If you attended an American public school from 1966 to 2012, you probably remember the dreaded Presidential Fitness Test.
The test included a 1-mile run, sit-ups, pull-ups, sit-and-reach exercises, and a shuttle run (an exercise similar to sprinting).
Children who ranked in the top 15 percent were awarded the President’s Physical Fitness Award and were deemed to have “excellent athletic ability.”
The test was introduced by President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 amid Cold War concerns that America’s youth were not sufficiently fit for military service.
The original checklist also included throwing a softball to mimic firing a grenade.
President Barack Obama abolished the test in 2012 and replaced it with an assessment known as the Fitness Gram aimed at improving an individual’s health.
But what happens if you take the test now?
First up is the mile run. As the name suggests, this involves him running a mile.
Runners are encouraged to cover that distance as quickly as possible with a simple test of their cardiovascular fitness and endurance.
According to 1985 survey data, a 17-year-old girl is considered athletic if she can run a mile in about eight minutes or less.
Men were considered exceptional if they finished in less than 6 minutes and 6 seconds.
For girls, anything less than 10 minutes was above average, while for boys it was 7 minutes.
For younger children, anything less than approximately 8-9 minutes is considered elite.
Next, do some sit-ups or curl-ups to test your core strength.
Lie on the ground with your knees bent and have someone else press your feet onto the ground. Arms should be crossed over the chest.
Do as many sit-ups as possible in one minute.
If you can do 44-55, your physical ability is excellent.
I think the average is around 30-40.
Next, switch to pull-ups to test your upper body strength and endurance.
Using a pull-up bar, start in a fully hanging position and pull up until your chin is higher than the bar.
There is no time limit, but you need to do as many pull-ups as possible.
Tests show that if a woman can achieve three, she is considered athletic. But for boys it is 6 years old.
If you’re not interested in pull-ups, you can also do push-ups instead. Schools have a choice, and the same standards apply.
There is no time limit here either, so try as many times as you like until you fail.
Push-ups are considered the gold standard test because they not only test your upper body strength, but also require awareness of all parts of your body from head to toe.
Next, move on to sprints, also known as shuttle runs, which test your speed and agility.
Mark two parallel lines 30 feet apart. Place two wooden blocks (or something similar, blackboard erasers were also used in those days) behind his one of the lines.
Start behind the opposite line, run to a piece of wood as quickly as possible, pick one up, run back to the starting line, place a block behind the line, run back and pick up the second block, run across the starting line. Masu.
If you can complete a task in less than 10 seconds, you’re athletically gifted, while less than 11 and a half seconds is above average.
Nowadays, schools often give bleep tests, which require acceleration and deceleration, but do not require changing direction very quickly.
Finally, there’s the sit-and-reach, which tests the flexibility of your lower back and hamstrings.
To do this, take off your shoes and sit with your legs straight against a sit-and-reach ruler box.
Lean forward as much as possible.
If you don’t have these on hand, sit with your feet 8 to 12 inches wide and use a tape measure to measure how far you can stretch them.
The trick is to bend from the waist without rounding your back.
If you can reach 8 inches, you are gifted with athletic ability. However, it is slightly less common for women.
