Asked my daughter about her day last night at dinner. She proceeded to tell me that they are doing some testing in PE. One test is push ups. The girls have to do at least 7 and the boys have to be able to perform 16. She stated that most of the kids in the class failed, with many not able to complete 1 push up. That is super sad!
Fitness is a form of shame for growing kids. We need to be nurturing them with love and support rather than arbitrary body fitness standards that are impossible for most kids to live up to!
I'm 52 and I can do 100. Not doing 1 is truly sad
It's the damn political correctness, we're not allowed to call then 'girl push ups' anymore, we have to call the 'modified push ups'.
Since we started doing that, half the boys started doing girl push ups!
Fitnessgram standard for HS is 7 "proper" pushups for girls and 17 or more for guys. They're done to a slow cadence
Coach wrote:
Fitnessgram standard for HS is 7 "proper" pushups for girls and 17 or more for guys. They're done to a slow cadence
Yep. I remember doing these in middle school. It is actually insanely hard given the slow cadence. You'd have to hold in both the up and down position for what felt like a few seconds during every single rep.
I think I did ~15, and was tied for most in the class with a kid who went on to play football at Penn State. So I wouldn't fault the kids for not being able to do many if they are using the same method we used.
No-one tries on those tests
Super Sad...
On the other hand, how many LRC males can do 16 push-ups?
(Be honest, you know that you have sacrificed your upper body in order to be competitive in the Podunk 5K)
XY wrote:
I'm 52 and I can do 100. Not doing 1 is truly sad
Wow, that's a lot for 52; even when I was young and a competitive athlete, I am not sure if I could do 100.
When the Presidential Physical Fitness Test came out in the late 60s, 15-20% of kids would get the award each year. Most of kids who didn't get award would come close enough that you knew what to work on for next year. Between the broad jump, softball throw, 50y dash, 600y run and V Sit & Reach, usually it just one thing that tripped you up.
The award numbers stayed about the same during the 1970 and started to drop off a little in the 1980s. By the mid-90s, each school would only have a couple kids in each grade to pass the test. I recall my son passing it one year in the early 2000s and actually being recognized during an assembly. Only 1% of kids were passing the test in the 2000s and basically it became a source of humiliation for some kids. I was told it was stopped many years ago in some school districts and stopped completely a couple years ago because of the anxiety and humiliated it caused kids and it actually made them resent exercise.
Btw, I went to my youngest son's middle school dance several years ago, it was an eye opening experience. I saw so many young girls whose bodies were not conducive to running and jumping anymore.
Not sure why you were checking out the action at a middle school... but, whatever.
As a former phys ed teacher I was always shocked at how many 12-13 year old boys have old man bodies.
When I was a kid every class had one fat kid, now every class has one skinny kid
I would like to see a video of this.
ShameOnYou!!! wrote:
Fitness is a form of shame for growing kids. We need to be nurturing them with love and support rather than arbitrary body fitness standards that are impossible for most kids to live up to!
God forbid you offend someone by trying to save their health
This thread:LOL
You obviously have never coached! I have to start out with 5 pushups as a goal the first week of practice and half the kids can't do this. I ask them to do 5 or how ever many they can do correctly which ever is less. I try to get girls to 10 and boy 20 over the course of the season. I have some boys and girls that have to start out on their knees do to being so weak. It is sad but true. I have to do a similar approach with core work. 90% of the kids can do it by the end of the season but theres always a few who thru lack i trying in my opinion never reach the goal number of reps.
Idontreallyknow wrote:
No-one tries on those tests
I was waiting for someone to finally state the obvious. It's gym. No one tries, no one cares.
Psh, I was a gym class hero. Even took "Advanced P.E." as one of my electives. And my XC coach was the teacher so I never got in trouble for slacking if I wanted to be rested for a meet.
Here. It is wrote:
I was waiting for someone to finally state the obvious. It's gym. No one tries, no one cares.
This is sad, no competitive spirit? Nobody tries? What happened?
XY, impressive! I'm 48 and do at least 200 pushups a day, though I doubt I could bang out 100 at one time--that is a new goal. Aren't all you guys on this board doing some sort of pylos to keep fit? XY and I can't be the only ones doing a bunch of pushups.
Fat CaliDog wrote:
Here. It is wrote:I was waiting for someone to finally state the obvious. It's gym. No one tries, no one cares.
This is sad, no competitive spirit? Nobody tries? What happened?
XY, impressive! I'm 48 and do at least 200 pushups a day, though I doubt I could bang out 100 at one time--that is a new goal. Aren't all you guys on this board doing some sort of pylos to keep fit? XY and I can't be the only ones doing a bunch of pushups.
I'm 6'2 165, prob 12% body fat, bench my weight max, and do 4x25 pushups daily. Doubt I could hit 40 straight. Good work gents.
Here. It is wrote:
Idontreallyknow wrote:No-one tries on those tests
I was waiting for someone to finally state the obvious. It's gym. No one tries, no one cares.
Nobody is saying the average is truly representative of kids' ability if they had to to push-ups to save their lives.
This is about kids who can't do ONE under conditions of humiliation. You can't fake that kind of uselessness.