EDITORIAL PUMP THEM UP STATE'S FLABBY KIDS COULD USE GOVERNOR'S INTERVENTION.

IT seems like more than just a coincidence that at the same a time a new study documents the woeful physical condition of California's kids, Microsoft has unveiled its new Xbox 360 video-game system.

There's a connection here: Our kids prefer video games - and movies, and the Internet, and television, and almost any other sedentary activity - to exercise and the outdoors.

The latest results from the California Physical Fitness Test found some minor improvements, but still widespread problems. Statewide, only about a quarter of all kids are in decent shape. That figure drops to a dismal 16.5 percent in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Of course, parents are every bit as much to blame, if not more so, than video games and the like. But societally, it's not good enough to simply lay blame at the feet of parents. In an age when many parents must work long hours just to make ends meet - and in a city where many neighborhoods are unsafe for play - schools must also play a role in ensuring kids' health.

Studies show that physically fit children are more likely to succeed academically. And the diet and exercise habits developed during childhood are every bit as important for long-term well-being as anything learned in the classroom.

Unfortunately, in the LAUSD, gym classes have been done away with at the elementary-school level. That fact might help to explain why the LAUSD's fitness results are so much worse than the state's and even those in surrounding communities.

Our schools need to take health and physical fitness more seriously, not just in the LAUSD, but across California. If ever there were a need screaming for the attention of our super-fit, muscle-man governor, this would be it.