments focused on agility, speed and coordination, which are important for sports performance, there is a significant risk that children may feel discouraged or excluded — potentially leading to disengagement from the screening process and even physical activity,” Castelli continues.
The Presidential Fitness Test originated with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 and was formalized a decade later by Lyndon B. Johnson, requiring public schoolchildren across the nation to annually perform exercises such as the one-mile run, pullups and pushups, situps and the sit-and-reach test under the watchful eye of physical education teachers.
The test, however, drew some criticism as students — and their scores — were also often under the watchful eyes of their peers.
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“I’d say when the fitness test can go wrong is when it’s a comparison between individuals, when it’s a competition — like I get this many laps and then you get an award for those laps,” Castelli says. “The limitation of the early iteration was it was probably more for those who were athletic and fit and active — they were athletes who had a genetic predisposition to do well.”
In 2012, the test was reconstrued under the Obama administration as the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, and the FitnessGram was introduced. The new program focused less on what Castelli calls “skill-related fitness” that leads to better sport performance like throwing a football, catching a pass, etc. and emphasized “health-related fitness” — cardiorespiratory endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance, body composition and strength.
“Health-related fitness is more about ‘for a lifetime’ — how can you stave off the effects of potential cardiovascular disease or dementia in later life,” Castelli explains.
On July 31, Trump announced he was “reestablishing” the Presidential Fitness Test.
Trump hasn’t released further details about his plans for the test, assigning that task to the new President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, which has a two-year term.
But Castelli says that fitness programs are essential. She notes that a third of American children are considered overweight or obese, and sedentary lifestyles are on the rise.
“If this new effort is an opportunity to help some students, particularly individuals who have been cut from athletic programs, if this gives them an opportunity to try a new activity, then I think it’s worth it,” Castelli says.
But she cautions that the test must assess students with a goal of educating them, not screening them for athletic prowess.
She favors tools such as FitnessGram to accomplish this.
“These tools are meant for educational purposes, for people to understand human development and to make healthy choices,” Castelli says. “I would hope that they would be used as such.”
