Effects of the FIT FIRST Teen Multisport Program on Adolescents' Physical Fitness and Well-Being: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
In brief
School multisport program boosts teens' shuttle-run distance by 106 meters
In a trial across 22 Danish schools, teens whose teachers delivered three 40-minute multisport lessons weekly for 40 weeks improved their shuttle-run distance by 106 meters more than controls, with modest gains in grip strength and muscle mass. Well-being did not improve; whether the fitness gains last beyond the school year remains unknown.
- Journal
- Medicine and science in sports and exercise (Q1)
- Published
- 28 September 2026
- Study design
- Randomized controlled trial
- Evidence level
- Level 1, High (CEBM 1b)
- Authors
- Giampiero Tarantino, Nikos Ntoumanis, Sofie Koch, Malte Nejst Larsen, Christina Birch Meiner, Chiara Cimenti, et al.
- PMID
- 42804713
- DOI
- 10.1249/MSS.0000000000004161
Why clinicians should know about it
- Picked for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine (top studies of the week, 4 October 2026): FIT FIRST improves adolescent cardiorespiratory fitness
Abstract
PURPOSE: School-based physical education (PE) can counter declines in fitness in adolescence, yet scalable, curriculum-embedded fitness programmes are scarce. We evaluated the implementation of FIT FIRST Teen (FFT), a teacher-delivered, high-intensity multisport programme across one school year. METHODS: A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted in 22 Danish schools (FFT, n=517; Control, n=860). Teachers in FFT were trained via a 1-day course and a manual and delivered three 40-minute lessons/week. The primary outcome was cardiorespiratory fitness, assessed via the Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Level 1 Children's test (YYIR1C). Secondary outcomes included handgrip strength, agility, balance, body composition, resting heart rate, and well-being. Multilevel modelling assessed the effectiveness of FFT, and exploratory latent transition analysis (LTA) was used to uncover latent fitness profiles and transitions over time in the two arms. RESULTS: Compared with controls, adolescents allocated to FFT showed greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, with a mean pre-post difference in YYIR1C distance of 106 m (p=0·009). In terms of secondary outcomes FFT showed greater gains in handgrip strength (~0.81 kg; p=0·012), and muscle mass (~0·44 kg; p<0.001). No intervention effects were observed in terms of well-being. Exploratory LTA supported a four-profile solution (high-fit, moderately-high-fit, moderately-low-fit, low-fit) and suggested that adolescents in the FFT group were more likely to remain in high-fit profile membership over time, compared to the control arm participants who tended to transition towards worse fitness profiles. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the control arm, a 40-wk intervention with FFT improved cardiovascular fitness, handgrip strength, and muscle mass. FFT offers an alternative to PE curricula to improve adolescents' physical fitness.
Abstract as published, via PubMed.
For healthcare professionals. The summary is generated by AI from the published abstract, and the evidence level is assigned automatically from the study design on the Oxford CEBM hierarchy. Neither is medical advice. Read the full paper before changing practice.