PURPOSE: A decline in fitness levels of both children and young adults has been reported over the last two decades. The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent this claim is true, and which components of fitness may be involved in this decline. METHODS: Researchers examined several components of fitness, including estimated cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, percent body fat, and body max index (BMI) during 1999. Subjects for the original study were 72 college females enrolled in general education fitness classes. The assessment was repeated at the same university in 2019 with 69 college females, also enrolled in general education fitness classes. During both time periods, students were assessed at the beginning of the course using the Queens College Step Test to estimate cardiorespiratory fitness, the YMCA bench press test to assess muscular fitness, and 3-site skinfolds to estimate percent body fat. Height and weight were measured to calculate BMI. Data were analyzed using independent measures t-tests to evaluate differences between the 1999 and 2019 groups. Participants were also categorized as normal weight/overweight and obese/nonobese, and Pearson chi-square evaluated significant differences in those categories from 1999 to 2019. RESULTS: Participants were significantly higher in percent fat (25.45 ± 0.72%) in 2019 than in 1999 (22.97 ± 0.71%; p=0.0149). Performance on the YMCA bench press test decreased in 2019 (11.78 ± 9.48 reps) compared with the same test in 1999 (23.7 ± 9.37 reps; p<0.0001). BMI was statistically the same from 1999 to 2019 (22.79 ± 0.43 kg/m2 in 1999 vs. 22.90 ± 0.44 in 2019; p=0.86), as was estimated VO2 max in ml/kg/min (35.72 ± 0.42 in 1999 vs. 36.20 ± 0.43 in 2019; p=0.4258). Although BMI was statistically the same during both years, the percent of students who were obese (BMI > 30) increased from 2 out of 72 (2.78%) in 1999 to 5 out of 69 (7.24%) in 2019. According to the Pearson chi-square test, this was not a significant difference in BMI classification (p=0.2682). CONCLUSIONS: According to this study, college females have increased in percent body fat and decreased in muscular fitness in the past 20 years.