With nicer Spring weather (hopefully!) arriving soon, this is a great time to start working on the 12-week fitness program for Personal Fitness merit badge! Here is a copy of the merit badge workbook:
Focus on requirements 6-8. The first thing you need to do is complete the fitness tests outlined in requirement 6, and record your results on page 6 in your workbook. You also need to record your results in the “Initial Results” column in the chart for Requirement 8 (on page 8).
For the Sit-and-Reach test, you don’t need to build a sit-and-reach-box; there is an easy way to do this test at home. Sit on the floor at the bottom of a set of stairs, facing the stairs, and place the bottom of your feet on the vertical portion of the bottom-most stair. Then, reach forward, and have a helper use a ruler to measure how far past your toes you can hold a stretch. Keep your legs straight, and don’t bend your knees. Here is a link that explains this method:
Once you have completed the fitness tests for requirement 6, you are ready to plan out your 12-week fitness program. Make sure your program incorporates exercises/activities form all five of the categories listed in requirement 7. Here is the portion of the Personal Fitness merit badge book with some suggestions of activities, and a sample fitness program:
While the activities listed in the merit badge book are a good resource, you should choose activities and exercises that will help you improve in the areas you need to, while also being things that you would enjoy doing.
Once you have planned out your fitness plan, you are ready to rock! You can use the charts on pages 10-12 of the workbook to track what you do. You don’t need to work out every day if you don’t want to; aim for a few times a week.
IMPORTANT: during your 12-week fitness plan, you need to re-do the fitness tests that you did for requirement 6 every two weeks. Record your results in the chart on page 8, where you entered in your initial results.
If you have any questions, or want to go over some of the requirements, please contact Wes Kent (wpk611@hotmail.com). And don’t forget to CC your parent or another adult on any emails you send. Happy exercising!
