Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type (FITT) are the United States Government measures of physical fitness. The United States government has long been an advocate of physical fitness. You may remember in high school the President’s Advice on Fitness Test that measured your ability to do push-ups. Crunches, the lateral straddle run, and the mile run. The council was established under President Eisenhower in 1953. The first president was then-Vice President Richard Nixon. It was established because there was concern that American youth were not as physically prepared as European youth. In 1957 the first junior trials began with what is still known as the President’s Challenge.
When John F. Kennedy became president in 1963, he changed the council to include everyone, not just children. He gets involved in 50-mile hikes and soccer games himself. President Lyndon Johnson makes some changes himself and adds sports to the name that will now be known as the President’s Council on Sports and Fitness. He thought that including ads and games would keep America’s youth engaged in physical activity. He conducts the 2nd physical fitness survey of children between the ages of 10 and 17.
When Richard Nixon took office, he created the President’s Sports Award and also opened it up to civic groups such as boys’ and girls’ clubs. Gerald Ford made changes to inform the public about the benefits of exercise and conducted the third survey of physical fitness. Jimmy Carter speaks at the 1st National Conference on Physical Fitness extolling the virtue of fitness and health related data.
Under Ronald Reagan, the Executive Order is modified to include 10 targets where it now branches to measure the fitness of adults and children. May is declared National Month of Physical Activity and Sports. In 1991 the Participant’s Physical Fitness Award was added. When George H. Bush takes office, he has the Great American Workouts right on the White House lawn. In 1990 the National Military Fitness Council was formed to review the physical fitness of our nation’s armed forces.
William Clinton has Nolan Ryan’s guide to fitness available to anyone who asks for it. More than 8,500,000 copies are distributed. The great report on the physical fitness of the general surgeon is published in 1996. It involves the elderly and now offers the information in Spanish. George W. Bush has the council launch the fitness website http://www.fitness.gov and in 2003 http://www.presidentschallenge.org is launched.
Today there is a new challenge for adults over the age of 18 known as the Adult Fitness Test. You can find it here: http://www.adultfitnesstest.org/. This challenge involves testing Americans for walking or running for aerobic activity, strength with half the sit-ups, and flexibility with the sit-up and reach test, and finally the body composition test that measures body fat around the middle section.
Each person should strive to meet the goals of this test and work to improve if they cannot meet them. The health benefits for each person can be measured in real dollars and are felt by millions across the country. So take the test and start your exercise routine today.
