Recently I was given the opportunity to make two childhood obesity prevention presentations at an event called DuPage Institute Day, the Physical Education portion of which is annually hosted by Naperville North High School in Naperville, IL. Each of my sessions attracted about 25 Physical Educators who had a particular interest in getting a practical handle on the childhood obesity epidemic.
During both sessions I passed around an informal survey which asked two questions. First I wanted to know how many years you’d taught PE. Second I wanted to know how many students you could recall who were both obese (i.e. 30% body fat or more) and still able to do at least one unassisted pull up. I also asked for contact information in order to substantiate the actuality of the data we gathered from the survey.
Survey Results - 541 to 0: Worse Than Spotting Nessie
As the result of conducting this survey we had 28 out of approximately 50 attendees respond. Collectively those 28 responding Physical Educators represented 541 years worth of teaching experience. And during those 541 years worth of teaching we discovered that NOBODY could recall even one obese student who could also perform at least one conventional, unassisted pull up. In other words, the odds of spotting a student who could perform at least one pull up and still carry 30% body fat were worse than spotting Nessie or Bigfoot…0 for 541!
To extrapolate a little further yet, if each one of these teachers averaged 200 students per year (a very conservative guesstimate) it means these Physical Educators would have gone through well over 100,000 students and still never spotted even one student who could do even one pull up while carrying 30% body fat.
Educational Administrators Should be Very Interested
Now at this moment in history, when the US Surgeon General has labeled childhood obesity “America’s number one health threat,” this particular category of students (those who can do at least one conventional pull up) should be extremely interesting not only to Physical Educators, but to School Boards, Educational Administrators, classroom teachers, parents, and Michelle Obama herself. Why? Because according to this survey, (as well as other statistics), kids who can perform at least one conventional pull up cannot carry 30% body fat – they cannot be obese. (Test your own school district’s PE teachers and see if they agree.)
Winning the War on Childhood Obesity
That being the case, winning the war on childhood obesity is simply a matter of starting kids young (kindergarten works great) and setting the stage in such a way that each student learns to physically pull their own weight. Once that goal is reached, it’s a matter of eating and exercising in ways that allow them to maintain the ability to do pull ups and these students will have naturally immunized themselves against obesity and related problems for life.
In other words, if 25% of your students can do at least one unassisted pull up the job is already 25% done. When 50% can do at least one pull up, the job is half done. When 100% of your student can do at least one pull up, you will have eliminated obesity completely. You’ll also have improved academic performances, and minimized anti-social behavior as well because obesity has been shown to be closely related to these other two issues. I’d call it an educational administrator’s trifecta – three for the price of one.
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