Once a year, when I was in school, we had to do the most horrible, demeaning thing imaginable - the President's Physical Fitness Test. I HATED it!!! I was not an athletic kid, in spite of dance lessons, gymnastics, cheerleading, tennis, and soccer (I pretty much stunk at all of those, except tackling people in soccer.) I hated watching my friends do pull ups on a bar, having no upper body strength to speak of myself. But still, my evil gym coaches made me "try it" - which was more like just hanging there, hoping I looked pathetic enough that they would let me give up. And the shuttle run - all you do is run, pick up a goofy little block on a basketball-court line, and run back. Twice. What does that really say about you or your fitness level? NOTHING! And having someone hold your feet while you do crunches is right up there with medieval torture - when my friends were cranking away at them, I was always huffing and puffing and came up short. Elementary school gym was always such a degrading experience.
I like to think I have gotten more fit as I have gotten older. Sort of. I can at least run, which is something I couldn't do very well as a kid. But more importantly, somewhere along the way I developed the will to try. And, apparently, so have the Baby Boomers. Due to so many requests from them, the government has developed the President's Physical Fitness Test for Adults. If you go to their website, you can enter your information and see how you rank in your age group. The test only has three sections: Aerobic (1 mile walk or 1.5 mile run), Muscular Strength and Endurance (half sit-up and push-ups), and Flexibility (the good ol' V-sit from the original test). There is also the President's National Challenge, which is a daily activity log for being active 5 days a week for 6 out of 8 weeks and even has a competition between the states. (Alaska is leading, by the way) Would anyone be interested in doing a blogger group for this?
I think it's high time I finally earned the certificate for this one! Just as soon as I clear it with my docs... :o)
Friday, May 16, 2008
...But Baby, Look at Me Now!
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2 comments:
Ah yes, the days of government-sponsored public humiliation. I wonder if they're even allowed to do those anymore, with the effect it can have on somebody's self-esteem. But luckily, I was an athlete, so by the time I got to middle school, I was able to do pretty well on those, except for the shuttle run. Nobody can do the shuttle run.
But as far as doing the adult tests, I'm totally in!
Oh my god, we did that at school too and I stunk at it! Pull ups? No way... Flexibility? So so... Running? I was terrible. I think I may have been able to crank out the sit ups. I love your idea. I'd love to see how I rank now! (Although I know that I still can't do no stinking push ups!)
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