Physical Education in History:
"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ~ Marcus Garvey
A Brief History of the Bizarre and Sadistic Presidential Fitness Test
By Phil Edwards@PhilEdwardsInc[email protected] Apr 24, 2015, 11:10am EDT
If you're of a certain age, a few phrases might give you nightmarish flashbacks: flexed-arm hang. Shuttle run. Sit and reach.
Those are just a few of the torturous exercises from the Presidential Fitness Test, the physical-fitness gantlet for middle- and high-school kids in the United States. It was finally retired after the 2012–'13 school year. But even though the Presidential Fitness Test is now a historical relic, questions linger about why we were ever forced to do it in the first place.
It all began when two rock-climbing pioneers scared Dwight D. Eisenhower into creating a new fitness regimen.
Continue reading........
By Phil Edwards@PhilEdwardsInc[email protected] Apr 24, 2015, 11:10am EDT
If you're of a certain age, a few phrases might give you nightmarish flashbacks: flexed-arm hang. Shuttle run. Sit and reach.
Those are just a few of the torturous exercises from the Presidential Fitness Test, the physical-fitness gantlet for middle- and high-school kids in the United States. It was finally retired after the 2012–'13 school year. But even though the Presidential Fitness Test is now a historical relic, questions linger about why we were ever forced to do it in the first place.
It all began when two rock-climbing pioneers scared Dwight D. Eisenhower into creating a new fitness regimen.
Continue reading........
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Bonnie Prudent testing in 1955 President Dwight D . Eisenhower President John F. Kennedy President H. W. Bush and
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Promoting Physical Education
Diocletian (Dio) Lewis
1823 - 1866
- Did more to promote Physical Education than any other single individual
- Wanted the feeble, old and fat, frail and women to have a system they could use
- Opened the Normal Institute of Physical Education in Boston
- Invented bean bags and wooden dumbbells
- Also used music to enhance his exercises
JANUARY 1, 1820 Physical Education
1820-- schools focused on gymnastics, hygiene training and care and development of the human body. In Europe. Physical education programs expanded within most of the emerging nations of Europe. The first modern physical education movement, which was centered on physical fitness, came in the form of gymnastics programs becoming especially prevalent in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Great Britain. Source: www.timetoast.com/timelines/history-of-physical-education--5 
Hoover-Ball The medicine ball has long been considered one of the “four horsemen of fitness”. The other three include the dumbbell, Indian club and wand. Medicine balls became extremely popular toward the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The term medicine ball was officially added to the English dictionary in 1895. The famous Greek physician and philosopher, Hippocrates, had his patients use them for rehabilitation and health benefits. Hence the name “medicine” ball. In the early 1930’s, President Hoover's personal physician, Admiral Joel T. Boone, invented a game called, “Hoover-Ball,” to help the President stay physically fit. It was basically the game of Newcombe except using medicine balls. It was played on a tennis court with 2-4 players per team. Points were scored by not returning the ball to the other side or the proper place on the other side. Often, the President’s cabinet members played with him earning the nickname the “Medicine Cabinet”. Herbert Clark Hoover was an American engineer, businessman, and politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933. |
Bonnie Prudden (January 29, 1914 – December 11, 2011) was an American physical fitness pioneer, expert rock climber and mountaineer. Her report to Eisenhower on the unfitness of American children as compared with their European counterparts led to the formation of the President's Council on Youth Fitness. Prudden authored 16 books on physical fitness and Myotherapy for all ages and abilities including two best sellers, How to Keep Slender and Fit After Thirty (1961) and Pain Erasure: The Bonnie Prudden Way (1980). She produced six exercise albums, hosted the first regular exercise spots on national television, had a syndicated television show, and wrote a column for Sports Illustrated. Schools, prisons, summer camps, factories, hospitals, clubs, YMCAs, universities, geriatric homes and facilities for the physically and emotionally challenged all used and benefited from the many physical fitness programs she provided for them. Prudden also designed the first fitness fashions and developed numerous pieces of exercise equipment that could be built in the average garage and used by the family. She also developed Bonnie Prudden Myotherapy in 1976. "A method of relaxing muscle spasm, improving circulation, and alleviating pain. Pressure is applied, using elbows, knuckles, or fingers, and held for several seconds to defuse 'trigger points.' The success of this method depends upon the use of specific corrective exercises of the freed muscles." Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Prudden 
Titanic's Gymnasium If first class passengers wished to keep fit during their long cruise, they had easy access to the Titanic’s gymnasium. For an ocean liner of its time, having a gym with its own electric camel, electric horse, cycling machine and rowing machine was a true innovation. The gym’s physical educator, Mr. Thomas McCauley would supervise the passengers, who were required to pay one shilling per session. The gym was open according to the following schedule: Ladies 9:00 am - midday Gentlemen 2:00 - 6:00 pm Children 1:00 - 3:00 pm 
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