I agree with you. Could it be that the fitter kids have more involved parents that take better care of them, which usually includes seeing to their education as well?
Liberals will never admit that parents matter.
And yes, exercise is beneficial to people of all ages!
That plus, more basically, higher IQ parents are more likely to take care of themselves, belong to the upper-middle class, be thin and have more fit kids. Weight in the US is, unfortunately, very correlated to class and IQ, to some degree, is as well.