Ten-year-old Peter Choi said he prefers playing dodgeball to crunching out abdominal curl-ups. But the modified sit-ups that the fifth-grader at Arapaho Classical Magnet School says sometimes make his stomach hurt are here to stay, part of the statewide physical fitness test introduced Thursday by the Texas Education Agency.
State officials believe the Fitnessgram test, which allows physical education teachers to record and compare fitness levels of students, will help change what one health expert called "the fitness and fatness of our youth in Texas." The test -- which measures aerobic capacity, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility -- will be used in every gym class in the state in grades three and up.
Yahoo News September 27, 2007