18 Pax were present and accounted for at #TheSword this morning for PE Class as we took the old school Presidential Physical Fitness Test. Here’s the summary:

Welcome/Disclaimer

Warmarama (IC):

-SSH x 50 (100)

-IST x 20 (40)

-Slow Windmill x10

-Long Snapper/Dwight Schrute/Slippery Dip Can/Carrot Pullers/Lil’ Professor x10

Mosey to next checkpoint to begin the:

PRESIDENTIAL PHYSICAL FITNESS TEST:

-1 mile run

-‘Mericans (60 seconds AMRAP)

-LBCs (66 seconds AMRAP)

-WWI v-sit reach ups  x20

-Pull-ups (60 seconds AMRAP overhand proffered or hang entire time)

-Shuttle run suicides (30 ft down and back x2)

How should one score? Glad you asked. The results for a 17 YO Male to pass (85th percentile) are as follows (the next level is 50th percentile, which was sort of a D-, but not failing so we’re going to make you feel good by still giving you an award approach):

-1 mile run=under 6:06 min (7:04 is 50%)

-Push-ups=53 or more (30 is 50%)

-Sit-ups=55 or more (42 is 50%)

-V Sit and reach past your toes =7 inches or more (3 inches is 50%)

-Pull ups=13 or more (8 or hang for 30 sec is 50%)

-Shuttle run 8.7 sec (9.4 sec is 50%)

Type of Award Issued (depending on your scores):

• The Presidential Physical Fitness Award – which recognizes students who achieve an outstanding level of physical fitness (> 85th percentile on all events).
• The National Physical Fitness Award – for students who demonstrating a basic level of physical fitness (> 50th percentile on all events).
• The Participant Physical Fitness Award – to recognize the participation of other students (< 50th percentile on one or more events).

After completing the challenge, there was still time, so we did:

-Pigeon

-Patty Cake Partner ‘Mericans x20

-Jacknife lbc each leg x20 (80)

Mosey back to base

Recover, Recover

COT/Namarama/ Announcements/Prayer

Moleskin:

Welcome to FNG Hilario (now known as 4-Way,) FNG Preston (now known as Rebound), and welcome back Kalyan who was recently named Out Cold. It was also great to see former FNG, now Pool Boy again!

All Pax tried to make their gym teacher and coach proud today. You’ll have to ask each how he did. There are no measuring sticks or judgement with YHC.

History:

During and after World War I, and throughout the Vietnam era, fitness testing and physical training for children was conducted in schools by governmental agencies, linked to preparedness for combat.

The impetus for the style of physical testing developed into the Presidential Fitness Test. It began as a research study conducted in the early 1950s to determine minimum fitness levels consisting of 6 basic exercises. One of their experiments involved conducting the fitness test on 4,000 children on the East Coast, which showed that 56.6% of them between age 6 and 16 failed the test. The high rate of failure caused alarm among politicians, leading to expand testing to 3,000 rural, urban, and suburban children in Italy, Switzerland, and Austria. On average, they found that only 8.2 European children failed the test.

In July 1956, President Eisenhower “officially” launched the President’s Council on Youth Fitness by Executive Order. Before John F. Kennedy’s presidency, he advocated for youth physical fitness in his article “The Soft American,” published in Sports Illustrated, noting “The harsh fact of the matter is that there is also an increasingly large number of young Americans who are neglecting their bodies – whose physical fitness is not what it should be – who are getting soft. And such softness on the part of the individual citizen can help to strip and destroy the vitality of a nation.”

The test had some modifications over the years, began to dwindle during the Clinton and Bush eras, and ended with the Obama administration. It is now called the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, In place of the Presidential Fitness Test, the Program “emphasizes individual progress over exceptionalism”. The test has a new form of calculations, placing students within ranges and removing the Award for achieving the highest category. Instead, students are provided with individual assessments and goals, with the structure of how to achieve the goal.

Oh, to be 17 again…

Announcements:

-On 3/30 we will hold a F3 CPR class at Lake Forest Church from 6:30-8pm.  M’s and 2.1’s are welcome to attend. Please save the date! https://f3isotope.com/f3-cpr-training/

Prayer Requests:

-Unspokens among F3

-Jedi’s father (Ron) cancer treatment and pain mgt from fall

-Estwing-Pray for F3 Marriages and those going through separation and divorce.

-Ultraman’s mom’s continued health issues.

Always great to start the day with my F3 brothers. Until next time…

Toby

(aka Tobra Commander, Tobra Kai, Tobi-Wan, Teletoby, Tobias, Tobadia, “Toe”bee, TobyMac, Tob-lerone, etc.)