Physical fitness has been a goal of physical education from the beginning

Physical fitness has been a goal of physical education from the beginning. Some early programs have a major emphasis on fitness. Recently, lifetime fitness has become a dominant theme in Western culture, particularly in America. This has led to the advocacy and adoption of fitness curricula in physical education.

In the fitness models, the components of physical fitness are seen as the content of physical education. Students not only become more fit but also learn what the physiological basis of fitness is and what they need to do to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Fitness curricula typically utilize a lecture-laboratory approach, emphasizing the achievement of fitness goals and of knowledge goals equally. This approach has been particularly popular in high-school programs.

Most fitness curricula are strongly oriented to world Health fitness emphasizing cardiovascular performance. However, flexibility, strength development, and even cosmetic fitness all can play an important role in the fitness curriculum, especially at the high-school level.

It is no longer unusual to see well-equipped weight-training facilities in high schools. Some high schools even have small exercise laboratories where students can do assignments on body composition and other forms of fitness testing.

For most physical educators, physical fitness is still a component of a well-rounded physical education curriculum. Thus, one can often find a fitness unit, similar to the approach described, in middle-school and high-school programs.

Often, in the high school, one entire semester of year is devoted to fitness, with other parts often physical- education requirement devoted to sports.

In some states, however, the laws supporting physical education are weak, requiring only one year of physical education for high-school graduation. In situations such as this, the fitness model sometimes becomes the entire curriculum.

In Australia and in parts of Canada a daily fitness program has been created for elementary schools, separate from the instructional physical-education program.

The program was developed in recognition of the need for regular periods of exercise at intensity appropriate for producing and maintaining an adequate level of health fitness.

What is interesting about this approach is that is has separated the fitness curriculum from the remainder of the physical- education curriculum and has accorded it special status.