@heartofberries Omg. US here. Hated gym so much. I was an obese kid and truly felt like I just got bullied for an hour during class. In high school, we did high ropes courses and I remember for almost a month, hearing my classmates daily talk about how awful it was going to be to lift me. I ended up refusing to do it and getting Cs and Ds in gym. It turns out, I’m actually pretty athletic! I lift weights, love dance, and cycling. But gym to me wasn’t about fitness, it was about humiliation.
School Fitness/Testing in your country
- Thread starter heartofberries
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- female fitness
@heartofberries US here. That test always made me panic. Especially the toe-touch test. Growing up, I was a knock-kneed toe walker. I was never good at running, and my mile time was always horrendous. I hated the test, and I hated getting C's all throughout middle school PE courses because I was a bad runner and it was a majority of our grade. In high school I became a swimmer and water polo player, but still didn't do well on the sit up test because I didn't do them right and no one ever corrected me.
I have some hope. I work at a middle school with an AWESOME PE teacher that puts a daily focus on calisthenics, form, and more lifelong exercises. She says that, yea, the sporty-er kids participate in the team sports curriculum, but what about everyone else? I love that.
I have some hope. I work at a middle school with an AWESOME PE teacher that puts a daily focus on calisthenics, form, and more lifelong exercises. She says that, yea, the sporty-er kids participate in the team sports curriculum, but what about everyone else? I love that.
@heartofberries Finnish here. We had to do 12 minute running test (cooper) and swimming test ages 13-15, but a lot of the people I have talked about this didn't have the same tests. Once we also had to do a test that included sit-ups and hanging from a bar. The test results also didn't impact the grades so much: I remember having a good grade in PE despite doing pretty poorly at everything except swimming. We were mostly graded on attitude at my school. You could get a better grade by being very fit but as long as you were trying the teachers were pretty lenient with the grades. I hated the running test because we were never taught how to pace yourself when running... Other than that PE was mostly a variety of sports that would change every week or every two weeks. Ice skating, swimming, dancing, floorball, football, orienteering.
@heartofberries I'm from Italy and did nothing like this at all. I think early in the school year in middle school we had some tests based on how well you performed on physical benchmarks but they were very easy, and the grades got dropped later in the year. PE grades in middle school were about class participation and also "theory" (basically some biology, smudges of sex ed, lessons about blood types, STDs, and I remember we spent like two months in 9th grade on AIDS). We also did "orienteering" were you were taught to read maps and had a mini competition within the school, and getting good placements gave you extra marks. I did that in HS too, where didn't do "theory" but every class began with 15 minutes of stretching led by the teacher. After that, we were sent off to walk a few rounds of the school building grounds and got to play volleyball and basket, and grades were also based on participation.
Fwiw we don't really have a school athleticism culture in Italy and only a few schools have sports team for something, most kids who do after school sports do them at dedicated sporting clubs or local parishes. It's just not a big part of students life.
Fwiw we don't really have a school athleticism culture in Italy and only a few schools have sports team for something, most kids who do after school sports do them at dedicated sporting clubs or local parishes. It's just not a big part of students life.
@heartofberries I'm from Belgium and we did two standardized tests in school: Cooper test and beep test. We didn't train for the tests during PE, we just did a variety of sports (including running). We were mostly graded on our attitude (fair play, team work, how motivated we appeared...).
@heartofberries Belgian here:
We had a mix of all different types of exercise. We got PE for 2hours a week. It used to be sort of themed, meaning that we'd cover a certain sport for a few lessons and then moved onto something else. We were graded for this during the class. Kinds of sport that we learned: gymnastics (tumbling, climbing ropes, handstands, jumping, scissor jumping etc), basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, running, sprinting, swimming (this was every month), football/soccer, some dancing once in a while. The only standardised test we had was that godawful beeptest and then a jogging test where you had to contiuously keep running for 30 minutes.
I do think it sucks we didn't do any strength training or martial arts. I wasn't flexible and had undiagnosed astma so everything was way too hard for me lol, strenght training would've suited me better. This was like 15 years ago (god I'm getting old).
We had a mix of all different types of exercise. We got PE for 2hours a week. It used to be sort of themed, meaning that we'd cover a certain sport for a few lessons and then moved onto something else. We were graded for this during the class. Kinds of sport that we learned: gymnastics (tumbling, climbing ropes, handstands, jumping, scissor jumping etc), basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, running, sprinting, swimming (this was every month), football/soccer, some dancing once in a while. The only standardised test we had was that godawful beeptest and then a jogging test where you had to contiuously keep running for 30 minutes.
I do think it sucks we didn't do any strength training or martial arts. I wasn't flexible and had undiagnosed astma so everything was way too hard for me lol, strenght training would've suited me better. This was like 15 years ago (god I'm getting old).
@heartofberries Was it Maintenance Phase? Loovveee that show
livin4christ2
New member
@heartofberries I know the podcast you’re referring to, and while I adore the hosts, I don’t believe they do as much research as they claim to. It’s a bit disappointing, though not surprising, to see XXF’ers from the countries they touted as so much more enlightened about PE saying they had the same experience we have in the US. It really seems like the hosts kind of just make it up as they go along, or speak from personal experience and then present it as facts. Interestingly/ironically, they do the same thing on the sister podcast (You’re Wrong About). I distinctly remember the dieting episode where they claimed that no scientist would stand behind CICO if you asked them, yet it’s what’s drilled into us as an effective diet. I cringed pretty hard at that statement. Off the top of my head, there were some other grossly incorrect “facts” in the Snackwells episode too.
absorbentghost
New member
@livin4christ2 Yeah I listened to the halo top episode and had to stop when they acted like subtracting fibre from your carb macro count was some sort of number trickery and not because you literally shit it out lmao
livin4christ2
New member
@absorbentghost Lmao when they were like “they trick you into thinking you’re eating a pint but it’s got air whipped into it!” I was like “so...?” Also their rant about HaloTop having more protein than regular ice cream because the company was founded by bros. 
heartofberries
New member
@livin4christ2 Yeah that's partially why I wanted to ask about that here. It can be very hard to get out of your own silo sometimes, and a fact like 'Well in Europe they focused on group calisthenics' is REALLY hard to verify to make sure you're actually talking apples to apples.
Like, when there's academic comparisons for high schoolers between countries - HS isn't mandatory in a lot of countries. Or it's split between trade & academic schools. Or both! Are you comparing scores for a country where everyone is included to a country where people who were struggling have already been "filtered" out? Etc, etc, etc.
I only just found Maintenance Phase, but I've noticed the same thing in Science Vs, and some others. And then I drive myself mental whether I'm noticing THEIR bias, or MY bias is making me reject THEIR info. And then I have to go listen to Home Cooking or something.
Like, when there's academic comparisons for high schoolers between countries - HS isn't mandatory in a lot of countries. Or it's split between trade & academic schools. Or both! Are you comparing scores for a country where everyone is included to a country where people who were struggling have already been "filtered" out? Etc, etc, etc.
I only just found Maintenance Phase, but I've noticed the same thing in Science Vs, and some others. And then I drive myself mental whether I'm noticing THEIR bias, or MY bias is making me reject THEIR info. And then I have to go listen to Home Cooking or something.
@livin4christ2 Yeah, I usually enjoy You're Wrong About but that episode cooled me a lot on it. It seems like they're more invested in making social commentaries than presenting facts, and while there's nothing wrong with taking that approach if you're upfront about it... they aren't
@heartofberries Southern Africa here (caveat: private schools). I don't recall ever having standardised fitness tests but we seem to be quite sport focused and competitive. PE lessons during the winter would be football, netball, basketball, etc, and a lot of swimming in the summer.
In my younger years we would get certificates for swimming skill. All throughout primary and secondary school we would compete in swimming and athletics against each other (school houses) as well as other schools (and a fair few students went on to compete nationally). In my high school it was mandatory to have a sport as an extra- curriculum.
Obviously there were students who hated it and did the bare minimum but I think overall it kept everyone to a decent standard of fitness.
In my younger years we would get certificates for swimming skill. All throughout primary and secondary school we would compete in swimming and athletics against each other (school houses) as well as other schools (and a fair few students went on to compete nationally). In my high school it was mandatory to have a sport as an extra- curriculum.
Obviously there were students who hated it and did the bare minimum but I think overall it kept everyone to a decent standard of fitness.
@heartofberries I loathed the Presidential Fitness Test mainly for the mile run that we had to perform. I hated running and still do. It was awful. As for the other tests (situps/pullups/sit&reach) let's just say I didn't receive the award for doing well. Test me today and I can do better (stacked up against elementary school kids, that is).
@heartofberries Hey! How good is maintenance phase haha! They are the best
@dawn16 I may have to give them another shot. I am actually in a successful maintenance phase, so I thought it would be perfect for me. But instead it was kind of triggering like they were saying you can't succeed at dieting. I can't remember the exact words.
Maybe I am actually "maintenance eating" phase lol I have maintained my weight loss for over a year
Maybe I am actually "maintenance eating" phase lol I have maintained my weight loss for over a year
@heartofberries I'm from Bavaria, Germany (education is different in each state here). For me PE was mostly playing some type of sport like football (soccer), basketball or some kind of gymnastics. It always depended on the teacher.
We did not have strict fitness tests, just the annual Bundesjugendspiele (national youth games?
) where you'd have to run, sprint, jump and throw and were kind of competing against your classmates. But no one ever took this event very serious. You'd just just get some kind of certificate (honours, winners or participation certificate). And if you were like in the top percentile of the school you could compete against students from other schools.
We mostly saw this as a day off from the usual classes!
I think we had to do sit ups maybe once or twice in the 12 years I went to school and never did any pull ups or anything similar.
Edit: Format
We did not have strict fitness tests, just the annual Bundesjugendspiele (national youth games?
) where you'd have to run, sprint, jump and throw and were kind of competing against your classmates. But no one ever took this event very serious. You'd just just get some kind of certificate (honours, winners or participation certificate). And if you were like in the top percentile of the school you could compete against students from other schools.We mostly saw this as a day off from the usual classes!
I think we had to do sit ups maybe once or twice in the 12 years I went to school and never did any pull ups or anything similar.
Edit: Format
@heartofberries I grew up in West Africa & attended a boarding school. The school year was set up into 3 terms, split into 2 half terms. Each half-term you played X sport for 6 weeks + general PE (running, stretching & bodyweight callisthenics) 2x a week.
Unless you had a medical condition to exempt you from sports, you had to participate. You couldn’t NOT participate or hide in the dorms (a prefect or house mistress would come find you).
With playing each sport for 6 weeks, you had a chance to improve (if so inclined) but it was also short enough that you could muddle through the 6 weeks & rely on better players to lead the games.
I remember I’d love playing rounders or football one half-term & loathe playing basketball or volleyball (I’m short) the next half-term. I’m still rubbish at basketball but I’m decent at football 20yrs later.
The 6 weeks culminated in inter-house matches at the end of half-term. House A competes against House B for bragging rights etc. Does anyone remember the Mallory Towers or St. Clare’s books!? My school clearly took cues from those books :-b
It’s been eye-opening reading about how 1 push-up or a 1 mile run is a goal for adults. Obviously form/time may have been poor, but most people at my secondary school could still do at least 1 of each.
There was no standardised testing but sports was a subject in report cards & you were graded for how well you performed overall each term. At the same time it wasn’t an “important grade”. You wouldn’t be held back or anything based on it.
Unless you had a medical condition to exempt you from sports, you had to participate. You couldn’t NOT participate or hide in the dorms (a prefect or house mistress would come find you).
With playing each sport for 6 weeks, you had a chance to improve (if so inclined) but it was also short enough that you could muddle through the 6 weeks & rely on better players to lead the games.
I remember I’d love playing rounders or football one half-term & loathe playing basketball or volleyball (I’m short) the next half-term. I’m still rubbish at basketball but I’m decent at football 20yrs later.
The 6 weeks culminated in inter-house matches at the end of half-term. House A competes against House B for bragging rights etc. Does anyone remember the Mallory Towers or St. Clare’s books!? My school clearly took cues from those books :-b
It’s been eye-opening reading about how 1 push-up or a 1 mile run is a goal for adults. Obviously form/time may have been poor, but most people at my secondary school could still do at least 1 of each.
There was no standardised testing but sports was a subject in report cards & you were graded for how well you performed overall each term. At the same time it wasn’t an “important grade”. You wouldn’t be held back or anything based on it.
wintermint
New member
@heartofberries From the US, that test destroyed my self esteem when I took it when I was like 11 (6th grade). We did the thing where you did a dead hang from a bar for as long as you could and all the other girls who hadn't hit puberty yet could hang for like a minute and I only lasted a few seconds and this was in front of everyone! I started trying to lose weight immediately after because I wanted to avoid humiliation during the test the next semester.