Correlating Musculoskeletal Exercise with the FITNESSGRAM Test Standards

Abstract

The FITNESSGRAM test is the most broadly utilized wellness evaluation and instrument to report the strength of understudies in physical education classes. It has been a mandated fitness assessment for students in California in every other grade from fifth to ninth. While the main purpose of the Fitnessgram is to determine whether the student is already in decent fitness for their age group. There has been a lack of research comparing students to baseline standards of upper body muscular endurance exercises. A convenience sample of male and female students in their senior year of high school was examined in order to determine if healthy habits lead to larger numerical results. The experimental design involved observing students' completion of four exercises (shoulder stretch, trunk lift, curl-up, and modified pull-up) compared to the baseline standards of the Fitnessgram as well as to similar individuals in the sample. The results of the pre-test questionnaire and experiment led to a cause and effect relationship where the students from a suburban high school that participated in at least one hour of physical activity exceeded/ met the standards of the FITNESSGRAM upper body scores, it proved my hypothesis to be false. This suggests a positive relationship between the hours of physical activity and health. This study increases the current body of knowledge of FITNESSGRAM testing, allowing for a basis of further research.