Obesity is a huge and growing problem in America and around the world. And the childhood edition of this problem is a 21st century tragedy that's not only costing our nation billions of dollars, but it's costing millions of kids their confidence, their self esteem, their willingness to try something new in public for fear of failure, and consequently their capacity to live full and productive lives.
While scientists are busy studying body chemistry, body composition, nutrition, and exercise physiology, pharmaceutical companies are busy developing the latest weight loss pill, the diet industry is designing a new diet strategies, infomercials are crowing about new exercise devices, health clubs are hustling fitness, insurance companies are cutting benefits, and McDonald's is pushing salads, all in an effort to commercially take part in the multi billion dollar obesity industry. In the mean time, the problem continues to grow unabated, like a forest fire raging out of control.
An Old Coach's Reaction
In light of that raging forest fire I'd like to introduce you to the wisdom of a retired coach who I've known for over three decades. In the words of this old coach (he prefers to remain anonymous, and back in the shadows), "I taught physical education for most of my adult life and during that time I made the following observation. I noticed that kids who could perform pull-ups were never obese," he said. "And kids who were obese could never perform pull-ups. Pull-ups and obesity are mutually exclusive, and are never found in the same kids," he added.
Without Pills, Shots, or Magic Diets
The old coach's conclusion was that if you start 'em young, before they've had a chance to pick up much weight, teach them the ability to perform pull-ups, and teach them to never lose that ability, you can immunize kids against obesity for a lifetime, without pills, shots, magic diets, or much in the way of expense. "The more kids you can teach to physically pull their own weight," he said, "the closer you'll come to whipping the childhood obesity epidemic."
But Kids Hate Pull-Ups
I told the coach that I thought his logic was impeccable, but in my view he had one problem. According to my recollection, most kids hated pull-ups with a passion. And if they hate doing it, how can you teach them to perform pull-ups? They'll drag their feet all the way to the gym, won't they?
Using A Height Adjustable Pull-Up Bar
"Kids hate doing anything where they fail in public," the coach replied. "The trick is to start them young before they learned to fail on the pull-up bar. Start them out on a height adjustable bar that allows them all to succeed immediately with leg- assisted pull-ups, jumping and pulling at the same time. With this inexpensive tool you'll eliminate failure, and build regular success into the experience for all participants."
How High Do You Set The Bar
A couple of more questions popped into my mind immediately. First, how high do you set the bar when you're starting a youngster out? And secondly, how do you adjust the level of difficulty in order to insure progress? I could tell however, the wise old coach had an answer on the tip of his tongue.
The Progression
"You start the bar out low enough that the child can do at least 8 leg assisted pull-ups, but no more than 12. You allow them to work out twice a week and expect them to improve every time for a number of weeks, consecutively. In other words, in the second workout they should do 9, in the third 10, in the fourth 11, and in the fifth 12 leg assisted pull-ups. When they hit 12 repetitions you raise the bar one inch and they begin the 8-12 process all over again. This strategy allows a child to make a little progress every time he or she works out, and after several weeks they learn to EXPECT TO SUCCEED IN PUBLIC, which in turn teaches them to love instead of hate pull-ups."
They've Immunized Themselves Naturally
So if I understand it right Coach, the kids literally inch their way upward until they eventually run out of leg assistance, at which point they've not only learned to perform pull-ups, but they've also learned to love doing them, and in the process they've immunized themselves naturally against obesity for a lifetime as long as they maintain the ability. Does that sound about right, I asked?
They May Want To Be Bad, But
"Mechanically speaking that's correct," the coach said. But there are a few other things that go into the strategy that you need to understand. One thing is that you're tapping into a child's natural desire to be strong and not weak. In my years of teaching I met lots of kids who wanted to be bad, but I never met a kid who wants to be weak. And that goes for the boys as well as the girls. We all want to be strong. All kids know that the ability to do pull-ups requires you to be strong. And when you work in a group, they're getting stronger in public, and kids love to succeed in public," he said. "They inevitably finish off by giving each other high fives, and they love every second of it."
I asked the coach what other things are built into his strategy. He said kids learn that three things make them strong, including regular work, good eating habits, and getting enough rest at night and in between workouts. They also learn that fooling around with tobacco, alcohol, and drugs makes them weak. And no kid ever wants to be weak. "They also learn these concepts in a very hands-on, and concrete way," he said.
Taking Responsibility For Yourself
I knew the coach could have talked on this subject all day but I wanted to finish on one other related point. The phrase pull your own weight has responsibility taking connotations that are very appealing to most people these days. What role does taking responsibility for oneself play in this childhood obesity prevention strategy?
After congratulating me on all the good questions the old coach said, "One of the big lessons that kids learn from working on the pull-up bar is that nobody else can do it for you," he said. "I mean in reading, writing, and arithmetic you may get away with having somebody else do your homework for awhile. But the pull-up bar knows immediately if you've done the work, it knows if you're eating right, it knows if you got enough rest recently, and it pays you for doing these things with additional success.
On the other hand, it also knows if you fail to do these things, and it can just as easily deny the public success that all kids crave. So this strategy absolutely encourages kids to take responsibility for themselves in all kinds of ways," the coach said.
A Web Site Dedicated to The Old Coach's Strategy
I confessed that he'd sold me. I agreed that teaching kids to pull their own weight would go a long ways towards solving the childhood obesity epidemic, it could save our nation billions of dollars, and do all kinds of wonderful things for the individuals who learned the lessons that are built into this simple, practical, affordable, and infinitely measurable strategy. In fact I was so impressed that I offered to build an informational web site dedicated to the old coach's naturalistic vision. He took me up on the offer, and as I write this sentence you can now check out "pull your own weight dot net" if you'd like to learn more about the old coach's simple childhood obesity prevention strategy.
One Final Question
My final question to parents and educators (or anyone who works with kids) is, why wait for the experts to come up with a high tech solution when you can turn the tide naturally with your own kids right now by simply teaching them to pull their own weight? As they always say, there's no time like the present. Carpe diem.
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