By Rebecca Jones

Why do we require fitness test?

Fitness assessments provide great information for various fields. The data collected from these assessments are useful to identify young strengths and weaknesses of individuals. Accordingly, we can work on the weakness of the individual so that failure may not result in future, as well we can more appropriately enhance the strength of person so that they may achieve goals. We can then decide appropriate and deterministic working programs based on the results that we achieved from the assessment. kids fitness assessments also provide the information which determine the risk that the kid may face before conducting the recruited exercises, but assessment provide a base for it and the organized data to evaluate the kids performance and the progress throughout kids’ exercise programs.

Not only this, but You can also use the information to educate kids and their parents about their fitness Senior As well you can use this information to compared it with others of the same age and gender. So that you may check that out where you are basically lagging. Physical education (PE) teachers and school guides may use this relevant information to evaluate and design their own PE programs. Practically, assessment results may be used for the motivation for kids so that they could incorporate a more active lifestyle in order to increase their fitness and physically become more deliberated.

But unfortunately, currently there is no kids’ assessment test that is used universally, established, and practiced by all fitness professionals. Yes it is required that, now all the health institute must practice a standardized fitness assessment test appropriate for all kids, the fitness world could establish standardize data regarding kids’ fitness and performance that any trainer could employ, so that work is done in a more standardize fashion and in more organized manner. Universally, within different populations in different countries, the resulted information of the assessment are compared by different fitness professionals; and different countries may have different norms and standards for fitness evaluation; these norms allow us to grasp the knowledge about the accurate evaluation of health-related fitness trends. This may help to understand more about kids’ growth, maturation and physical activity levels.

The Tools Required for Kids’ Fitness Testing:

We do not require a lot of investment in purchasing a lot of new equipment to do fitness assessments for children. What is more required is knowledge about this field, relevant data and patience to handle kids on their work. Here is the minimum equipment required to complete all of the tests:

• scale
• stadiometer
• skin foldcaliper or other body composition tool
• spring-loaded Gulick (anthropometric) tape
• stethoscope and blood pressure cuff
• stopwatch
• metronome
• cones or a marked course
• treadmill track
• step or cycle ergo meter
• sit-and-reach box or yardstick and roll of tape
• exercise mats

Accordingly the space around you should also accommodate the things you want to accommodate in your lifestyle. Such as things and your interests. It is important to consider the environment as a basic level, especially when it comes to reduce the level of anxiety and weakness. To help kids, suggest hanging up posters or pictures of cartoon characters or athletes exercising in your basic setting. If possible and time allows you, you can also show your young each piece of equipment in advance and demonstrate how you will use it.

Eventually during the actual assessment, it is recommended to take all measurements standing at the child’s side rather than bending down to the child’s level, as measurement error is more prone when the tester is cramped or crouched. In this case, you should ask the child to stand on stable platform so that child may manage to be at your level. Should always try to have a parent or co-worker present in the room while taking measurements on a child, to avoid any situation that could be considered inappropriate. Parent nearby can also reduce the child’s anxiety during testing, which will enhance and improve the validity of the test results.

Youth Fitness Testing Protocols

There are two best and most widely used testing programs for kids they are:

FITNESS GRAM program

President’s Challenge program.

Most fitness professionals use one or the other, or a combination of the two, as their assessment of choice.

Although, the tests associated with these two programs are more or less similar, but the interpreted result/ information of assessment may differ considerably. The major difference between the two programs is that the President’s Challenge program focuses more on skill-related testing, whereas the FITNESS GRAM assessment is more health-related.

– Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing, reading and travelling. Besides this she is fond of luxury cars and wishes to own a SSC Tuatara one day.