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Fitness Tests for Kids

by Fred Hahn on September 10, 2009

A reader commented on a post I did on fitness testing. He said:

Dear Fred,

After reading your artical on the fitness gram test administerd by the NYC schools it was interesting to hear someone elses point of view. Currently we have been administering the test in our school system for eight years. Many of the concerns you point out have also been debated here through the years. My biggest concerns as an educator are accuracy of the results along with consistency with how the test is given from school to school.
At best I see it as an instrument to help student understand personal resposibility for their own health and fitness.
In the 2010-11 school year Georgia will begin requiring a fitness assesment on all students 1st thru 12th grade. Do you have recommendations for a better test instrument that can be given in a timely and effective manner?

My reply:

Well, fitness testing is not the answer that's for sure. The timeliest test is none at all.

The real test for fitness for kids is general health and markers for inflammation as well as signs of obesity and metabolic syndrome.

If the child is lean, has no abnormal blood markers for inflammation, then all is basically well. Why test their fitness?

The BIG issue is food. FE: Whole grains are NOT healthful. Neither is low fat milk or low fat products. Carbohydrates contribute to adiposity, overeating, type II diabetes and inflammation. 

There is no need to test children for fitness. Kids that are healthy are fit by default. If a kid like sports, fine. If not, fine too. ALL kids who eat healthfully will sleep well and will have excess energy to play and play they will. They always have until recently as the bulk of our food has become laden with fructose which is stored as fat making the child hungry and hour after she eats.

Disordered eating leads to eating disorders.

Feed a child fat and meats, vegetables and some fruit only and everything else will fall into place naturally.

Tagged as: fitness, health, kids, obesity

I've been involved in exercise ever since I became a member of The Charles Atlas Club when I was 10 years old. In 1998, I founded and established Serious Strength on the Upper West Side of NYC. My clients include kids, seniors (and everyone in between), top CEOs, celebrities, bestselling authors, journalists and TV personalities.
my book. my Gym.

tagged as , , , in Uncategorized · 4 comments

{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

Sean Preuss September 10, 2009 at 5:38 PM

Fred,
You make a great point about avoiding testing altogether. They should take all the time they can to educate on nutrition (and I don’t mean following the USDA format!). I just brought up the fructose issue in my last post:
http://health-actualization.blogspot.com/2009/09/alcohol-that-your-kids-can-buy.html
On a seperate note. Any plans for your birthday?

fred hahn September 10, 2009 at 5:46 PM

Thanks Sean. Too many people in the health industry are looking for the lost keys where the light is better, not where they were lost.
Fix nutrition and watch test scores rise.
Fix nutrition and watch obesity vanish.
Fix nutrition and watch physical activity soar.
Fix nutrition and watch mood swings dissapear.
How do you fix it? Eat foods that are real -foods we would have eaten 100,000 years ago.

Scott Gregory Smith October 25, 2009 at 6:55 PM

Hey Fred,
this is a great post and while I agree with you on most points, I believe some sort of testing is important. In you post about fixing nutrition, you answer most every question except in my opinion THE question. And that is the question of how we re-train the minds of parents and kids to put into action all of the above. testing puts it in their face and gives them markers to shoot for, NOT for the markers sake but with the intent of training everyone involved to think differently. “Hey, this is important. We’ve made it important. We want you to make it a priority.”

Testing is not THE answer but it helps. It also provides a platform to present all of the good info yet again to the parents.

Fred Hahn November 17, 2009 at 11:58 AM

I discuss this in my book SKHK in detail but I don’t think fitness testing is in the best interest of the child. It tells us nothing worthwhile.

Education is certainly something that should occur but the lies and myths are too deeply rooted to ever get dug out. All over my daughters school are posters stating that fat is bad and fruit is good or that “milk is America’s drink!’ Too many people have bought the whole grain concept hook line and sinker. Parents I talk to get angry – really mad when I tell them that the bowl of cheerios they are giving their kid is slow poison. Is as if they WANT to keep believing the BS. Truly unreal.

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