The Origins of the Presidential Fitness Test

I was born from cold war Fears of weight gain, slow. The students, who saw this with dread, have been tortured. Although the teachers were not clear at best about its benefits, it is borne for generations.

The presidential fitness test (or the president) was. For decades, students (or exposed to it, depending on your perception), indicating physical fitness through running, sitting, and clouds, from other tests.

Then he went.

1. The origins of the Cold War to test the presidential fitness
2. Enter JFK
3. The shock of generations
4. The development of the fitness test over the years

The origins of the Cold War to test the presidential fitness

The presidential fitness test, like many things in modern American life, arose from the concerns of the national defense.

The US military has climbed its studies for nutrition soon from World War II, in any small part due to its precedent contract. the Various depression It led to widespread hunger. Immediately before the war, it was the case estimated A third of the draft refusal was linked to malnutrition.

But by the fifties, a different problem began to develop. The Cold War was in full swing, and with Sputnik’s launch in 1957, the United States was losing space race. There were concerns about “Missile gap– There were concerns about the fitness gap, too, thanks to the fact that Americans have an unparalleled standard of living in the world.

In 1955, Jacques Kelly, an Olympic gathering, turned into millions in the building (and the father’s father Grace KellyMonaco princess in the future) bring A disturbing study of the attention of Senator Pennsylvania James Daf, whom he shared with President Dwit Eisenhower. Soon after, the President, Senator, Kelly, and more than twenty sports people gathered at the White House lunch to hear directly from its participating authors: Hans Crawn, a doctor and associate professor at New York University, Bonnie Broadin, Director and Institute for Fitness in White Blinz, New York.

Scientists have revealed that approximately 58 percent of American youth failed at least one of the six movement tests that are managed, which included whether they could sit and touch his toes-and if not related enough, only 8.7 percent of European children failed to test at least one.

In the August 1955 issue, a new magazine is called Sports photographer It was called “the report that was shocked by the president” and quoted Kraos, who said: “We pay the price of progress … The older generation was more strict because he had to undergo adequate physical activity in the natural routine of living. We do not have a desire to change the standard of living by trying to get rid of cars and television.

Eisenhower took action in 1956, signed Executive order To start the president’s council for youth fitness with the vice president Richard Nixon As president. The following year, the conference was detained At the American Military Academy (Alma Matter Mother’s) to develop a plan, and in 1958, the first fitness test standards for youth were revealed: shuttle race (a round and forth tour between two signs for the speed and light movement test), and 50 yards, 600 yard running/walkingWithdrawal, long jumping, sitting, and throwing the soft ball (which is supposed to be supposed, showed the same skill group as throwing a hand grenade).

Enter JFK

Eisenhower’s time was at the White House in 1961; Vice President, Nixon, in the 1960 presidential election by the Senate for Massachusetts John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was a remarkable change from his predecessor: Eisenhower was old enough to be his father (Nixon also), and after the establishment of the council, he had severe a little To do it. The activity of the strong new president (which baffles Serious health issuesIncluding back pain, colon problems, and Addison’s disease), led him to encourage others to stay active and healthy.

Kennedy – who I think was not just a youthful issue –books In December 26, 1960 from Sports photographer “Human activity, the work of the human body, is designed quickly outside practical life.” Eching some points themselves It was raised before advance Theodore Roosevelt In the 1899 speech “Hard life((Which he said to him right), Kennedy pointed out that “in the real and very immediate sense, our growing softness, and our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a threat to our security … such a softness by individual citizens can help in stripping and destroy the vitality of the nation.” A 20 -hour mile for three days, which his council erupted in a national fitness campaign, with the advertising department (Kennedy’s brother, Prosecutor Robert Robert Kennedy, In Oxford). Kennedy also changed the name of the council to the presidential council on fitness.

The Kennedy Council developed a method for improving fitness and encouraged participation. Lindon Johnson – who became president after Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 and was elected for a full time in 1964 – in another presidential fitness investigation in 1965. The results were significantly better than the previous contract. In 1965, he implemented the presidential fitness award, which was given to the students who register In the eighty -eighth centenary or higher in a series of fitness tests similar to the 1958 test (at this stage, a flexible arm hanging the place of modified girls ’withdrawals, apparently solved it because it produced more reliable degrees). The name of the council also changed again, this time to the presidential council on fitness and sports. He took the president’s fitness test – but not the final -.

The shock of generations

Almost once it is presented – and over generations after – the presidential fitness test was completely Shock. “The worst part of the fitness test of a child outside the figure was not the actual exercise,” said Rodger Shermann about Sbnation. “It was the fact that everyone in your ranks saw you trying to exercise and saw how bad it is … Many of us were insulted.”

Even the gym teachers realized that the effectiveness of the test was distributed by embarrassing students enough that they were afraid. “We knew who would be the last time, and we were embarrassing them,” Joanna Ferber physics teacher Remember To NPR in 2014. “We were referring to their weakness.”

The test was modified again in 1976: The soft ball was dropped (it was dropped that the throw was a tested, not from fitness), the sitting of the straight legs was changed to flexible, flexible sit -in; The longer operations were added as options. Another scan was made after a decade, with additional changes to the test (including adding sitting and terrible access), but this has not been done since then. In fact, if there is anything, the president of physical fitness and sports is known after that, as it is dedicated to the line of celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Florence Griffith Joinner, and Lin Swan.

In 2012, the president’s fitness test was replaced by the presidential fitness program for presidential youth as part of Let’s Move! The initiative, which aims to follow a more comprehensive approach to preserving children physically active and teaching lessons to ensure good choices in health, activity and nutrition. The fitness program for youth includes an evaluation, but the skills that have been tested – and the parameters – differ greatly.

“Thinking has been completely changed,” Faerber told NPR. “Now you want to enter the healthy suitability area, instead of being the person who can throw the soft ball to the maximum.”

The development of the fitness test over the years

What started with the development of the youth fitness test in skills and name since it was created in 1958. Originally, the test depended on the work of the American Society for Health, Physical Education and Entertainment (AAHper; later, they were Changing organized to allianceAnd it still adds later Dance And become a response. In the mid -eighties of the last century, the President of Fitness and Sports (later the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, Nutrition, PCPFS and PCPFSN) Take the initiative; They have changed the test significantly and will continue to modify it until 2012. While other school fitness programs have appeared in this era, here is how the skills included in the government -sponsored tests have changed over the years.

Sources of the table: AAPER Youth Physical Test Guide1958; “A slogan to strengthen the presidential fitness presidential campaign,” Shams Durhamand 1966; Youth Fitness Testing Directory, 1976 (Pdf); Presidential Fitness Program, which includes the president’s challenge. Coach Directory, 1986 (Pdf); Get your fitness! How to get the shape to face the president’s challenge. A brochure for young people between the ages of 6-17, 1997 (Pdf); “The state will evaluate the new test as a fitness measure,” Hartford Curant1997

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