WASHINGTON — The presidential fitness test, a divisive hallmark of children’s education from the 1960s to the 2010s, is back as part of health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign to promote youth health and combat chronic disease.
Experts on youth physical activity say it’s just one positive step toward getting children active, not the solution, in combating the rise of sedentary lifestyles among children. The experts STAT spoke with said that measuring fitness should be paired with additional strategies to capture children’s interest in exercise and keep it — and avoid creating unpleasant associations with physical activity.
“The bottom line is that measuring fitness does not create fitness,” Avery Faigenbaum, professor of health and exercise science at the College of New Jersey, told STAT.
“Fitness testing is sort of a double-edged sword,” he continued. “We can identify children who need intervention … [but] this kind of testing can be embarrassing and can turn people off from physical activity.”
Kennedy announced the structure of the new test at a flashy event in Atlantic City on Monday, alongside WWE star Paul Levesque, known as Triple H. It follows an executive order signed last year by the president that revitalized the test, discontinued in 2012, and propped up a White House task force chaired by professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau with Levesque as vice chair.
