SAN MARCOS - San Marcos Middle School is taking a high-tech approach to fighting childhood obesity.

Roughly 17 percent of 2- to 19-year-olds nationwide are overweight, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In an attempt to combat obesity, the school is preparing to open a new fitness facility with 24 training bikes, 20 stationary elliptical machines - used to simulate walking or running - and other cutting-edge, workout-tracking technology.

The facility is slated for a grand opening at 8 a.m. Jan. 30.

"We've kept it top secret," said Principal Brian Randall, noting that housing such a technology-stacked fitness facility on campus is rare, especially for a middle school. "Hopefully, it'll be a pilot program for other schools in the district."

Work on the facility started at the beginning of the school year after the school received extra funding from an After School Education and Safety state grant. The grant was for creating a safe and productive environment for students after school, said Ric White, the district's director of special programs.

The grant paid for the full cost of the fitness facility - estimated at roughly $100,000 - as well as for a $45,000, 30-station computer lab, which students can use during and after school, Randall said.

The school had extra space on campus in unused trailer classrooms, which once helped accommodate 1,600 students before the opening of San Elijo Middle School in 2004. His school now has about 1,250 students, Randall said.

Targeting improvement

Dubbed "Club 49" after one of the classrooms it's housed in, the two-room facility will initially be geared toward students who have room for improvement on the statewide physical fitness test - the so-called Fitnessgram. The test is designed to measure student performance in categories such as muscle strength, endurance, flexibility and aerobic capacity, the body's ability to generate energy with the use of oxygen.

Results of the test are reported each year in grades five, seven and nine, and are based on students' performance in six tasks: curl-ups, push-ups, trunk lifts, shoulder stretches, body composition, and a 1-mile run.

Of the school's 418 seventh-graders tested in June, 30.4 percent passed all six of the fitness standards, while 0.7 percent of students achieved none of the standards, according to school documents.

In addition, 73.9 percent scored within or above what is deemed the healthy fitness zone - the level of fitness thought to offer protection against diseases that result from sedentary living - for muscle strength and endurance. In comparison, 59.1 percent of students scored in or above the zone for aerobic capacity.

"When we look at the state results for the physical fitness test, student cardiovascular strength is always an issue," said Randall. "We designed the room to focus on that area."

Because childhood obesity is a national epidemic, there's no better place than local schools to educate students about eating healthy and staying fit, he said.

"Kids are not in the same kind of shape as they were 20 years ago," said Gary Munn, the school's athletic director and physical education department chair. "More and more students are leading sedentary lifestyles and that's what we're fighting."

With both parents working these days, kids are left to the baby sitter of TV and video games, said Assistant Principal Jeff Moore. The new facility demonstrates that San Marcos Middle School is "truly interested in not only healthy brains, but healthy bodies," Moore said.

The new facility falls in line with the district's wellness policy, which promotes healthy students through nutrition education, food and beverage guidelines and physical activity.

"(Students) are developing habits now that are lifelong choices," Randall said.

Student access and tracking

Seventh- and eighth-graders will be assessed using Fitnessgram standards after they return from winter break Jan. 14, said Munn. As identified through the assessment, students who need improvement in multiple fitness areas will have class inside the new facility instead of their regular physical education class, he said. They'll use the facility for six to 12 weeks, he said.

"This is the kind of kid who is maybe resistant to P.E. because he hasn't had success in it," Munn said. "In here, because it's so monitored, they can see their growth in strength, growth in endurance and that work can make a change for them."

Students can track their progress on the elliptical machines and fitness cycles with technology usually found in health clubs, Randall said.

For example, on the elliptical machines, students will log into an interactive computer terminal with their identification number and use the same number to log into the machine they're using. Fitlinxx, a computerized system that attaches to existing fitness equipment, tracks the workouts, allowing students to monitor their mileage, calories burned, watts, time and other data.

Charts and graphs on their progress can be viewed on one of six computers in the facility or via the Web at home.

Students can plug a flash drive, a small device that stores computer information, into the cycles and later download their workout progress. The stationary bikes have built-in Cycle Peaks exercise tracking software customized to be student-friendly, Randall said.

"We are such a data-driven society … people want proof," said Moore. "This shows us that (positive) results are actually taking place."

Once their cardio workout is completed, students can move into the core training area, where they'll find what are referred to in the gym world as balance balls, yoga mats, light dumbbells and sit-up benches.

"It's an opportunity for kids to experience something that most kids would have to pay for (at a gym)," said White.

To keep kids motivated during their workouts, the facility's walls are lined with posters with phrases such as "Never Give Up" and "Believe in Yourself." The rooms are also equipped with four flat-panel TV monitors, a sound system and software that projects scenery they can ride along with onto the monitors. The idea is to make fitness fun, Randall said.

"Kids start feeling better, their self-esteem is up," he said. "Hopefully, they'll do better academically, too."

The program will probably start out with 15 to 25 students per class period, Munn said. While the physical education portion will eventually be expanded to sixth-graders, any student enrolled in the school's Boys & Girls Club after-school program has access to Club 49, Randall said. The program accommodates roughly 250 kids daily, he said.