WASHINGTON — The presidential physical fitness test, which was a divisive feature of children’s education from the 1960s to the 2010s, is being revived as part of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to promote health among young people and combat chronic disease.
Experts on youth physical activity say this is just a positive step toward getting kids active, not a solution to the rise in sedentary children. Experts STAT spoke to said fitness measurement needs to be combined with additional strategies to capture and maintain children’s interest in exercise and avoid unpleasant associations with physical activity.
“The bottom line is that just measuring fitness doesn’t create fitness,” Avery Feigenbaum, a professor of health and exercise science at the College of New Jersey, told STAT.
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“Fitness testing is a double-edged sword,” he continued. “We can identify children who need intervention… (but) this type of testing can be embarrassing and deter people from physical activity.”
President Kennedy announced the new testing structure Monday at a glitzy event in Atlantic City with WWE star Paul Levesque, known as Triple H. This follows the signing of an executive order last year reinstating the test, which was abolished in 2012, and the creation of a White House task force chaired by professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau and vice-chaired by Levesque.
There are no significant changes compared to previous tests. Testing includes timed running, upper body strength testing, and core testing with benchmarks set by the child’s age and gender. All children who participate will receive a certificate celebrating their participation or goal achievement.
HHS said many states have agreed to incorporate the test into school curriculums, but officials did not say which states.
Experts have long agreed that children are becoming more sedentary, likely due to access to screens and parents’ time constraints. As of 2023, only 1 in 4 students will meet the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a worrying trend amid rising obesity rates and the positive association between physical activity and academic success.
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Over the years, various governments have stepped in to tackle this problem. In the 1960s, Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson promoted national fitness programs and created awards to recognize extraordinary achievement. During the Obama administration, officials phased out testing in favor of more flexible youth fitness programs.
President Kennedy said Monday that the decision to end the experiment was a mistake. “We literally have the sickest population in the world,” he told NewsNation.
He said in a statement that the resumption of testing, combined with a new website to encourage participation, will provide “parents, schools and communities with tools to help kids build healthy habits, strengthen their bodies and discover what they can accomplish.”
Youth physical activity experts who spoke to STAT praised the secretary’s efforts to draw attention to increased physical activity in children and said the new test includes several meaningful metrics that focus on both muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.
But some experts worry that focusing on specific physical activity benchmarks could discourage some children from exercising.
In a 2018 study of more than 1,000 participants across the United States published in the Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers found a link between negative memories of physical activity in school and later sedentary habits.
“The worst experiences that people tend to report have to do with embarrassment. That was a leading indicator. With the old (Presidential Fitness) test, a lot of people felt that way, and unfortunately there are a lot of similarities with the new test,” study co-author Matthew Ludwig, assistant professor of integrative human health at Purdue University Northwest, told STAT.
Asked on News Nation how to avoid hurting a child’s self-esteem, Kennedy said, “Failure is a part of life,” noting that WWE stars like Triple H, even when they lose a match, “get back up and fight again.” (WWE matches are scripted.)
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Ludwig said the type of failure matters: “When failure is personal, supported, and framed as progress, it can be motivating.” “However, common types of failures in fitness tests are public and witnessed by colleagues.”
Adam Annacone, a clinical associate professor of kinesiology at the University of Texas at Arlington, said that while physical fitness tests can be motivating for some students, especially athletic and competitive athletes, they need to be combined with comprehensive education about healthy living, such as youth physical activity programs designed to be multidimensional, focusing on cardiovascular fitness, strength and balance.
Annaconne and Feigenbaum both said that includes children having access to safe, non-competitive activities such as school recess, and positive role models like their parents.
And most importantly, according to experts, it must be interesting, otherwise children will not want to do it again.
“When kids are having fun, they’re into it,” Feigenbaum said.
