Elect to Get Fit

by Lauren Gregg, News Services

Remember in elementary school gym class when you had to complete the Presidents' Physical Fitness test? Did you receive a certificate signed by the president or were you like me and weren't in good enough shape to pass the test? Well now you have a chance to redeem yourself.

Last week, the Presidents' Council on Physical Fitness and Sports released an adult fitness test similar to the one young students take. Are you ready for a second chance at fitness glory?

Take the Challenge Take the president's adult fitness challenge, by visiting the challenge Web site. The test is for people 18 and older who are in good health.

"Most anyone without medical restrictions can follow the instructions for this test and get a reliable baseline score of their fitness level," says Tom Roberts, professor and department head of physical education.

The test has three components: aerobic fitness, muscular strength and flexibility. The aerobic component of the test consists of a one-mile walk or 1.5-mile run. Push-ups and half sit-ups make up the strength test. The push-ups are done until failure. The sit-ups are done for one minute. A stretching exercise called the "sit-and-reach" is used to measure flexibility.

Age, gender, height and weight are also part of your overall score. After entering all your data, the results will then show where you rank among people your age. For example, if you score in the 75th percentile for sit-ups, that means 75 percent of people your age have scores that fall below your score.

Roberts thinks that the  test is a good way to get people talking about and interested in fitness. "Americans love numbers and competition so this could be a reason for some to take action," he says. "If someone is interested enough to take the test, they are probably internally motivated to act as a response to the results."

Lauren needs to improve her strength so she can be strong like her coworker Matt.

Since we're a competitive bunch, the staff in News Services decided to take the challenge. Our group includes a former college baseball player, former ballerina, former lifeguard and current marathon runner. So our results turned out pretty good, with most people in the office being above average in three out of the four categories.

After tallying our scores and entering them online, it turns out that I'm the most flexible person in the office, but certainly not the strongest. I scored the highest on the sit and reach test but failed miserably on the push up test, cranking out only 12 push-ups. This means 90 percent of people my age are stronger than me. So after finding out how weak my arms are, I've decided to do push-ups everyday for the next two weeks to build my strength.

Roberts says you should try to improve in all areas of fitness (cardio respiratory, muscle strength/endurance, flexibility, and body composition) because the human body loves variety and that's what is needed to see "across the board" results. "Thirty to 60 minutes of moderate activity per day should be everyone's goal, though it may take some time to get to that point."