Young Spuds Growing Into Couch Potatoes : Fitness: There’s time to reverse the trend. San Diego youngsters, who fared poorly on statewide fitness tests, can rediscover the joy of good health.

In what should rank as one of the great local ironies of our time, fitness-crazed San Diego County is raising a generation of future couch potatoes.

Results of statewide fitness tests released last week confirmed the sad fact that our children are weaker, flabbier and less limber than they should be. They tire out faster, too.

In a community that has elevated physical fitness to near-religious stature, how can that be? Didn’t Sports Illustrated magazine call San Diego “the fitness capital of the nation?”

If we take a minute to think about it, the reasons are actually very clear:

* As school funding deteriorated over the last dozen years, Physical Education teachers vanished from most elementary schools. P.E. instruction was left to teachers who also cover art, music and health, in addition to academic subjects, in the nation’s most crowded classrooms. Other states with nowhere near the number of fitness proponents have P.E. specialists at every school.

Secondary physical education class sizes are too large, with an average of 50 students.

* Neighborhoods have changed. Streets that once served as playing fields for countless games are now too busy. Fear of crime has caused parents to restrict their children’s outdoor playtime.

* Television and computer/video games have replaced outdoor play in the afternoons of our young people. Our children have lost the joy of movement.

There are other reasons, but rather than recite them, let’s ask this question: What are we going to do about it?

Our schools must realize that teaching students to be physically fit should not be merely an option. Fitness testing is already mandated by the state. Physical education should be a basic requirement, because without it every other aspect of a child’s life is compromised.

Students are better learners when they’re fit. Stress is diminished, self-esteem enhanced. Pent-up nervous energy that can spark discipline problems can be put to good use in a well-run physical education program.

This is particularly important at the elementary level. That’s where exercise habits are formed. Once established, they’re much tougher to change.

Even with an outstanding physical education program in place, there is only so much a teacher can do during the normal school day. The drive to improve academic achievement is not going to change, and it shouldn’t. What that means is that schools need to provide students and parents with suggestions for home activities.

A regularly scheduled family walk (or jog, or bike ride, or skate around the block) is easy. As endurance increases, it can be lengthened. Those new to fitness programs should make it easy on themselves by setting attainable goals and gradually increasing their workouts, eventually reaching 20-25 minutes four days a week. Before long, they’ll discover the very real “natural high” that keeps ordinary people on regular workout programs.

Stretching exercises that provide flexibility can be done right on the living room floor, and they’re an essential part of anyone’s fitness program. Parents can make a game of it: Who can hold that stretch the longest? Again, the more stretching you and your children do, the better you’ll feel.

Upper-body strength, glaringly absent in our young people, can be improved by any one of hundreds of different exercises. Expensive weight sets aren’t necessary. Soup cans are good weights for beginners, bleach containers filled with sand can work for the more experienced. As Bo Jackson says, “Just do it.”

It’s important that parents provide the time, space and attention for their children’s physical education activities, just as they should provide a quiet, well-lit area for academic studies. And they should track their kids’ progress just as they would monitor math or language homework.

Caring parents ensure that their children eat foods that promote fitness. Nutritious snacks like fruit and popcorn are far better than fast food.

But activity is the key. According to a 16-year study conducted by UC Berkeley, there is little difference in the caloric intake of slim and overweight children. The difference is in their activity levels. Television and computer games should be off-limits until after dinner. Daytime is the time to play and move, to get outside and exercise.

Students can’t be expected to pick up the torch themselves. Young people don’t think their bodies will ever deteriorate. But healthy lifestyles can be taught long before students understand their long-term importance. If activities are kept fun and children know their parents place importance in them, they’ll get done.

And now for a fundamental question: What happens if we don’t do anything?

A lot of things will happen and none will be good. Four out of five obese adolescents become overweight adults. Heart and lung diseases will increase, self-esteem will decrease, and productivity at the workplace will suffer.

Fortunately, none of those things need to happen. By simply committing to exercising four times a week, either in school or at home, our children will become healthy. And the beauty of it is that it’s fun. Let’s rediscover the joy of movement.