Empowering Healthy Kids Blog

San Marcos Middle School is using new exercise technology to help students motivate, track and assess their fitness levels:

Dubbed “Club 49″ after one of the classrooms it’s housed in, the two-room facility will initially be geared toward students who have room for improvement on the statewide physical fitness test - the so-called Fitnessgram. The test is designed to measure student performance in categories such as muscle strength, endurance, flexibility and aerobic capacity, the body’s ability to generate energy with the use of oxygen.

Results of the test are reported each year in grades five, seven and nine, and are based on students’ performance in six tasks: curl-ups, push-ups, trunk lifts, shoulder stretches, body composition, and a 1-mile run.

Of the school’s 418 seventh-graders tested in June, 30.4 percent passed all six of the fitness standards, while 0.7 percent of students achieved none of the standards, according to school documents.

In addition, 73.9 percent scored within or above what is deemed the healthy fitness zone - the level of fitness thought to offer protection against diseases that result from sedentary living - for muscle strength and endurance. In comparison, 59.1 percent of students scored in or above the zone for aerobic capacity.

“When we look at the state results for the physical fitness test, student cardiovascular strength is always an issue,” said Principal Brian Randall. “We designed the room to focus on that area.”

Because childhood obesity is a national epidemic, there’s no better place than local schools to educate students about eating healthy and staying fit, he said.

“Kids are not in the same kind of shape as they were 20 years ago,” said Gary Munn, the school’s athletic director and physical education department chair. “More and more students are leading sedentary lifestyles and that’s what we’re fighting.”

With both parents working these days, kids are left to the baby sitter of TV and video games, said Assistant Principal Jeff Moore. The new facility demonstrates that San Marcos Middle School is “truly interested in not only healthy brains, but healthy bodies,” Moore said.

The new facility falls in line with the district’s wellness policy, which promotes healthy students through nutrition education, food and beverage guidelines and physical activity.

“(Students) are developing habits now that are lifelong choices,” Randall said.

I particularly like the way information and data about their workout performance is given to the student, so that they can continue to learn and improve:

Students can track their progress on the elliptical machines and fitness cycles with technology usually found in health clubs, Randall said.

For example, on the elliptical machines, students will log into an interactive computer terminal with their identification number and use the same number to log into the machine they’re using. Fitlinxx, a computerized system that attaches to existing fitness equipment, tracks the workouts, allowing students to monitor their mileage, calories burned, watts, time and other data.

Charts and graphs on their progress can be viewed on one of six computers in the facility or via the Web at home.

Students can plug a flash drive, a small device that stores computer information, into the cycles and later download their workout progress. The stationary bikes have built-in Cycle Peaks exercise tracking software customized to be student-friendly, Randall said.

“We are such a data-driven society … people want proof,” said Moore. “This shows us that (positive) results are actually taking place.”

Once their cardio workout is completed, students can move into the core training area, where they’ll find what are referred to in the gym world as balance balls, yoga mats, light dumbbells and sit-up benches.

“It’s an opportunity for kids to experience something that most kids would have to pay for (at a gym),” said White.

This entry (Permalink) was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 1:20 pm and is filed under schools, usa, getting active, tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site.