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FitnessGram Administration Manual
The Journey to MyHealthyZone
Edited by The Cooper Institute
136 Pages
The best just got better.
FitnessGram is the gold standard for assessing the health-related fitness and activity levels of youths. The Cooper Institute has updated the FitnessGram Administration Manual with new material to ensure that FitnessGram is the most comprehensive and informative program that can drive meaningful behavior change and set up children for a healthy future.
The fifth edition of FitnessGram Administration Manual: The Journey to MyHealthyZone offers K-12 teachers two primary assessment resources that allow them to produce individualized reports for each student in their class. FitnessGram provides a complete battery of health-related fitness assessments that are scored using criterion-referenced Healthy Fitness Zone® standards. The standards are age and sex specific and are based on how fit children need to be for health.
New to this fifth edition:
• Audio of cadences and videos and photos for test protocols, making it easier for you to administer tests
• A chapter on communicating with stakeholders (students, parents, faculty and staff, administrators, and the community)
• A chapter on data mining and using data to inform your instruction and help you make sound curricular decisions
• A design that enhances your ease in using the material and administering the tests
You will learn how to administer the tests, interpret the results, and provide feedback to your students on their results. FitnessGram Administration Manual also offers a web resource that includes video clips that demonstrate the assessments; audio for the PACER, curl-up, and push-up tests; and reproducible forms.
Through FitnessGram, you can assess children’s fitness in these areas:
• Aerobic capacity
• Muscle strength
• Muscular endurance
• Flexibility
• Body composition
Several test options are provided for most of those areas; one test item is recommended.
As a FitnessGram user you also have access to everything the Presidential Youth Fitness Program has to offer. The Presidential Youth Fitness Program helps physical educators assess, track, and recognize youth fitness and physical activity. Through this program you are also provided with the following:
• Instructional strategies for promoting student physical activity and fitness
• Communication tools to help physical educators increase awareness about their work in the classroom
• Options for recognizing fitness and physical activity achievements
This latest version of the FitnessGram Administration Manual: The Journey to MyHealthyZone is your guide to conducting the test protocols, recording the data, interpreting the results, and sharing those results in ways that will encourage students to be physically active and adopt healthy behaviors throughout their lives.
Part I Introduction to FitnessGram and ActivityGram
Chapter 1. Mission, Goals, and Philosophy of the FitnessGram Program
FitnessGram
Chapter 2. Fitness Education and Assessment Guidelines
Assessment Options for Fitness Education
Effective and Appropriate Use of FitnessGram and ActivityGram Assessments in Physical Education
Recommended Approaches for Program Evaluation
The Fitness Education Process Step by Step
Physical Education Resources to Support Use of FitnessGram
Chapter 3. Promoting Physical Activity
Importance of Promoting Physical Activity in Physical Education
Physical Activity Guidelines
Concepts for School Physical Activity Promotion
The Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model
Applying the Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model
Reinforcement (Recognition and Motivation)
Part II FitnessGram Assessment Model
Chapter 4. Communicating With Stakeholders
Strategies for Communicating the Fitness Education Process
Communicating With Students
Communicating With Parents
Communicating With Faculty and Staff
Communicating With Administrators
Communicating With the Community
Chapter 5. FitnessGram Test Administration
Importance of Reliable Scores
Considerations for Testing Primary Grades
Considerations for Testing Secondary Students
Considerations for Safety
Testing of Large Groups or Classes
Test Items
Considerations for Testing Student With Disabilities
Software Exemptions for Students
Chapter 6. Aerobic Capacity
Overview of the FitnessGram Aerobic Capacity Standards
Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, PACER
One-Mile Run
Walk Test
Chapter 7. Body Composition
Overview of the FitnessGram Body Composition Standards
<cona2>Body Mass Index
Portable Bioelectric Impedance Analyzers
Skinfold Measurements
Chapter 8. Muscular Strength, Endurance, and Flexibility
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Curl-Up
Trunk Extensor Strength and Flexibility
Trunk Lift
Upper-Body Strength and Endurance
90° Push-Up
Modified Pull-Up
Flexed Arm Hang
Flexibility
Back-Saver Sit-and-Reach
Shoulder Stretch
Chapter 9. FitnessGram Physical Activity Questions
Description of Activity Assessment
Administration
Chapter 10. Interpreting FitnessGram Results
Derivation of Criterion-Referenced Standards
Influence of Body Size and Maturity on Fitness
Interpreting Performance on Physical Fitness Assessments
Chapter 11. Understanding and Using FitnessGram Data
Using Formative and Summative Assessments with FitnessGram
Use of FitnessGram Data with Students
Use of FitnessGram Data with Teachers
Use of FitnessGram Data with Parents
Use of FitnessGram Data with Administration
Part III ActivityGram Assessment Module
Chapter 12. ActivityGram Administration
Description of ActivityGram
ActivityGram Administration
ActivityGram Lite (Youth Activity Profile)
Chapter 13. Interpreting and Using ActivityGram Results
Providing Feedback to Children on ActivityGram
Limitations of the ActivityGram Assessment
Interpreting ActivityGram Lite (Youth Activity Profile) Results
Using Data from Physical Activity Assessments
The Cooper Institute is dedicated to promoting lifelong health and wellness worldwide through research and education. Founded by Kenneth H. Cooper, MD, MPH, The Cooper Institute translates the latest scientific findings into proactive solutions that improve population health. Key areas of focus are research, advocacy, adult education, and youth programs. Through these initiatives, The Cooper Institute will continue to help people lead better, longer lives now and well into the future. For more information, visit CooperInstitute.org.
FitnessGram assesses youth health-related fitness and delivers personalized reports to students and parents. Developed by The Cooper Institute, FitnessGram was adopted by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program in 2012 and is used in schools nationwide. It serves as a student-centered assessment, reporting, and educational tool used in promoting health, fitness, and activity in children.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Abdominal Strength and Endurance
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles.
Strength and endurance of the abdominal muscles are important in promoting good posture and correct pelvic alignment, the latter of which is particularly important to low-back health. In testing and training the muscles of this region, it is difficult to isolate specific abdominal muscles. For example, the modified sit-up, which is used in many fitness tests, involves the hip flexor muscles in addition to the abdominal muscles. In contrast, the curl-up assessment used in FitnessGram is both safer and more effective because it does not involve the hip flexor muscles and because it minimizes compression in the spine, as compared with a full sit-up in which the feet are held. This protocol is adapted from a version reported by Massicote (1990).
Curl-Up
Recommended
The curl-up with knees flexed and feet unanchored is used because these two elements have been shown to do the following: (a) decrease movement of the fifth lumbar vertebra over the sacral vertebrae, (b) minimize activation of the hip flexors, (c) increase the activation of the external and internal obliques and transverse abdominals, and (d) maximize abdominal muscle activation of the lower and upper rectus abdominals relative to disc compression (load) as compared with a variety of sit-ups. Specific research studies related to the curl-up are discussed in the FitnessGram / ActivityGram Reference Guide (Plowman and Meredith 2013), which can be downloaded at www.cooperinstitute.org/reference-guide. The consistency and accuracy of the curl-up assessment have been addressed by only a few results. Reliability is higher for college students than for children, but the values for children are acceptable for this type of assessment. Determination of validity has been hampered by the lack of an established criterion measure. The primary support for using the curl-up test to determine abdominal strength and endurance has been provided through anatomical analysis and electromyographical documentation.
Test Objective
The objective of this test is to complete as many curl-ups as possible (up to a maximum of 75) at a specified pace.
Equipment and Facilities
This test requires a gym mat marked with the distances of the curl-up strips or a gym mat and a measuring strip for every two students. Premarked mats are available for purchase, or you can make curl-up strips from cardboard, rubber, smooth wood, or any similar material that is thin and flat and measures 30 to 35 inches (76.2 to 88.9 centimeters) in length. Two widths of measuring strip may be needed - a narrower width (3 inches, or 7.62 centimeters) for testing 5- to 9-year-olds and a wider one (4.5 inches, or 11.43 centimeters) for testing older students. You also need score sheets, either for individuals (figure 5.1, a or b) or for the class (figure 5.1c); these sheets are available in the web resource.
During the test, you will need the curl-up test cadence from the accompanying web resource and a device with which to play the cadence (e.g., laptop or other digital music player with speaker).
Test Instructions
- Allow students to partner up in groups of two. Partner A will perform the curl-up while partner B counts and watches for form errors.
- Partner A lies supine on the mat with knees bent at an angle of about 140 degrees, feet flat on the floor, legs slightly apart, arms straight and parallel to the trunk, and palms resting on the mat. The fingers are stretched out, and the head is in contact with the mat. Make sure that students extend their feet as far as possible from the buttocks while still allowing the feet to remain flat on the floor - the closer the feet are to the buttocks, the more difficult the movement.
- After partner A assumes position on the mat, partner B ensures that the fingertips rest on the nearest edge of the curl-up distance by checking the location on a premarked mat or by placing the measuring strip on the mat under partner A's legs so that partner A's fingertips are on the nearest edge of the measuring strip (figure 8.1a).
- Partner B then kneels down at partner A's head in a position to count curl-ups and watch for form breaks. Partner B places a piece of paper under partner A's head to help determine whether partner A's head touches down on each repetition (the paper crinkles each time partner A touches it with his or her head).
- Before the test begins, partner B may pull on partner A's hands to ensure that the shoulders are relaxed and in a normal resting position. If partner A is allowed to hunch the shoulders before beginning the test, he or she may be able to get the fingertips to the other side of the testing strip by merely moving the arms and shoulders up and down.
- The test begins with the feet flat on the floor but only the heels must remain in contact with the mat during the test. Partner A curls up slowly (figure 8.1b), sliding the fingers across the measuring strip until they reach the other side (figure 8.2, a and b). Partner A then curls back down until his or her head touches the piece of paper on the mat. Movement should be slow and gauged to the cadence of about 20 curl-ups per minute (1 every three seconds); the teacher either calls the cadence or uses the prerecorded cadence. The performer should not be allowed to reach forcibly with the arms and hands.
- Partner A continues without pausing until he or she can no longer continue or has completed 75 curl-ups, or until the second form correction is made.
Figure 8.1 (a) Starting position for the curl-up test. (b) "Up" position in the curl-up test.
Figure 8.2 (a) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the starting position. (b) Close-up of fingertips sliding in the ending position.
Form Corrections
- The heels must remain in contact with the floor.
- The head must return to the mat on each repetition.
- Pauses and rest periods are not allowed; the movement should be continuous and in keeping with the cadence.
- The fingertips must touch the far side of the measuring strip.
Scoring
The score is the number of curl-ups performed. A curl-up should be counted when the student's head returns to the mat. For ease in administration, the first form break counts as a curl-up; the test ends on the second form break.
Suggestions for Test Administration
- The student being tested should reposition if the body moves so that the head does not contact the mat at the appropriate spot or if the measuring strip is out of position.
- Movement should start with a flattening of the lower back, followed by a slow curling of the upper spine.
- The hands should slide across the measuring strip until the fingertips reach the opposite side (either 3 or 4.5 inches), then return to the supine position. The movement is complete when the back of the head touches the paper placed on the mat.
- The cadence encourages steady, continuous movement done with correct form.
- Students should not reach forcibly with their arms and hands; nonetheless, when students first begin to perform this test item, they may want to reach, especially if they have previously done a timed sit-up test. In this test, however, they should simply let their arms move passively along the floor in response to the action of the trunk and shoulders. Any jerking, kipping, or reaching motion causes the student to move out of position.
- This curl-up protocol is quite different from that of the one-minute sit-up. Students need to learn how to correctly perform the curl-up movement and must be allowed time to practice it.
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
FitnessGram
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition.
FitnessGram is a comprehensive fitness-assessment battery for youth. It includes a variety of health-related physical fitness tests designed to assess aerobic capacity, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, and body composition. For each of the health-related fitness components, criterion-referenced standards associated with good health have been established for children and youth.
FitnessGram software generates individual report cards summarizing each child's performance on each component of health-related fitness. These reports can be used by students, teachers, and parents. Students can use them in planning their personal fitness programs; teachers can use them in determining student needs and guiding students in their program planning; and parents can use them to gain understanding of their child's needs and to help the child participate in physical activity. The software also uses a comprehensive database to track fitness records over time, thus helping educators document and organize information about student outcomes; in fact, detailed reporting tools can be used to summarize class, school, and district outcomes.
ActivityGram
ActivityGram, which is incorporated into the FitnessGram software, provides a detailed assessment of physical activity. This module includes two assessments: a three-day recall of physical activity and a short survey about physical activity. These assessments provide students with personalized information about their general level of physical activity and help them learn strategies for being physically active, both in and outside of school. More specifically, ActivityGram reports the amount of activity that a child performs, provides a graphical display of activity patterns, and indicates the types of activity performed by the child. This type of feedback helps students learn how to set up programs to increase their participation in moderate and vigorous physical activity, in strength and flexibility activities, and in lifestyle activities (i.e., activities of daily living). ActivityGram uses the Physical Activity Pyramid as a basis for analyzing personal activity patterns (see figure 1.1).
Figure 1.1 Physical Activity Pyramid used in ActivityGram.
© The Cooper Institute
Save
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.
Communicating With Students
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value.
It is extremely important that students understand why they are taking part in the FitnessGram assessment. This understanding entails teaching what the FitnessGram assessment measures and why it holds value. Knowledge of the benefits of fitness (or negative consequences of a lack of fitness) associated with particular aspects of fitness is just as important as the score received in the assessment. Educators can find excellent activities for helping children learn health-related fitness concepts in the Physical Best activity guides offered by SHAPE America (2011a, 2011b).
Students also need to be taught the proper protocols for each assessment. To account for the fact that students learn in many different ways, physical education teachers should do the following for each assessment item.
- Read through each protocol according to the manual.
- Show a proper live demonstration or show the video provided in the web resource.
- Have each student practice the protocol for each assessment prior to the day of the assessment.
- On test day prior to beginning the assessment, take time to review the protocol to ensure proper form and technique for each assessment.
During the assessment, students may become anxious for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may feel nervous because they are participating in an assessment or because other students are watching them perform. They may also feel stressed if they know that they are unable to meet the Healthy Fitness Zone or if they have had a negative experience with fitness testing. Physical education teachers must be mindful of such concerns when assessing each student; here are some guidelines.
- Provide a safe location for students to perform the assessment.
- Never have the whole class or even a few students watch one student perform the assessment unless the student volunteers to provide a demonstration.
- Never post fitness scores for students to compare.
- Never use a fitness score as a grade.
When students complete a fitness assessment in a particular component, they should be reminded of the meaning of the assessment score; that is, all students should be taught how their score relates to their fitness level. Fortunately, fitness education provides an opportunity for teachers to help students go beyond the score. Specifically, this is the critical time to set goals and use ActivityGram and ActivityLog to help students work toward their goals and keep accurate logs or journals of their fitness routines. After a period of time for training, students should then have the opportunity to perform the assessment again as a measure of improvement, and their goals should be revised as necessary on an ongoing basis. Upon graduation, students should have learned to assess their own fitness, analyze the data, develop fitness plans, and, ultimately, motivate themselves to remain physically active for a lifetime (SHAPE America 2014).
Fitness assessment can also provide creative opportunities outside of physical education. For example, students might write an article for the school newspaper promoting fitness or create a video to be aired during the morning announcements exploring the benefits of healthy eating. Of course, the ultimate objective of a physical education program is to teach students the physical and behavioral skills necessary to be physically active for life. Communicating this message in a wide variety of ways is the best way for students to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions for success.
According to a position statement issued by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE, now part of SHAPE America), students should not be graded on the basis of their fitness level (SHAPE America 2009). Physical education teachers can, however, provide grades for students in many other areas related to fitness. Here are three options to consider:
- Quizzing students (e.g., giving knowledge tests) about cognitive concepts associated with health-related fitness
- Setting appropriate goals after reviewing the fitness score for each component of fitness
- Having students keep an activity log for a set period of time (e.g., through ActivityLog)
Learn more about FitnessGram Administration Manual, Fifth Edition.