We must have our share of them right? I did at least!

Here's mine-OK you know that mile run we have to do - the Presidential fitness test I think? Well the phys ed dept thought it would give us further incentive to keep running if the kids who finished the mile run on the outdoor track would sit on the bleachers and CLAP every time the people still running passed by them. OK my mile was usually like 15 min and I heard that you can power walk a 13 min mile
Uh the claps had the opposite affect-by then I was so slow that the bleachers were crowded, clapping away as I trudged on. AH no fun haha. =)
And I couldn't do a single proper pushup.
Oh and we also had to take a swim test too. Part of it was treading for 1 minute. Well I could do that but I had no more energy to move beyond that and I began to realize that I was going to tread and then sink. So I panicked at the last second, and without giving her a warning, I grabbed the shoulder of my All American swim team classmate and she "led me to shore"

All I remember about my HS gym classes is doing anything and everything to worm my way out of them. I was always so self-conscious that I dreaded each and every gym class!

The cruel memories this brings up.
Whenever I hear "Classical Gas" playing it takes me back to Jr High School since we did aerobics to it before aerobics was even a word in my vocabulary. Guess that teacher was ahead of her time.
The two meanest memories is when they would test how flexible you are. I could make my hands go way pass my feet and they insisted it couldn't be done with my "big gut". Yet they were seeing it with their own eyes and the other was when I actually did the full mile without walking (It was a very very slow jog) and being called a lair when I finished.
Oh the joys of gym class.

Ugh the President Fitness Test. I would pretend to trip and fall so I could avoid doing the mile. I remember my gym teacher getting pissed whenever I did and I would get in trouble. It's like, WE NEVER DO THIS IN GYM, HOW CAN YOU EXPECT US TO MAGICALLY RUN A MILE?

Gym class was awesome in high school though. I went to an all girls school so I didn't have to compete with the boys. A lot of times gym class was just us having fun playing some game like kickball. I have always had a strong kick (thank you, years of soccer playing) so people wanted me on their team

Holy moses, I used to DREAD that Presidential physical fitness test every year. I had no problem with anything except running the mile, but I would be sick to my stomach with anxiety for months beforehand over having to run. I was relatively fit in other ways at the time (I was a varsity diver throughout high school and had lots of flexibility and strength), but I hated, hated, hated running, and I was terrible at it. Miserable. That's why I find it so funny that I choose to run now, and even odder that I actually love it. Who knew THAT would ever happen???

The other thing I hated was the annual square dancing in gym class. I'm still not sure what we actually got out of that!

I do remember loving playing floor hockey though (really fun to be encouraged to be aggressive for a change!), and the cross-country skiing in the winter.

I used to have to run 3 km every gym class for the last two years of high school (and for some reason I never got better at it). Once I actually threw up from pushing myself too hard, and at least half the time I felt like I was having a heart attack. The worst part was that I was so embarrassed about breathing heavily and being in pain that I tried to control my behaviour...which made it worse. My teacher was always yelling at me and made it clear she didn't think highly of me, I guess she just thought I was lazy. What really got to me is that I always did my best and always participated even though I dreaded gym class but I was always singled out as being the worst!

One day she had yelled at me so much that at one point, in front of the whole class, I started crying and yelled at her to leave me alone and asked her why she was always on my back (I have no idea if this expression translates from French). That was probably my worst gym class moment.

Confession: When I got to goal, I re-took the entire President's Physical Fitness Test, just to prove I could test in normal range for my age. We also regularly did a 2.4 mile run out to a local bridge and back, called the "Bridge Run"...yeah, I drove to my hometown and did that, too, under the time they called "good" back in HS.

I was both fat and had bad knees, which my gym teachers thought was just an excuse because I was fat (two knee surgeries later, I'm pretty sure they were wrong, but hey, what do I know?). Once I got a doc note, I was able to just walk around the track for most PE periods. But I still couldn't get out of those damned fitness tests.

Oh gosh, I was the last one in my class to finish the mile run around the gym (it was more like walking) and everyone was sitting on the floor watching me. I was so humilated.
I was also the last one picked for teams when we played basketball or volleyball.
They would always put me on as guard on this one particular girl who was a lot faster than me. Man, how I hated that.

These gym classes sound awful, we never had to do anything like that at my school! Definitely have an embarrassing gym glass story to share though! I bent down to pick up a ball in a tennis lesson and was so large that I ripped my pants - everybody could see my underwear. I ended up having to tie my jumper around my waist to hide it, as the teacher wouldn't unlock the changing rooms so that I could put my regular uniform back on never could understand why she disliked me so - I always tried my best!

I hated gym class because I am rather uncoordinated and suck at ball sports because I'm not that great with hand/eye coordination. Being really far sighted and having amblyopia will do that. OTOH, I did ride my bike around, go to the park and do monkey bars, etc. a lot. I remember in grade 7 or 8 doing some fitness test that involved pushups., among other things and getting an excellent on the push ups section. Several people refused to believe me because they were good at ball sports and got a lower score.

Add me to the vomiting group!

I was always fat/fit, playing volleyball, basketball and doing track and field. But I was a lousy, heavy, slow runner and I just hated it. My gym teacher one year (mrs. wiles, still remember her) decided I would be her pet project to get to run a mile in under 10 minutes. So she ran with me, not letting me stop to walk or slow down. I crossed the finish line at 9:40, and promptly vomited on my sneakers in front of the whole class.

Good idea, Mrs. Wiles!

The terrible terrible gym shorts!!!! They were maroon, made from towling fabric, and they looked like diapers as they had no legs to them! I can't imagine they would be allowed to wear them today

Ugh, I had erased that from my memory. The squat thrusts and the sit ups, and the volley ball where I always got smacked by the ball. Our uniforms were light blue stiff cotton with snaps down the front. And shorts that had elastic along the bottom of the leg - they looked like those diaper trainer pants kids wear. And the gym was located so everyone in the school could look down from their floors and watch And the teacher was tough and never smiled - just blew her whistle over and over. And then in the locker room the 'developed' girls would parade around and the rest of us would almost want to put our uniforms on over our gym clothes because we didn't want to get undressed....

I think I need to lie down.....

Wow. After reading everyone's posts, I have so much to say.

For starters, I was and still am a regular sized person. I became a gym teacher as an adult.

That said, my friend, who was on the gymnastic team, and I, during the presidential fitness testing, would cheat.

I am lanky but can run well. She is short but had amazing flexibility. We had a class of 890. 6 gym teachers. We knew that there was a make up day if you missed one of the tests. She she and I would skip gym on the days we sucked at one event. We would go to the make up day and I'd say I was her and she'd say she was me. I ran the mile for her. She did the sit and reach for me. (she got the better end of the deal, admittedly) so that we both always won the Presidential Fitness patch every year of High School.

I think of that and laugh. Those patches mean NOTHING now and really never did. As athletes, though, I suppose we would feel shameful if we didn't earn them. Being teen agers, we didn't care that we never actually earned them anyway. LOL

When I was teaching gym, I always trained for the test. I really hope that none of my students can report the same memories listed here. I tried SO hard to be empathetic and train kids rather than spring it on them and have them degraded publicly.

Spring forward to now. A gym member where I work suggested I have an in-gym competition (for those interested only) that we do a "can you beat an 8th grader) in the 5 areas of the Prez fitness testing.

I think now that I won't. Might need to bring in therapists if we do! LOL

I'm sorry you guys had sucky gym teachers. I really hope that the current teachers have changed their ways.

I do know that they no longer do the Prez Fitness challeng like they used to.

Presidential fitness test sounds pretty crap alright, we didn't have that but I supppose we had something similar. In first year (start of our version of high school, age 13) I remember one class where we had to run up and down the gym until we couldn't anymore. So we all set off in a line doing this and I'm not sure exactly how many times I ran but I was the first to drop out. I really really tried to keep going but I would just have gotten sick so I sat down. I remember how terrible I felt and I remember the girl who ran for the longest (100+ times more than me) was a ***** haha

When being picked for sports I wasn't always last but often very close to it. One day we were playing basketball and I was really good and scored from pretty far away from the net. Everyone was just amazed and turned around and this girl from the basketball team asked me if I wanted to join. I declined. She had been pretty shitty to me before too and I had no desire to be her friend or help out her team.