University of Idaho Extension’s Five for Five fitness program grows

MOSCOW, Idaho — A University of Idaho Extension program that’s gaining popularity nationwide is leading people of all ages to pause for five minutes each day to clear their mind, raise their heart rate and engage in full-body exercise.

A team of seven UI Extension educators launched Five for Five: Five Minutes to Better Health in 2022 as a simple, user-friendly way to help people improve fitness and focus.

Free digital downloads of curriculum are available through UI Extension Publications. An app to expand Five for Five’s reach and make the content even more convenient and accessible is also in the works.

Five for Five has enjoyed widespread use in states including Idaho, Utah, Virginia, Arkansas, Kansas and North Carolina and has proven to be an especially good tool among teachers and others who work with youth. UI Extension has also been invited to present about the program during the 2025 Joint agInnovation and Cooperative Extension Meeting, scheduled for Friday through Monday, Sept. 15-18, in St. Louis.

Five for Five has five components — mindfulness, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance and bone strengthening, muscular strength, and flexibility and balance. Participants spend one minute on an activity for each component. Activities are color-coded and presented on playing cards or posters with stick figure drawings and instructions. For example, one flexibility and balance exercise directs participants: “Extend left arm shoulder height and reach across chest, supporting arm with right hand as needed. Switch arms.”

Two UI Extension educators with backgrounds in health and nutrition — Kirstin Jensen, Idaho County, and Shelly Johnson, Kootenai County — are the program’s lead authors. Co-authors include retired area Extension educator Maureen Toomey; Kathee Tifft, Nez Perce County; Siew Guan Lee, Twin Falls County; Leslee Blanch, Bonneville County; and Julie Buck, who was based in Bingham County and retired in February.

“We’ve done quite a few national presentations and have several states using the curriculum,” Johnson said. “The feedback we’ve received from folks who are using it is, first off, how easy it is to include it in a given day.”

The program shows participants that workouts don’t need to be difficult or complicated, helping them build the habit of exercising for longer periods of time on their own.

“What Five for Five is really about is showing folks they can do it, and not only can they do it, but they can do it well and have fun,” Johnson said.

According to America’s Health Rankings (2020-2021), 27% of Idaho youth and 35% of the state’s adults are overweight or obese. Furthermore, Get Healthy Idaho finds more than half of Idaho students are not physically active for at least an hour per day on five or more days per week. In response, Jensen joined the Western Region Physical Activity Collaborative in 2018 and initiated an in-state group of UI Extension educators with fitness and health backgrounds in 2020 to start a statewide physical activity program.

The UI Extension team devised a host of basic exercises intended to meet the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ physical activity guidelines.  Adaptive versions make the activities accessible for people who use wheelchairs or have balance issues.

Jensen said Five for Five stands out because it enables anyone who can read to lead a workout, increasing opportunities to be physically active.

“That’s what I believe makes Five for Five unique,” Jensen said. “It’s so user friendly and gives teachers an easy, inexpensive to bring into their classroom and use with their students.”

Five for Five won Idaho’s Educational Curriculum Package Award through the National Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, as well as the Excellence in Extension Award from University of Idaho Extension. Jensen and Johnson are also in discussion with Idaho educational officials about adding Five for Five to public-school curriculum.

“I don’t think there’s anything like it out there,” Jensen said. “This curriculum could go worldwide with additional resources to access it.”

Media contacts

John O’Connell
Assistant director of communications, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
208-530-5959
joconnell@uidaho.edu

Kirstin Jensen
Professor of health, fitness and nutrition
Extension educator, Idaho County
208-983-2667
kdjensen@uidaho.edu