The FitnessGram Pacer Test

About

The FitnessGram Pacer Test refers to a series of Vine remix videos containing an audio clip from the FitnessGram Pacer Test instructions, a multi-stage fitness test which estimates an athlete’s maximum oxygen uptake.

Origin

According to The official Pacer Test handbook,^[1] the Pacer test was originally created in 1982 by Leger and Lambert, claiming it to be an effective and fun way to measure the cardio abilities of children.

In January 2016, iFunny^[3] user Trollvahkin posted a Vine clip featuring the character Doctor Terror playing a piano in the freemium mobile strategy game Boom Beach accompanied by the audio from the FitnessGram test. Over the next three months, the post gained over 2,200 likes and 150 comments.

Spread

On January 24th, 2016, a Vine was uploaded featuring a clip of a bus crash dubbed with the audio from the “pushup section” of the FitnessGram Pacer Test, accumulating more than 40,000 loops, 1,000 likes and 100 comments in three months (shown below, left). Three days later, Redditor NickLent posted a transcript of the introduction audio to the /r/copypasta^[5] subreddit. On February 17th, Viner Bringmetheidek posted a clip of rapper Eminem competing in a rap battle from the 2002 drama film 8 Mile with the introduction audio from the Pacer Test (shown below, right). In two months, the Vine received over 26,000 loops, 1,100 likes and 700 revines.

On March 27th, Viner Austin Burke posted a clip from the animated television show Spongebob Squarepants with the Pacer Test audio (shown below, left). On April 1st, Viner mason chill out! posted a clip from the film “The Hunger Games”: with the FitnessGram Pacer Test audio (shown below, right). In two weeks, the video gathered upwards of 7.3 million loops, 155,000 likes and 77,000 revines.

On April 6th, Viner HowiEazy posted a short comedy sketch in which a baby’s first words are the introduction to the FitnessGram Pacer Test (shown below, left). On April 10th, Viner Brandon Bowen posted a skit in which a dying grandfather’s last words are the Pacer Test audio (shown below, right). Over the next two weeks, the videos gained more than two million and 1.6 million loops respectively.

Search Interest

External References