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According to a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately nine out of 10 U.S. high school students fail to meet national objectives for physical fitness.

The report is based on an analysis of data from the CDC's 2010 National Youth Physical Activity and Nutrition Study (NYPANS), which included height and weight measurements for a nationally representative sample of 9,701 high school students in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, along with a survey measuring their physical activity and dietary behaviors.

The survey was intended to compare students' fitness with the Healthy People 2020 public health objectives for youth physical activity participation, as follows:

1. aerobic physical activity (participation in at least 60 minutes of aerobic activity per day, seven days a week)
2. muscle-strengthening activity (muscle-strengthening activities on at least three days per week)
3. aerobic physical activity and muscle-strengthening activity combined

Among students nationwide in grades 9 through 12, the study found that 15.3 percent met the aerobic objective, 51 percent met the muscle-strengthening objective, and only 12.2 percent met the objective for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities.

More male students (18.5 percent) than female students (5.8 percent) met the combined objective for both aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, and more white students (14.1) than black students (9.7 percent) and Hispanic students (9.9 percent) did so.

Similarly, more male students (21.9 percent) than female (8.4 percent) met the objective for aerobic physical activity, and more male students (65.0 percent) than female students (36.6 percent) met the objective for muscle-strengthening activity.

According to the authors of the report, the findings should justify increased efforts to promote physical activity in young people. "Barriers to increasing youth physical activity participation include students' reluctance to participate because of low confidence levels in their physical abilities, lack of awareness of physical activity benefits, lack of family/peer support, lack of choices in physical education (PE) curriculum activities, and inadequate school/community facilities or resources for physical activity," the report states.

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