Time for the monthly Presidential Fitness Test at Dragon Slayer.

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.

The Thang:

4 corners warmup

• Run to corner and do 10 merkins
• Lunge to next corner and do 10 burpees
• Run to next corner and do 10 WW2 sit-ups
• Lunge to pull-up bars and do 5 pullups

Kettlebell work

• 10 curls IC
• 10 chest press IC
• 10 upright rows IC
• 10 skull crushers IC

Presidential Fitness Test

• 1 mile run (4 laps around parking lot)
  • 6:06 standard for 17 year old
  • Popcorn led the way at 6:30 pace
• Pushups (53 or more standard for 17 year old
  • Shadow led the way at 68
• Partner sit-ups (55 or more for 17 year old)
  • AM-PM led with 58
• Pull-ups (at least 13 in a row)
  • All PAX were able to complete 13 consecutive pull-ups!!

*Next months iteration will include the V-Sit and Shuttle Run*

Kettlebell work

• 10 curls IC
• 10 chest press IC
• 10 upright rows IC
• 10 skull crushers IC

Mary

• 1 minute plank
  • 30 second left side
  • 30 second right side
  • 10 in and out planks
• 10 Pretzel crunches (each side)
• 20 Hollow Holds

*Recover, Recover

Moleskine

Results for a 17 YO Male (85th percentile):

• 1 mile run=under 6:06 min (7:04 is 50%)
• Push-ups=53 or more (30 is 50%)
• Sit-ups=55 or more (44 is 50%)/66 and 42 if partial
• V Sit and reach past your toes =8.7 inches or more (3 inches is 50%)
• Pull ups (underhand or over hand)=13 or more or 53 sec hang (8 or hang for 30 sec is 50%)
• 60 ft Shuttle run (30 yds down and back) 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).
• The National Physical Fitness Award– for students who demonstrating a basic level of physical fitness (> 50th percentile).
• The Participant Physical Fitness Award– to recognize the participation of other students (< 50th
• percentile on one or more events).

So, we’re not 17 anymore, but very impressed with the strong showing with this group in still meeting the 85th percentile required to pass the test.  This is a great test to identify your current fitness and see how you progress.  The govt required this to be performed only once, a year but this will be held the last Thursday of every month at DragonSlayer so we can more quickly assess areas of improvement required/growth. 

COT:

• Always prayers up for marriages, families, and health
• Use this energy to be a light in everything around you!

Honor to lead this morning, and see you in the gloom next time.

AM-PM