Love It or Hate It, the Presidential Fitness Test Is Making a Comeback

Remember the flexed arm hang? The mile run? The Presidential Fitness Test – a battery of physical challenges that has prompted both dread and pride in students since the Eisenhower administration – is getting a reboot under the current administration. We’ll look at what California is currently doing to encourage youth fitness and what we’ve learned from more than 50 years of health data collected by school fitness tests, including the updated version that took hold under the Obama administration in 2012. And we want to hear from you: what are your memories of the Presidential Fitness Test? What do you think about its return?

Guests:

Hannah Thompson, assistant research professor of Community Health Sciences, UC Berkeley; incoming director for the UC Nutrition Policy Institute

Taylor Tobin, freelance journalist who writes about food, health and lifestyle

Renata Simril, CEO and President of the LA84 Foundation, and President of the Play Equity Fund

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