Ohio is getting ahead of the game in terms of student fitness with a new plan from the lieutenant governor. The Team Tressel Fitness Challenge for students in grades 4-8 is a program developed by Jim Tressel — who has some experience in keeping students fit and healthy.

“If we can add just a little better fitness and health, it will make us that much better,” Tressel said Monday.

His idea is a solid one. Rather than outdated and intimidating goals that might throw a young person off track, the Team Tressel Fitness Challenge would let students pick their own activities and set their own goals over 90 days.

He worked with educators to fine tune the program, which starts Sept. 8.

“Educators thought (grades 4-8) was the sweet spot,” he said. “Maybe the ones a little younger might have a hard time getting focused on it, maybe the ones a little older wouldn’t think that it was cool.”

But plant those seeds — establish those habits — at the right time, and the program might just be setting us up for a generation of healthier Ohioans. Having former Ohio State University and NFL wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. on board doesn’t hurt, either.

“It’s important to show kids early on how simple it can be to live a healthy life,” and “we want to make it easier for kids to see how they can energize their bodies with small changes like water instead of soda or taking a walk every day,” Ginn said as the program was being launched.

Though state Reps. Brian Lorenz, R-Powell, and Elgin Rogers Jr., D-Toledo, have not yet seen a hearing for the bill they introduced that would require the state’s fitness test to align with President Donald Trump’s reboot of the old Presidential Physical Fitness Test, students are getting what sounds like a fantastic health and fitness boost, anyway.

Older Ohioans who remember how far their own health and fitness journey strayed from the aims of the Presidential Physical Fitness Test a generation or two ago will be glad to see the Team Tressel version that lets young people have ownership, set goals and “might have a chance of people sticking to it,” as Tressel put it.

Here’s hoping that, as these students are learning about their physical activity, nutrition and sleep, they not only stick to it, but thrive.