Phys Ed – Wilkins Power Style

I received an email today that really got me fired up. It was from Zach Even-esh and it was titled “The Pussification of America”. For those of you who know me personally or know Zach, you know that this is a subject that fires me up. If you’re not on his newsletter list, then I’d recommend that you head over there right now and sign up.

Anyway, the thrust of his letter was that kids today are weak and out of shape. There’s too much time spent on the computer and not enough time doing work and training hard. You know what weak and out of shape kids grow up to be? Weak, out of shape, and obese adults. Those same adults aren’t as productive at work, have a lower quality of life, and have all sorts of obesity-related health issues that cost them and taxpayers money. Plus they tend to have a whiny attitude and a poor work ethic in general. Am I saying that someone who’s overweight is a bad person? Certainly not. I am saying that the lazy qualities that a lot of our kids are growing up with are not helping to shape a strong life attitude regarding themselves or others.

I was just having a discussion about this with a fellow trainer here at the gym and here’s what we thought should happen. Let me ask you to keep asking yourself, as you read this, if my proposal seems too farfetched or “unreasonable”?

I feel that there should be a mandatory Physical Education and Culture class three times per week in school. None of this “you need one semester of P.E. to graduate” crap. I’m talking from kindergarten all the way through twelfth grade. As the kids grow this class should mature. Early stuff would be focused on general athletic development and games such as gymnastics, tumbling, team skills, and that type of thing. The youngsters would learn to control their body, develop great relative body strength, and learn to LOVE exercise.

As the students matured the class would mature as well. While there would continue to be a varied physical component, students would learn more concrete athletic skills like intermediate gymnastics, weight training, and other sports, all while maintaining a superior general physical preparedness. The skills that they developed here would be designed to serve them all the way through adulthood.

For all age groups every workout (er… class) would begin with a developmentally sound and athletically-based dynamic warm-up. This would teach the importance of warming up, help get the students mentally with the program, and enhance basic athletic skills.

This type of class would not only make sure that the students were getting regular, varied, and intelligent exercise but it would help greatly with exercise instruction. While I’m certainly a huge fan of teaching English (or other languages), mathematics, and history in school, I feel that the physical body is being wronged. EVERY one of the students has a body. We are doing a great disservice to our students by not teaching them how to take care of it. You want school to teach true life skills? Well it doesn’t get much more true or real than that.

In addition to our physical training class, I feel there should be a once-per-week (at least), year-long Health-based class. Varying and sequential in nature based on the students’ age and maturity this could cover the topics of general health, nutrition, basic life-saving and first aid, and other topics related to caring for the bodies that they’re given.

Think about this for a second. Off the top of my head I don’t know how many weeks are in the American school year, but let’s say 30. Don’t you think that after 30 classes per year, for 12-13 years, our students would come out of school with at least a vague understanding of a healthy diet and how to keep their bodies healthy?

Now lets say that after high school someone got way overweight and so when they hit 30 they decided to get back into shape. I see this every single day in the gym. Well, if they went through the curriculum I mentioned above they might not be armed with 100% of what they need, but they’re definitely going to be well on their way to knowing how to get back into shape.

Furthermore, I don’t see a person like that being nearly as common as it is today. Here’s what I see developing from a program like this if it’s approached correctly:

-Faster, stronger, more athletic kids. They would develop fantastic athleticism at an early age when their nervous system is still forming. As they mature, they’ll keep that base athleticism.

-A healthier, better educated public that has an awareness of their body. Most people today don’t even think about what they eat or what their activities are doing to their body. These kids would have been exposed to the questions and educated on how to think critically.

-People who have developed healthy lifestyle habits and for whom better diet and exercise choices are simply part of their lives.

-A culture of citizens who have demonstrated pride in themselves and their bodies. They will have faced physical challenge and the pain of pushing themselves to the limit. They will be able to see that that hard work translates to physical, tangible progress in their physiques and skills. This will translate to other aspects of their lives with the ability to apply life skills learned on the field and in the gym to everything they see and experience.

-A reduction in hyperactivity and other social/mental disorders in young people. Every kid in school now seems to be on some sort of anti-depressant or hyperactivity drug. How stupid is that? We’ve created a generation of pill poppers and it only gets worse as they age. Regular, strenuous exercise has been shown to improve mental state, cognition, and help stabilize moods. Is it going to take all kids off meds? Of course not, but I bet it would help.

I’m sure this is just a pipe dream of mine as I see most of our society heading the other way. We’re getting softer, weaker, and less aggressive as the days and years go by. I’m tired of seeing people in the gym without even the most basic understanding of the human body (one of which they’re walking around in) and young athletes coming to me WAY out of shape. I can tell you one thing: If I have kids, you can bet that they’re going to have the tools to take care of their body. If you’re a parent, aunt, uncle, or even just spend a lot of time with kids I really feel it is your responsibility to teach them to respect and care for their bodies and the basics of health, exercise, and nutrition.