PRESIDENT’S
CHALLENGE AWARDS
The President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports recognizes and encourages physical accomplishments through the President’s Challenge. Once designed as a conditioning program for the youth under the age of 18, the Challenge now applies to all ages and fitness levels. In previous units we discussed one of the programs, the Presidential Physical Fitness Program. In this unit we will look at the remaining three programs.
We will look at each of the three programs and see how you can continue the President’s Challenge even after you have completed this course. Hopefully, the concepts you have learned in this course will continue throughout your life. It will help you have a happy, healthy, and more productive life. If you stick with it, you will see for yourself!
Throughout the past years many Presidents have had a hand in the program’s three name changes and numerous physical activity and fitness objectives. Remember, it is not a requirement to achieve one of these awards for this course. However, if you wish to learn more about some of the President’s Challenge Awards, just go online to www.presidentschallenge.org .
The Four Program Areas
I. Presidential Active Lifestyle
Award
· Established in 2001
· Adults – Be active 30 minutes a day, five days a week, for six weeks.
· Youth under 18 – Be active at least 60 minutes a day, five days a week, for six weeks.
II. Presidential Champions
Program
· Established in 2003
· Gold — 80,000 points
· Silver — 45,000 points
· Bronze — 20,000 points
III. Presidential Physical
Fitness Award (addressed in previous units)
· Presidential — established in 1966
· National — established in 1987
· Participant — established in 1991
IV. Health Fitness Award
· Established in 1966
· Rewards are based on achieving healthy levels of physical fitness.
· Based on health-criterion standards
Presidential Active Lifestyle Award
· Established in 2001
The Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA) is a program that shows how to make and keep a commitment to
staying active. It helps you set realistic goals
to encourage regular physical activity for a
lifetime. This program is for those who are not
already active on a regular basis. This program was established in 2001
and was designed to get adults active for at least 30 minutes a day, five days
a week, for six weeks or for youth under 18 at least 60 minutes a day, five
days a week, for six weeks.
How to Get Started
1. Choose an activity.
You can take the Challenge by yourself or together with friends and family. Choose activities that you enjoy and that make you feel good. For example, it could be walking, taking an exercise class, playing a sport, or doing chores around the house.
2. Get active.
You need to meet your daily activity goal (30 minutes a day for adults/60 minutes a day for youth under 18) at least 5 days per week, for a total of 6 weeks. You can take up to 8 weeks to complete the program.
3. Track your activity.
The online activity log makes it easy for you to track the time you spend on activities. You can log your time as often as you want, in increments as short as five minutes. Below is an example of an activity log. It is similar to the one you use for this course. You can keep track of your progress on paper by making your own log like the one below.
You can also log on to the website www.presidentschallenge.org. Click Teens > Active Lifestyle > My Activity Log > How to Track your Progress > Activity Log Form to keep track of your activities on line.
You can also click here to download the Activity Log Form as a PDF Document.
4. Earn your award.
Whenever you reach a goal, the Active Lifestyle program recognizes your accomplishment with special awards. Awards are available online or by mail, fax, or phone. You can then continue earning awards in the Active Lifestyle program or move on to the next challenge, the Presidential Champions program. Everybody in the Active Lifestyle program can choose the activities they like doing. Whether it’s at home, at school, on a sports team, alone, or with friends and family, you can choose activities that are fun and make you feel good. Below is an example an Active Lifestyle Log.
Presidential Champions Program (Online Only)
· Established in 2003
The Presidential Champions Program recognizes your accomplishments with special awards. The first goal to aim for is a Bronze Award. Then you can keep going by earning a Silver Award and a Gold Award. Awards are available online, or by mail, phone, or fax. You’ll find all the program details online at www.presidentschallenge.org. This program is designed so that you earn points for the activities that you do. The Presidential Champions Program is for adults who are active more than 30 minutes a day, 5 days per week (or more than 60 minutes a day for youth under 18). There’s even a special track for athletes and others who train at more advanced levels.
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Presidential Champions
Awards |
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Gold Award |
Silver Award |
Bronze Award |
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The Gold Award is for anyone who earns 80,000 points in the Presidential Champions Program. |
The Silver Award is for anyone who earns 45,000 points in the Presidential Champions Program. |
The Bronze Award is for anyone who earns 20,000 points in the Presidential Champions Program. |
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You can join the Presidential Champions Program online www.presidentschallenge.org. Click Teens > Sign me up. Taking part in the program takes just a few simple steps:
1. Choose an activity.
Select activities that you enjoy and make you feel good. For example, you could go running, walk the dog, or participate in martial arts. You can take the Challenge by yourself or together with friends and family.
2. Get active.
Your goal is to see how many points you can earn by being active. You’ll earn points for every activity you log. Points are based on the amount of energy each activity burns. So the more active you are, the more points you’ll get.
3. Track your activity.
The online activity log makes it easy for you to track the time you spend on activities. You can log your time as often as you want, in amounts as short as 5 minutes. Although you can’t log time for activities you haven’t done yet, you can go back up to 14 days to enter past activities.
4. Earn your award.
The Presidential Champions program recognizes your accomplishments with special awards. The first goal should be a Bronze Award. Then you can keep going for Silver and Gold. Awards are available online or by mail, phone, or fax. Remember, you’ll find all the program details (including how many points are needed for each award level) online at www.presidentschallenge.org.
Health Fitness Award
• Established in 1966
Another program within the President’s Challenge is the Health Fitness
Award (HFA). This award is very
similar to the Presidential Physical Fitness Award and can be achieved if you
reach the scores for your age group on the chart below. By reaching these scores you will have attained “a healthy level of
fitness”. Most of the events of the Health Fitness Award are
the same as the physical fitness test, with the addition of a measure of body
fat, the Body Mass Index (BMI). You may
need to refer back to the previous unit “Pre-Test Part 2 Presidential Fitness Test” which
explains how to calculate your BMI.
The following items make up
the Health Fitness Award:
1. Partial Curl-Ups
2. One Mile Run/Walk (or the appropriate distance options for age)
3. V-Sit Reach or the Sit and Reach option
4. Right Angle Push-Ups or the Pull-Up option
5. Body Mass Index (BMI)
Below are the Health Fitness Award Standards. You will need to refer back to this chart in the question part of this unit.
Health Fitness Award Standards
Why Stay Active?
Your well-being depends on it. You will look and feel better, and you will have a greater positive outlook on life. That’s important! When you make staying active part of your daily life, you will have more energy; you will be a better person and a better student. Remember, it’s never too late to become active.