Boy Scouts of America

Personal Fitness Merit Badge

Eagle Scout insignia Eagle Required

Personal Fitness
Merit Badge

Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge Hub

Boy Scouts of America
Merit Badge Hub

PersonalFitness

Personal Fitness Merit Badge Overview

Personal fitness is an individual effort and desire to be the best one can be. Regardless of their current levels of personal fitness, in the twelve weeks it will take Scouts to complete the athletic requirements for this merit badge, they will be in better shape, feel better about themselves, have more energy, and gain self-confidence in their overall abilities.
Personal-Fitness_MB-overview

Personal Fitness Merit Badge Requirements

The requirements will be fed dynamically using the scout book integration 84
If meeting any of the requirements for this merit badge is against the Scout's religious convictions, the requirement does not have to be done if the Scout's parents and the proper religious advisors state in writing that to do so would be against religious convictions. The Scout's parents must also accept full responsibility for anything that might happen because of this exemption.
1. Do the following:
  • (a) Before completing requirements 2 through 9, have your health-care practitioner give you a physical examination, using the Scout medical examination form. Explain the following:
  • (1) Why physical exams are important
  • (2) Why preventive habits (such as exercising regularly) are important in maintaining good health, and how the use of tobacco products, alcohol, and other harmful substances can negatively affect your personal fitness
  • (3) Diseases that can be prevented and how
  • (4) The seven warning signs of cancer
  • (5) The youth risk factors that affect cardiovascular health in adulthood
  • (b) Have a dental examination. Get a statement saying that your teeth have been checked and cared for. Tell how to care for your teeth.
2. Explain to your merit badge counselor verbally or in writing what personal fitness means to you, including
  • (a) Reasons for being mentally, physically, socially, and spiritually fit
  • (b) Reasons for being fit in all components.
  • (c) What it means to be physically healthy
  • (d) What it means to be socially healthy
3. With your counselor, answer and discuss the following questions:
  • (a) Are you living in such a way that your risk of preventable diseases is minimized?
  • (b) Are you immunized and vaccinated according to the advice of your healthcare provider and the direction of your parent(s)/guardian(s)?
  • (c) Are you free from habits relating to poor nutrition and the use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and other practices that could be harmful to your health?
  • (d) What are the advantages to getting a full night's sleep?
  • (e) Define a nutritious, balanced diet and why it is important.
  • (f) Do you participate in a regular exercise program or recreational activities?
  • (g) What are you doing to demonstrate your duty to God?
  • (h) Do you spend quality time with your family and friends in social and recreational activities?
  • (i) Do you support family activities and efforts to maintain a good home life?
  • (j) Do you carry out daily activities without noticeable effort? Do you have extra energy for other activities?
  • (k) Are you free from habits relating to poor nutrition and the use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and other practices that could be harmful to your health?
  • (l) Do you participate in a regular exercise program or recreational activities?
  • (m) Do you sleep well at night and wake up feeling ready to start the new day?
  • (n) Are you actively involved in the religious organization of your choice, and do you participate in its youth activities?
4. Explain the following about physical fitness:
  • (a) The areas of physical fitness
  • (b) Your weakest and strongest area of physical fitness
  • (c) The need to have a balance in the four areas of physical fitness
  • (d) How a program like the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition can lead to lifelong healthful habits
  • (e) How the areas of personal fitness relate to the Scout Law and Scout Oath
5. Explain the following:
  • (a) The importance of good nutrition
  • (b) What good nutrition means to you
  • (c) How good nutrition is related to the other components of personal fitness
  • (d) How to maintain a healthy weight
6 Before doing requirements 7 and 8:
  • (a) Complete the aerobic fitness, flexibility and muscular strength tests as described in the Personal Fitness merit badge pamphlet. Record your results and identify those areas where you feel you need to improve.
  • (b) Keep track of what you eat and drink for three days. Identify three healthy eating goals you want to work on.
7. Outline a comprehensive 12-week physical fitness program using the results of your fitness tests. Be sure your program incorporates the endurance, intensity, and warm-up guidelines discussed in the Personal Fitness merit badge pamphlet. Before beginning your exercises, have the program approved by your counselor and parents.
8. Complete the physical fitness program you outlined in requirement 7. Keep a log of your fitness program activity (how long you exercised; how far you ran, swam, or biked; how many exercise repetitions you completed; your exercise heart rate; etc.). Keep a log of your weekly healthy eating goals. Repeat the aerobic fitness, muscular strength, and flexibility tests every four weeks and record your results. After the 12th week, repeat all of the required activities in each of the three test categories, record your results, and show improvement in each one. Discuss how well you met your healthy eating goals over these 12 weeks. Discuss the meaning and benefit of your experience, and describe your long-term plans regarding your personal fitness.
9. Find out about three career opportunities in personal fitness. Pick one and find out the education, training, and experience required for this profession. Discuss what you learned with your counselor, and explain why this profession might interest you.

Get the Personal Fitness Merit Badge Pamphlet

Personal fitness is an individual effort and desire to be the best one can be.

Discover more about "Personal Fitness"

For many Scouts, the Personal Fitness merit badge is one of the last speed bumps — or roadblocks — on the journey to the Eagle Scout Award. In the hands of an effective merit badge counselor, however, it can be more of an on-ramp to a lifetime of better health. Marianne King is one of those counselors. The owner of Marianne King’s Fitness for Life in Pittsburgh has taught the badge for more than a decade. While many of her Scouts have been athletes, she’s perhaps most proud of the Scout with attention-deficit disorder who discovered he could focus better after completing the badge’s 12-week fitness program. “For me, that was an outstanding change for him,” she says. “It wasn’t just, ‘OK, I got a little muscle.’ It was, ‘I was able to feel better mentally.’ ” Connecting Mind and Body The mind-body connection is important, but it’s often overlooked, says Dan Smith, another veteran Personal Fitness counselor. “Oftentimes — and this is true not only with the kids but with some of the leaders — they think that Personal Fitness merit badge is Physical Fitness merit badge,” says Smith, an Eagle Scout and assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri. “It’s important for me from the get-go to educate them about the fact that this isn’t just about physical fitness. This is about physical health; it’s about spiritual fitness; it’s about social engagement; it’s about the total person.” One way to emphasize the holistic nature of fitness is to introduce the six dimensions of wellness defined by Dr. Bill Hettler in the 1970s. (They are occupational, spiritual, emotional, physical, social and intellectual.) That’s what Rick Armstrong does. A lecturer in kinesiology at the University of Rhode Island, Armstrong shows how the dimensions of wellness fit together. “One of them is just an individual piece. You really need all of them to come together to be whole and healthy,” he says. Honesty: The Best Policy Whether he’s teaching Scouts or college students, Armstrong likes to show two pictures of actor Hugh Jackman. In one, a still from The Wolverine, Jackman looks “ripped beyond belief.” In the other, a shot from US Weekly, Jackman looks far more ordinary — even a little flabby. Armstrong’s point: “These actors and actresses specifically train for the instance when they’re taking the picture or they’re in the movie. They exercise and they maintain their fitness, but they’re not going to look like that throughout an entire year.” Moreover, the people who show up on the covers of fitness magazines work a lot harder than the average Scout is likely to. “If you want to look like that, it’s probably more work than you’ve ever done in your life,” Armstrong says. Working out is not a waste of time, however. “That doesn’t mean you’re going to look like these people. But by being physically active and exercising, you’re going to have these health benefits for the long term,” he says. Your Mileage Might Vary Smith agrees that major fitness gains might be elusive, but Scouts should see some results if they work hard. He thinks Scouts should register improvements in most, if not all, of the badge’s fitness tests over 12 weeks. “What we’ll typically see the biggest change in is their overall mile time. We see some strength changes, too,” he says. Since six-pack abs are unlikely, Smith emphasizes to Scouts that the badge is more about future quality of life than current results — which he admits is a challenge with 13-year-olds who can’t always see past their next meal. “They’re not really focused on long-term stuff, but I think the process of the merit badge itself helps many of them to come to the realization that these things make a significant difference,” he says. Variety Is the Spice of Life King believes a Scout’s biggest challenge lies in setting up an exercise program and documenting his results. She works with each Scout to develop an appropriate program, helping him select options from various categories, including cardiovascular and strength training. “This is my passion, my business,” she says. “I can bring a little more to the table for them.” She also emphasizes that Scouts don’t have to stick with the same set of exercises for 12 weeks. (Requirement 8 mandates the same fitness tests throughout the 12-week period — not the same exercises.) “You can’t do the same thing over and over again expecting different results,” she says. “We talk about that; we talk about how the body needs different challenges.” King also offers her Scouts an Excel spreadsheet they can use for recordkeeping, but they’re welcome to use a notebook or anything else. King’s spreadsheet includes space for weight and reps for strength training and type, time, distance and intensity for cardiovascular activities. A Scout Is … Despite her interest in physical fitness, King also spends a good bit of time on requirement 4d, in which the Scout must explain how personal fitness relates to the Scout Law and Scout Oath. Many are surprised by the deep connections. “They’re kind of shocked,” she says. “When they can apply it to what they say every week in Scouts, it hits home a little bit more.” And when it hits home, perhaps they realize that the Personal Fitness merit badge is less about Eagle and more about life.

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Bray Barnes

Director, Global Security Innovative
Strategies

Bray Barnes is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award, Silver
Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Learning for Life Distinguished
Service Award. He received the Messengers of Peace Hero award from
the royal family of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and he’s a life member of
the 101st Airborne Association and Vietnam Veterans Association. Barnes
serves as a senior fellow for the Global Federation of Competitiveness
Councils, a nonpartisan network of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and
national laboratory directors. He has also served as a senior executive for the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, leading the first-responder program
and has two U.S. presidential appointments

David Alexander

Managing Member Calje

David Alexander is a Baden-Powell Fellow, Summit Bechtel Reserve philanthropist, and recipient of the Silver Buffalo and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the founder of Caljet, one of the largest independent motor fuels terminals in the U.S. He has served the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association, Teen Lifeline, and American Heart Association. A triathlete who has completed hundreds of races, Alexander has also mentored the women’s triathlon team at Arizona State University.

Glenn Adams

President, CEO & Managing Director
Stonetex Oil Corp.

Glenn Adams is a recipient of the Silver Beaver, Silver Antelope, Silver Buffalo, and Distinguished Eagle Scout Award. He is the former president of the National Eagle Scout Association and established the Glenn A. and Melinda W. Adams National Eagle Scout Service Project of the Year Award. He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil, gas, and energy fields, including serving as a president, owner, and CEO. Adams has also received multiple service awards from the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers.