The song didn't get much airplay, but for tens of thousands of children doing sit-ups in school gyms around the country, the cajoling chorus of "go, you chicken fat, go!" became ingrained in their memory. Today, sites on the World Wide Web still nostalgically recall the song, and a new version, with expanded exercise routines, has recently been released. But apart from the song's infectious quality, it also marked a change in policy by the Council on Youth Fitness. The song was meant to accompany a physical fitness program, which the Council was endorsing for the first time.
Even before accepting the Special Consultant position, Wilkinson had clearly understood that the Council did not have the authority to impose a national program, but it was also obvious by the time he took over that state and local authorities would welcome more direct guidance. The Council's fitness curriculum was devised with the cooperation of nineteen major U.S. educational and medical organizations. Two hundred thousand copies were distributed at no cost and another forty-thousand were sold, and the Council engaged in a sweeping drive to achieve widespread participation in the program for the 1961–1962 school year. A core group of almost a quarter of a million schoolchildren took part in Council-sponsored pilot projects in six states, with other, state-authorized projects also contributing statistics. Even taking into account an organization's inclination for self-congratulation, the Council's program was a success. At the end of the pilot project year, half again as many students passed a physical fitness test as had a year earlier. Furthermore, there was a general improvement of physical education programs around the country.
In some respects, this was the high point of the President's Council on Youth Fitness as such, since it was soon to become the Council on Physical Fitness. A recommendation for the change had been transmitted in early 1962, and Executive Order 11074 of January 8, 1963 made it official. This was the beginning of a general expansion of the fitness council. In 1964, President Johnson would again change the name, to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, with a corresponding widening of focus. In subsequent administrations, new programs and awards would be added, and existing programs would be greatly enlarged.
But the achievement of the Council on Youth Fitness was as much political as educational. In a general political sense, the actions of the Kennedy Council can be seen as a minor triumph of liberal Democratic thinking. A nationwide problem was identified and a national response was developed through the resources of the federal government, producing, if not a solution, at least an improvement. The specific political result, which, no doubt, was of great interest to Kennedy himself, was to help identify Kennedy with fitness, vigor, and preparedness. Energetically promoting the fitness message brought both message and messenger to the public. It is not too much to say that the Council fitness programs, which reached into schools and organized children's gym and recess time, were a way of encouraging the nation's youth to participate in the "New Frontier."