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Physical fitness test for adults to be unveiled soon

Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment, Men's Health

Remember the Presidential Physical Fitness Test from way back in the day? The flexed arm hang, the sit-and-reach, the timed run, and the sit-up test? Well, a new report out of our nation's capitol states that this physical fitness test will soon be offered again -- only this time it's for adults.

The test is broken into three components: aerobic fitness, muscular strength, and flexibility.

The aerobic component consists of a 1.5-mile run or one-mile walk. The run is not recommended for those who don't already run for at least 20 minutes, three times a week. Half sit-ups (crunches) and push-ups make up the strength test. Participants must do as many sit-ups as they can in one minute, while push-ups are not timed but are instead done to failure. The bane of my elementary school PE class existence, an exercise called the sit-and-reach, is used in the test to measure flexibility.

You unfortunately won't get a nifty-looking certificate to put on your refrigerator for passing the test, but you do walk away with the knowledge of how fit you are in comparison to others who take the test. The scores from all four of the fitness tests can be entered into a special website that will be created for the test. Other information, such as age, gender, height and weight, are part of the equation to determine how you measure up against other test takers.

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The nation's most sun-smart cities

Healthy Habits, Healthy Places, Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness

Do you live in the northern part of the United States? Long winters and short summers may have you thinking that you're not at as much risk of developing skin cancer as your neighbors to your south, but health experts say that skin cancer is a nationwide problem and that people in northern states need to protect themselves too.

A recent survey done by the American Academy of Dermatology ranked 32 American cities according to how "sun smart" their citizens are. Washington, D.C. residents topped the list as being the most sun savvy, but many of the other sun smart cities -- like Tampa, Miami, and L.A. are all found in warm weather climates. Northern cities like Pittsburgh, Seattle, Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Minneapolis found themselves at the bottom of the list. Health experts believe that trend is due to people believing their geographical location protects them from the disease.

Want to test your own sun smarts? Take the AAD's survey yourself and let us know how you did!

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