In the eyes of most people physical fitness is the same as physical education. In physical education you do exercises to develop greater physical fitness. However, is the main purpose of physical education to develop greater fitness? The answer should be no.
Physical fitness is a very important component but it is usually difficult to attain and to maintain. The main reason for this is that is that the activities you must do to attain fitness usually do not bring much pleasure or enjoyment to the participant. This includes the more popular activities such as pull-ups, sit-ups, push-ups and related exercises.
Fitness activities are usually performed individually and do not lend themselves to team or group activity. You may have many people doing the same exercise but there is no interaction between them. In contrast, if you take a look at most sports you will see that many individuals can interact and socialize during performance of the activity. Sports are usually enjoyable activities and most individuals participate for the joy and satisfaction that they receive during and after participation.
The only prerequisite to a performing in sports is to be able to execute the skills involved.The better you perform (execute) the skills the more enjoyment you receive. This is what brings you back to continuing the activities. Doing only fitness-type activities for the sake of fitness does not bring most youngsters or adults back for more.
After World War II we went through a phase of increased physical activity for fitness in physical education. It was a failure and was replaced by fun and games which was also a failure. What appears to be most successful is the teaching and learning of sports skills that can be used for multiple purposes.
Thus, teaching skills should be the main objective of physical education. For example, in the area of sports skills it should include how to better run, throw, jump, kick, hit, etc. Fitness exercises, that include exercises for strength, should be taught as a means of improving sports performance, not as an end in itself.
`Fitness for the sake of fitness is typically not a lifetime skill or habit unless it is hooked onto some other objective. This happens when fitness is used to play a game better, do a specific task more effectively at home or at work, for better health or as a means of getting greater enjoyment out of the activity in one of their life’s pursuits.