Where does or should an individual learn the fundamentals of fitness – nutrition, aerobic, and muscular? Hopefully the family will be the origin of an active, nutritionally healthy lifestyle. From a young age the children will be given the proper nutrition, and participate with their parents in fitness activities like, hiking, tennis, basketball, soccer, swimming, etc. The parents may have a weight lifting set up at home or a family membership at a gym where their children can participate in aerobic and muscular fitness workouts.
Here in Tucson the running community has a number of races and events for motivating kids and their families to participate in track skills and running. I would assume other cities have similar events. See article below:
Yet, with only 23% of the population meeting minimum guidelines set by the Center of Disease Control for aerobic and muscular fitness, the majority of children will not be likely to have parents that set a good example for fitness and healthy nutrition.
So another alternative for fitness knowledge is the schools. Here in Arizona in 2009 the State school Superintendent Tom Horne (Fischer, 2009) tried to make fitness and nutrition instruction a manditory class for AZ public schools. There was enough opposition to his idea that it never became operational.
Similarly, ten years earlier, in 1999 I was teaching Health & PE, K-8 grades at Immaculate Heart, a private school here in Tucson. School started in late August, and without an indoor gym, PE classes were outside in what was usually 95 to 105 degrees until October. Thus, I decided not to expose at least 7th and 8th graders to those temperatures that made them listless and nonparticipatory. Instead I initiated an indoor class on the specifics of a fit lifestyle. We covered healthy nutrition, aerobic, and muscular fitness for a month. And like Tom Horne, I was villified by many parents and students for adding another academic class to their schedule. Although, at the end of the month, I was given some thank yous by a few parents and students. However, this type of fitness information, to my knowledge, is still not taught in private or public schools. In fact, traditional, enjoyable games that actually raised the students heart rate to near a training range, such as tag and dodgeball, have been eliminated from the curriculum in the public school district where I live. The reported reason for no more tag or dodgeball was if a student got tagged or hit by a dodgeball, it might lower their self esteem to be eliminated from the game. In my opinion, it teaches them to accept defeat at times in life as a motivater to improve and be better in the future. Baseball is good example of the need for developing resilience despite a negative result of not getting a hit. In baseball if you fail to hit safely 7 out of 10 times, you are still hitting .300, which is considered nearly excellent. Thus, outs by a hitter must be accepted, and a player must learn to maintain a postive attitude to do well in the next at bats.
Another alternative for instilling a healthy lifestyle is the church. In an article titled “Many pastors now preach against evils of being fat” (ASDZ, 3/9/04, p. 2A) some preachers are advocating the benefits of nutrition and exercise for what the Bible states is the temple of the holy spirit – our bodies. The article mentions a 1998 study in which Kenneth Ferraro, a Purdue U. sociologist, found that church members were more likely to be overweight than other people. He stated the “Christian religions just have not made the connection yet that you can dig a grave with a fork”. In the article Autumn Marshall, a nutritionst at church-affiliated Lipscomb U. in Nashville explained “most evangelical Chritians don’t drink, curse or commit adultery… So we eat.” And she noted that the Bible frequently condemns gluttony, “but it just appears to be a more acceptable vice”. The article mentions Rev. Byron McWilliams of Buna, Texas that weighed 260 lbs., and became motivated to become fit after a middle aged father in his congregation died of heart disease, attributable in part to an unhealthy lifestyle. After losing 50 lbs. and 6 inches from his waistline, McWilliams proclaims the fit life from the pulpit. Another preacher’s church offers running and cycling clubs and a fitness boot camp, plus a cookbook entitled “Body for God”.
With the internet and YouTube a person with the slightest inclination to be fit has unlimited sources for instruction on fitness and nutrition.
In any case, the question remains where should the important specifics of a fit lifestyle become working knowledge for students and the majority of our population. Most people apparently rely on the medical community to cure their ills, such as diabetes and obesity, rather than following a self care solution of eating healthy and exercising. As noted in the post on famous and infamous nonexercisers, “I had rather die eating something I enjoy than taking care of my health”. (Nobel, p.67).