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The Canada Fitness Award struck fear into the hearts of many British Columbia kids

The Canada Fitness Badge was a program that ran from 1970 to 1992. Ted Field / Global News

I was digging around in my basement recently and found a shiny old patch from my elementary school days.

I posted a picture of it on Twitter and asked, “Does this cause pride or anxiety?”

It was my one and only Canada Fitness Award.

The response was overwhelming.

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The Canada Fitness Program ran from 1970 until 1992 and was designed to get schoolchildren more interested in physical fitness.

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The idea was to have children participate in a series of fitness tests.

These embroidered patches were the reward.

There was gold, silver, bronze, and for the elite, the Award of Excellence patch that came with a certificate signed by the prime minister.

The tests included situps, a shuttle run, a longer distance run, a standing long jump and the dreaded flexed-arm hang.

Click to play video: 'Lifelong fitness'
Lifelong fitness

While some people who responded to the tweet felt pride, many felt anxiety just seeing the patch again.

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The childhood trauma of being lined up and tested when fitness was not a forte had a lasting impact.

Some said the program made them hate fitness for life.

There was also a participation pin that everyone got.

For me, it was a sad reminder that you came up just short of a bronze.

I don’t remember feeling shame, but decided to start my own primary school-age training program.

Fifty sit-ups in bed every morning failed to equate at test time when I found out the gym floor was not spring-loaded.

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My first flexed-arm hang lasted about five seconds but that slowly improved.

I was amazed some of the non-jocks could stay hanging on the bar forever; they were the first Ninja Warriors, where slightness and grip strength were more important than big muscles.

In my final year I managed to get a bronze.

I figured out the initial horror of the long run was not that bad,  I sort of enjoyed jogging and still do.

Maybe that is why I kept the patch.

I might even go try a flexed-arm hang, when the crime scene tape comes off the local playground.

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