Your Fitness Quotient

I'm sure you've all heard of the IQ and know it stands for intelligence quotient. It's supposed to be a measure of intelligence. Probably you've taken IQ tests, although you may not have known it, so that your school would have some idea of how bright you are.

The experts aren't all in agreement that IQ tests are all that accurate, but they apparently do provide at least a rough measure of intelligence. In theory, at least, your IQ score won't very much from childhood to adulthood.

Maybe you can't do much about your IQ, but there's another kind of test in which your own efforts will raise your score. I'll call it your "FQ" - your Fitness Quotient. By regular, vigorous exercise, and by having good health habits, you can lift your FQ score many points.

In doing the fitness tests for the Physical Fitness skill award and the Personal Fitness merit badge, you establish your present FQ score. If your scores on those tests are just about average or below, I suggest you make up your mind to raise them much higher. All it takes is a decision to do it, and then - most important - following through on the exercises and health habits that will do the trick.

If you do that, by the end of the summer your Fitness Quotient will be much higher than it is now.