Initially designed by Charles L. Sterling as a physical fitness “report card” FITNESSGRAM® / ACTIVITYGRAM® is now an educational assessment and reporting software program. Based on physiological/epidemiological, behavioral, and pedagogical research, FITNESSGRAM is committed to health-related physical fitness, criterion-referenced standards, an emphasis on physical activity including behavioral based recognitions, and the latest in technology. The evolution of these major concepts is described in this history of FITNESSGRAM.

The purpose of this study was threefold: to determine (a) the test-retest reliability of the 20-m shuttle test (20 MST) (number of laps), (b) the concurrent validity of the 20 MST (number of laps), and (c) the validity of the prediction equation for VO2max developed by Léger, Mercier, Gadoury, and Lambert (1988) on Canadian children for use with American children 12-15 years old. An intraclass coefficient of .93 was obtained on 20 students (12 males; R = .91 and 8 females; R = .87) who completed the test twice, 1 week apart (MT1 = 47.80 +/- 20.29 vs. MT2 = 50.55 +/- 22.39 laps; p > or = .13). VO2peak was obtained by a treadmill test to volitional fatigue on 48 subjects. The number of laps run correlated significantly with VO2peak in males (n = 22; r = .65; F [1, 20] = 14.30 p < or = .001), females (n = 26; r = .51; F [1, 24] = 8.34; p < or = .01), and males and females = (r = .69; F [1, 46] = 42.54, p < or = .001). When the measured VO2peak (M = 49.97 +/- 7.59 ml.kg-1.min-1) was compared with the estimated VO2max (M = 48.72 +/- 5.72 ml.kg-1.min-1) predicted from age and maximal speed of the 20 MST (Léger et al., 1988) no significant difference was found, t (47) = -1.631; p > or = .11, between the means; the r was .72 and SEE was 5.26 ml.kg-1.min-1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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The purpose of this article is to bring attention to the 10 most pressing questions relevant to musculoskeletal physical fitness testing in children and adolescents. The goal is to stimulate research to answer these questions. The most pressing needs include establishing definitive links between valid, reliable, and feasible field test measures of muscular strength, endurance, power, and flexibility and health risk factors/markers in children and adolescents; determining the effects of exercise training on these relationships; and documenting the tracking of these relationships. The role of flexibility in health-related physical fitness (HRPF) needs to be carefully and specifically examined. Although body weight/composition is a separate component of health-related fitness, it is also a factor that can influence the performance of musculoskeletal test items. The role of body weight, body fat, and central adiposity and the possibility of adjustment of tests results are important research questions. Several questions relate to which field tests are best for use in schools. Finally, actual health-related criterion-referenced cutoff values need to be developed. In conclusion, more quality research is needed to firmly establish the musculoskeletal area for HRPF in youth.

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Background:Strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility are important components of healthy back function. This study determined the reliability and evaluated the validity of selected low back field tests (FITNESSGRAM® Trunk Extension [FG-TE] and Box 90° Dynamic Trunk Extension [B-90° DTE]) when compared to laboratory tests (Parallel Roman Chair Dynamic Trunk Extension [PRC-DTE], Parallel Roman Chair Static Trunk Extension [PRC-STE], and Dynamometer Static Back Lift [DSBL]).Methods:Forty males age 15.1 ± 1.2 yr and 32 females age 15.5 ± 1.2 yr participated.Results:Intraclass test-retest reliability coefficients (one-way ANOVA model for a single measure) ranged from .940 to .996. Validity coefficients determined by Pearson product moment correlation coefficients for males and females, respectively, were as follows: B-90° DTE vs. PRC-DTE = .82, .62 (p < .05); B-90° DTE vs. PRC-STE = .55, .38 (p < .05); B-90° DTE vs. DSBL = −.29, −.23; FG-TE vs. PRC-DTE = .23, −.11; FG-TE vs. PRC-STE = −.15, .33; and FG-TE vs. DSBL = −.04, −.36.Conclusions:B-90° DTE was shown to be a valid field test when compared to PRC-DTE, but only for the males. Further research on the PRC-DTE and PRC-STE items for adolescents is recommended.

Thirty-six women from an original cross-sectional population of 81 were retested after an average time span of 6.1 years to determine the longitudinal effects of aging on aerobic power. Women in their 20s maintained a constant level of VO2max. All other age groups showed a decrease in aerobic power (l . min-1 and ml . kg-1 . min-1) similar to that observed in the cross-sectional study. Although the decline in VO2max was similar for both groups, active women increased walk time on the treadmill, while sedentary women decreased in endurance time. Maximal heart rate also decreased with age but the rate of decrease was not constant across time. HRmax remained relatively steady during the middle years and then declined at a faster rate in the 50- and 60-year-old age groups. The results of the present study suggest that cross-sectional studies can provide valid information about the effect of age on response to maximal exercise provided that close attention is paid to the limitations underlying regression therapy. The data also indicate a need to consider alternatives to linear regression analysis of aging effects, since the rate of change of some variables is not constant across age.