One of the questions people ask me a lot is:
How do you do fitness testing?
So, I decided to write this post as an answer to that question.
Just to be up front – this post is DESCRIPTIVE, not PRESCRIPTIVE.
What I mean is that I’m not saying you should do things the same way, I’m explaining the way I do things to give an example and hopefully be helpful.
You’re specific school, students, teaching style and district requirements are different than mine – so you should always do what you think is best for your kids.
Honestly, this is one of the units that I struggle with the most. I’ve brainstormed lots of different ideas and thought about different ways to do “Fitness Testing” and I’m still not 100% sure if it is the best way to reach kids and teach them about exercise.
I do see the value in preparing students for Middle and High School programs where I know they will be participating in Fitnessgram – and I know from talking to secondary teachers that they are very grateful when students come to them already familiar with the testing protocols.
I also see the value in helping students learn to set goals, and then allowing them to see improvement over a year with pre and post-tests.
The only thing is, I’m not really sure if the number of students that are being impacted positively is worth the ones that might be getting turned off to exercise all together.
Sometimes I ask myself, if it’s worth it to improve a students’ fitness levels through goal setting if they get turned off to exercise during the process?
I also am constantly asking myself… “Is this the best use of my instructional time, or would we benefit more from doing something else”
There is definitely some value from the parents (and students) perspective in the data we provide, as a parent I am interested to see how my kid does on a fitness assessment, and I know other parents appreciate the reports we send home in 5th grade.
I think one of the hardest things is help students and parents understand that any assessment (as I discuss in my How to to Grades Post) is just communication, it’s not a declaration of your self worth or value, assessments are meant to help us understand where our areas of strength and weakness are so we can be self aware and make a plan to become a better version of ourselves.
In my personal situation, our state and district requires fitness testing, so I don’t really have the option of debating whether or not to do it. If I wasn’t required to do it – I think I might end up creating an American Ninja Warrior Unit or some other themed fitness unit that kids would resonate with a little more than doing exercise to a cadence.
What I do try and make very clear to my kids is the Why Behind Fitness Testing and help them understand how it can be meaningful to their lives (and also how their fitness score will be unrelated to their PE grade)
If you want to go a little deeper into this rabbit hole check out a great podcast where Jorge Rodriguez and I discuss the pros and cons of fitness testing, here’s a link. I’ve also included some additional resources at the bottom of this post to check out and reflect on related to fitness testing.
All that to say – this is how I do Fitness Testing in my PE Classes.
*Note: I have 50 minute classes, once a week. So this unit usually takes about 3 Weeks in the Fall for a Pre-test. 3 Weeks in the Spring for a Post-test. My class sizes are usually around 25-30 students for a single or 50-60 with 2 classes and 2 teachers.
Week 1 – Pacer Test
I start with a Unit intro going over The 5 Components of Health Related Fitness with 3rd – 5th and have some conversations about why each component is important and how we measure and improve each component. I also give pre-test on the components of fitness to my 5th grade students and normally use that pre-post test data for my yearly SLO.
Check out the video Below for an Example:
- Related Resources (TPT links below – all resources also available in our membership):
The Pacer Test
The Pacer is definitely my favorite fitness test as I covered in another blog post HERE
You can see how I introduce the concept of cardiovascular endurance to my kids before our daily warmup in the Lesson Intro video below:
Here’s a few tips for the pacer test and some things that might make it more fun for your students
Pacer Grade Level Modifications I Use
- K-1st does a modified pacer for fun and then works on Locomotors
- 2nd – 5th – partner up and run the test while your partner helps you count and watches for mistakes, switch it up after the first round.
- 4th and 5th Fill out their Fitnessgram Goals Setting Worksheet
*Funny memes aside – most of my kids actually love doing The Pacer Test
Pacer Visual Video
If you’ve got a screen I’ve found it’s pretty helpful to use this video when doing the test so kids can get a visual of each lap their on, the Cooper Institute also has a couple of remixes on their Youtube Channel as well. (they also offer free downloads of the audio here)
Week 2 – Curl Up Test (and Sit and Reach)
This week with 2nd – 5th we used to do a quick demo (CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE), to go over the test rules – but now I just show my kids the video below that I created to go over the test:
After the video – I take questions and then I assign half the kids to the curl-up mats and half the kids count for a partner. We go through one round and switch it up and repeat.
After the Curl Up Test I have different activity stations set up and the students rotate around while I do testing with about 25% of the class at a time. We do the Sit and Reach Test (3rd – 5th) and with 4th and 5th we also do Height and Weight measurements.
Activity Station Examples
- Jump Rope, 4-Square, Hula Hoop, Scooters, Throw and Catch, Rock Wall, Team Jump Rope, Single Jump Rope, Pushups/Curlups Practice, Basketball, Rope Swinging, Spooner Boards, Just Dance (Here’s a ton of station examples)
I also made an explanation video for our sit and reach which I have the students watch, because I got tired of explaining the same thing over and over again 1 zillion times.
Our 5th Graders also do Height and Weight since it’s legally required by our state for the fitness reports that we send home.
Check it out below if you want:
P.S. Yes, I am aware that the official way to do sit and reach is with your knee up in the air, just found that out after making the video above 🙂
Usually, we don’t completely finish all the Sit and Reach and Height and Weight in one class period since we spent time on the Curlups Test and going over station and sit and reach protocols.
If have any students that didn’t get a chance to do complete the assessments, we get to them the following week after the Pushup Test.
What about K-1st?
For Kindy and First Graders I don’t do any fitness tests other than the modified Pacer I mentioned above. We do some modified exercises like “Hello Goodbye Situps” and “Shoulder Tap Pushups”
We normally use this week to focus on practicing Locomotor Movement Activities and learning how to safely use our Rock Climbing Wall since that’s a great muscular strength activity
I also normally introduce scooters and discuss scooter safety for the first time as a station activity this week for my K-1st Kiddos
Week 3 – The Push Up Test (and Sit and Reach)
The way I do Pushups is essentially the exact same way I do Curlups. Watch the video overview, then split kids up and half the class tests while the other half counts – then we switch it up.
I created a funny video to explain to students correct pushup form similar to the curlup video
My Pushup Test Explainer Video is below:
I do tweak the procedure a bit by using Dome Cones for kids to go down and tap with their chest instead of trying to explain a 90 degree angle at the elbow – I’ve found it’s just easier for kids to keep track with the cone. (see below)
After the test, kids finish up any Sit and Reach or Height and Weight that we didn’t get to the previous week.
If the class already finished everything during the previous week, I give them a choice of doing stations or playing a fun game.
At the end of the year I print reports with their scores and progress for all of my 5th grade students.
A few closing thoughts:
- Always explain WHY you are doing the testing – My why is “to help kids see where they are currently and learn to set goals for the future and know how to achieve them”
- I stress to students that their grade in PE is not related to their scores on the fitness tests and that my Moto is and will always be “Do Your Best, Forget the Rest“
- Yes – 2nd/3rd graders (or any grade) will be horrible at doing pushups/curl ups/pacer if it’s the first time they’ve ever done it. Nobody is awesome at something the first time they try it… don’t worry, don’t put a ton of pressure on them to perform well and don’t expect them to be awesome, I always prep my kids up front by discussing how this is our practice year and we won’t be good at it because it’s our first time trying it out
- If kids physically can’t do the exercises, teach them lots of modifications that they can use to practice at home and build up strength, a few examples below:
- Shoulder Tap Pushups – Tap your shoulders in pushup position
- Modified Pushups – on your knees
- Hand Release Pushups – Go all the way down to the ground and then pushup back up
- Reverse Curlups – Start in the up position and go down super slowly
- Weighted Feet Curlups – have someone hold their feet or put them under something heavy while curling up
- How I record the data
- I just write student’s scores in on my rosters and transfer the scores to the computer for printing my fitness reports at the end of the year with my 5th graders.
- 4th and 5th also keep track of their own scores by recording their scores after each test so they can set goals and measure their own improvement – I created a Fitnessgram Goal Setting Guide to help accomplish this (see below).
- I also have my 4th and 5th graders complete our “Future Self Fitness Reflection” where they either fill out a note of encouragement to their future self, or go through a visualization exercise where they think about what their life will be like in the future if they choose to work towards their goal vs if they choose not to focus on it. You can check out on TPT here if you’d like to try it out.
- After each test I have an awards ceremony and hand out A Fitnessgram Certificate for students who have high scores from each class. You could also do “Excellent Achievement” or “Most Improved”, but I personally find it hard to manage more than 2 certificates per test and still have the ability to get them out to students before class is over.
Grade Level Progressions (Vertical Alignment)
My big picture overview and grade level progressions year are below
- My Grade Level Progressions Overview:
- K-1st – Learning basics of exercises and modified pacer
- 2nd – Intro to Pacer/Curlup/Pushup
- I call it a “practice test” this year
- 3rd – Intro to Sit and Reach
- 4th – Begin tracking their own scores, doing personal goal setting and working to achieve their goals by the end of the year (Goal Setting Guide)
- 5th – Intro to height and weight, Components of Fitness Knowledge Quiz, Fitness Reports go home
Other Great Links/Resources on This Topic:
- Great Convo Discussing the Pros and Cons of Fitness Testing (Global PhysEd Voxcast)
- 4 Ways to Make Fitnessgram Fun
- Joey Feith on Setting SMART Goals with Fitness Testing
- Robert Pangrazzi on why you shouldn’t do Fitness Testing
- Slow Chat PE Blog Post: Should we Use Fitness Testing in PE?
- Human Kinetics Statement on Appropriate vs Inappropriate Uses of Fitnessgram
- CDC Stance on Fitness Testing Within Schools
- Article from the Chicago Tribune about grades and fitness tests
- Fitnessgram Reference Guide
- Thoughts on Fitness Testing From Human Kinetics
Hope that was helpful and good luck on determining the best way for YOU to do your own Fitness Unit.
If you have tips, tricks or want to share different ways of doing thing, leave a comment below.
PS – I love the idea of doing self assessment for fitness testing – I think that’s a more useful and usable life skill, the only reason I haven’t done that is that we are required to send home fitness reports in 5th grade in my state and self assessment isn’t a valid measurement to put on an official report
Musclegaragefitness says
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Marcus says
Thank you! Glad you’re enjoying the resources!
Jessica says
I have a question, me and my coworkers all use your videos to show the kids before we do fitnessgram. My question is, do you use the wall while you are doing your push-ups for fitnessgram?
Marcus says
Hey Jessica!
Glad you’re enjoying the resources!
Our students are not allowed to use the wall for Fitnessgram
Angeline Striegel says
Thanks for all you do. I was wondering if you cut the students off at any point during the pacer test?
Marcus says
Hey Angeline,
Thanks for reaching out!
The only time we cut off students on the PACER test is for time constraints. We see our students for 50 minutes. Only on the rarest of occasions have we had to cut them off.
They usually stop with time to spare.
Hope this helps!
Veronica Rodriguez says
Good evening, Hope all is well. I live in San Antonio Texas and always use your videos for our kiddos to learn the fitnessgram. They get a kick of the videos: what to do and what not to do!!!! Thank you for making it a whole lot easier for all of us, P.e. Teachers.
I notice you said you use this for your BOY SLO, this is the first year our district has included us and asked us to write a SLO. We have always completed the TTESS, but the first year for SLO.
Do you mind sharing your SLO with me, I am going to use the same for my SLO, however, I am confused, am I to use all 5 components as part of my SLO? I have always just picked one or two for my goal and data, showing BOY, MOY, and EOY data on student growth.
Thank you in advance,
Veronica Rodriguez
AKA Coach R
Marcus says
Hey Veronica!
Thanks for reaching out!
We use a super simple quiz that we do with my 5th graders.
You can see the test by clicking the link below and making a copy on your Google Drive Account
5 Components of Fitness Test/Quiz
If you want some more ideas, you could pick any of the Grade Level Outcomes from the Shape America GLO Document to assess for your SLO.
Hope that helps!
Will says
Hi!
I’m a first-year k-5 PE teacher. Your content really helps. I have a question though, what do you do with K-1 during the ASPEN fitness tests? For example: the push up, curl up, and sit and reach.
Thanks.
Marcus says
Hey Will!
Congratulations on joining the PE teaching profession! You’re going to do great!
We usually do a practice PACER with the younger students and do other activities while we are testing the older students.
Check out how we modify the PACER test for K-1st students:
https://youtu.be/Zkg8DtDvR90
Hope this helps!
5 components of fitness says
Amazing. I agree and appreciate your effort to gather knowledge and provide us on Health Components. I will read your other blogs too. Thanks one again.
Marcus says
You’re welcome!
We are glad you’re enjoying the resources!
Mia says
It’s coo I guess.
Marcus says
Glad you’re enjoying the resources Mia!
Hollie Nepveux says
So I have to pay again this year for access to all the downloads and resources? Do you have a discount for long time members?
Marcus says
Hey Hollie,
The membership subscription is yearly. This allows you to have access to all the downloads and resources we offer. We also try to add new resources, downloads, posters, and E-course to the membership.
Returning members automatically receive 10% off the next year.
Thanks!
Ryan Taylor says
Hi there, Ryan Taylor from Missouri here. Love the videos you produce, they are awesome man. Today I did the push-up test with 3rd graders for the first time (using the fitnessgram cadence on youtube). 3rd grade REALLY struggled with this. BIG TIME. Do you have the same problem with 3rd? I also teach 4th/5th so I’m hoping they’ll do better. I thought the video you created with pushup test instructions was great. Thanks for your help
R. Taylor
Marcus Nellems says
Hey Ryan,
Thanks for reaching out!
Yes we have the same issues with 3rd grade students. We go in with the mindset of teaching 3rd graders the procedures of fitness testing in the hopes they understand by the time they get to 4th or 5th grade.
If they don’t do well or our not the best counter, that’s ok because hopefully with more practice they will do better.
They also can see how we can check our progress and growth so they will think about practicing at home.
Stick with it, it will pay off in the future!
Jason says
Any ideas for doing this virtually. I am wracking my brain and can’t come up with a good strategy?
Marcus Nellems says
Hey Jason,
I will link up some blog posts with some ideas for virtual teaching:
https://www.thepespecialist.com/teaching-during-covid-social-distancing-and-virtual-pe-lesson-ideas/
https://www.thepespecialist.com/teachertechtools/
I’ve seen teachers who have provided students with a Google Form or something similar where students do the fitness tests at home and provide the teacher with their scores. It’s not ideal but students are practicing the skills and they can learn what they can do to test their fitness levels.
Tianna Hambrick says
Thank you for showing me.
Marcus Nellems says
You’re welcome Tianna!
Tianna Hambrick says
Thank you
Marcus Nellems says
You’re welcome Tianna!
Cheri Ritz says
Do you have a PowerPoint you show for Fitness Gram? Would you be willing to share that? I would love to see your instructional video on this.
Marcus Nellems says
Hey Cheri,
We don’t show a PowerPoint for Fitness gram. In the post linked below you will find YouTube videos for demonstrations of the fitness test we cover.
https://www.thepespecialist.com/fitnessgram/
Hope this gives you some ideas!
Michael says
I created Fitness Level – Push Up Test to assess your body condition and to monitor progress during strength and fitness training. See https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id1522052269
Sheri Williams says
I’d like to know how you use the stations for the rest of class while you’re testing a quarter of them. Do you choose their groups and rotate them or do they choose?
Ben Landers says
I have done both – early on I chose their groups and rotated them once I was finished testing each group. Now I’ve built more mutual respect and know and trust my students more since I’ve been here so long – so for most classes I just let them choose the station they want to go to and I call 5-6 kids at a time to come test.
During this time if kids are not following the expectations, I just have them sit out until it’s their turn to take the test.
If it’s a generally irresponsible class, I might put them in specific stations.
Holly Usher says
Thankyou for sharing your methods so generously. We have no standardised fitness testing in Australia but I love getting the kids in my fitness classes measuring their results and trying to improve over their time with me. Your tips have helped encourage me to put some more tests in place.
Ben Landers says
Glad to hear that! Hope it goes well
Brandon White says
HI Ben, thanks for the blog! I love it. I teach K-6th PE at a small rural school in North West Washington State. We use FitnessGram in our district. Normally we have used the mile run as our measure of aerobic capacity, however we do not measure our students weights and heights and thus the FitGram report does not print a VO2 max for the students. So my question is: Should we feel apprehensive to measure 4-6th grade students body measurements and how would we go about doing it without backlash from parents?
Thanks for your thoughts!
Ben Landers says
Hey Brandon! We are required by the state to measure H and W so there’s really no choice, so that means no backlash. If parents complained about it I’d tell them to write a letter to the state. I only measure 5th grade height and weight as that’s the only required grade. We run all the tests as I described in the post with 2nd – 5th and I just tell them to do their personal best and provide HFZ levels from These Charts so they have a general idea of the numbers to shoot for, but overall just shooting for improvement on their last score.
Connie Dunn says
Ben, I remember seeing a Fitnessgram brag board poster you created in the past. Can you post a picture of that?
Ben Landers says
There’s a picture on our “4 Ways to Make Fitnessgram Fun” Blog Post
Tracy says
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for these amazing videos!!! Question …. how far apart did you space your tape on the mats? I know the ‘strip’ for testing should be 3″ for ages 5-9 and 4.5″ for 10 and up but I wanted to use tape like yours. THANKS!
Ben Landers says
Sure thing – It’s been a while since I measured them out, but I’m pretty sure it was 4″
Danna Snir says
Hi
Is there an assessment tool/rubric for each unit / e book when i purchase the membership?
Also, on the ebook there is a breakdown for lesson plans for each unit?
Dan says
Hey Ben!
On the weeks that you are doing the Push Up and Curl Up tests, what do you do with your K/1? Do you introduce those movements but modified with games?
Thanks!
Ben Landers says
I usually work on station work and locomotor practice activities to work on moving to open space and practice different locomotors
Matt says
Have you ever had a student using a wheelchair take this test? If so, how did you modify?
Thank you a lot I love your ideas and P.E philosophy.
Matt
Ben Landers says
Hey Matt – never had a student in a wheelchair, but have had kids with disabilities that made it hard to run, so we just modified the distance to be much shorter for them. I could see this also working for a student in a wheelchair. Basically, just determine what they can do, and develop some kind of modified test to help them set goals and measure improvement.
Chris says
What events do you use for your hall of fame. Curl ups the cd stops at 80. Is everybody put on the list if they get that number?
Ben Landers says
Curlups – yep, everybody that makes it to 80 gets on the wall
Pushups
Sit and Reach (3rd – 5th only)
Pacer
1 Mile Run (5th grade only)
Sam says
Do you have a link to that fitness hall of fame sheet? I would like to see how you set that up if possible. Thanks!!
Ben Landers says
Hey Sorry, I design the Fitness Hall of Fame in a program called Canva (Canva.com). But originally I just created it in Word Documents and pasted them all on poster paper. I have a section for each Fitness test and boy/girl record holders for 2nd-5th grade
Sam says
OH ok….so then it’s basically just a couple of tables with the headings at the top and a few spaces under each for boys and girls?
Ben Landers says
Yep, you got it. Title for each test and then the record for each grade under that test boys/girls
Sam says
Perfect! I will come up with something…I appreciate your help on this. I got one other question though RE: everything other than pacer. Do you formally test your 2nd and 3rd graders to get their scores on the HOF, or do you just periodically do it? My state only requires 4-5 grades to be tested on that, so other than those grades I haven’t really “tested” the younger grades with pushups, curlups, etc. I mainly show them how to do it and focus on form and whatnot, but not really for endurance purposes. Thanks!
Ben Landers says
Hey Sam – yes we do the standard tests with the younger kids, but I don’t put the scores into the system or print reports for them, it’s more just to give them the practice with the procedures so when they get to 4-5 they’re familiar with it. Kind of a “trial run”
Sam says
Perfect. Thanks for the help, Ben!
P.S., I mentioned that I will be doing a fitness HOF to my students today and they got pumped. Can’t wait to get it up in my gym!
Ben Landers says
Nice! My kids go crazy when someone breaks a record, it’s a great way to create a powerful moment for students
Minnie says
Ben, I think I have almost everything under control on the Fitnessgram except for the curl-ups. I have the kids in partners and counting for each other. I made a sheet for them to use – they slash through a number if the curl-up is correct and X through a number if it is incorrect. I explain and demonstrate everything – head has to touch the mat every time you go down, feet have to touch the ground (toes can come up), you have to keep up with the cadence of the cd player and your hand has to touch the 2nd line, but either my kids are in the worst shape ever or something is just wrong. Many of them can’t even do 1 correctly, the ones that are doing them about 1/2 of those I am not sure are doing them right just based on me knowing their abilities and the other 1/2 I think are. This is such an easy test to “cheat” on if you will and at the same time hard to pass if your doing it correctly. I miss the days of doing sit-ups for 1 minute with a partner holding your feet – seemed like that was easier to track.
I think I am finally getting the hang of the modified pull-up (Barely, but about there)
I have the pacer down really good, as well as, the trunk life and sit and reach – still not sure why they changed the sit-n-reach to one foot up and one foot down though??
Ben Landers says
Totally agree, Curlups is the hardest one to do correctly. A few teachers in our district have switched back to the Presidential Situp Challenge like you mentioned for that very reason.
Minnie says
So how do you score that using fitnessgram standards. What I mean is in the past so many sit ups in a minute is national or presidential.
Ben Landers says
You can’t score it with Fitnessgram standards – you would have to use the Presidential Fitness Testing Standard.
Drew Emerick says
Thanks!
Drew Emerick says
Awesome blog. As a first year T, this was a challenging thing to organize. My Co-teacher and I really just didn’t “trust” the students to test their partners at the age to get ACCURATE results. There are so many things to watch, we decided to test every student ourselves.
One tip, for push-ups/curl-ups we had two students go at once per teacher. We used yellow (warning) and red (test over) flag football flags to drop on/in front of the students to let them know when they made their first mistake and when their test was over.
For the pacer we did have them partner up and hold up on their fingers when their partner missed the line. To speed the test up, we grouped students from their previous best scores the year before. Those with 50+ laps went second. That way we didn’t have two groups going and a student that can run 85 in both groups.
We see the students everyday for 25 minutes. 60 Ss in every class.
Question I still have…students get two misses on a test. So no matter what, every student gets at least 2 push ups???
Also, for pacer example…if a student misses on lap 14 and then doesn’t make 15…do they get a score of 13, 14, or 15?
Ben Landers says
Seeing students everyday would be great, 25 minutes seems like such a short window though.
Thanks for sharing your tips!
Not sure what the “official” answer would be, you could reference the Fitnessgram Guide at the links above.
I always score the test by the completed laps/pushups before that 2nd mistake. SO if they are doing Pacer and make their 2nd mistake on 15, I would give them a 14, since they were unable to complete 15 laps.
On the flip side, if they have zero mistakes and stop on the line at 14, I also give them a 14, because they completed 14 laps.
So they get credit for the reps they complete before they make their 2nd mistake.