Journal

10 x 2min shadow boxing (thai)

In the News

Are fat moms to blame for fat kids?

Here’s an interesting article that studies the link between moms and kids.  Apparently there is a link between fat kids and moms more so than with their fathers.  Did you know that?  I didn’t know what.  They looked for some sort of genetic link and came up empty.  The interesting part isn’t that they looked for a fat gene (so last week), but they didn’t find anything.  99.9% of the time the article comes up with some excuse why someone is overweight outside of “they eat too much”.  So an article that comes up empty gets a hat tip.

News – For the Kids

A study finds a link between daily salt intake and childhood obesity.  The study concludes that if kids eat less salt then they drink less fluids and thus drink less soda resulting in a skinnier kid.  I think that one is a little odd considering that the argument is to limit fluid intake.  It would obviously seem that it’s the type of fluid that’s causing the problem, not them pesky kids drinking too much water (fat little bastards).  The second question, Do these kids have salt blocks in their living rooms?  They’re coming home from school and grabbing a handful of the salt…putting a pinch between their cheek and gum?  Mmmmmm.  Is it a reasonable assumption that the kiddo’s are eating pre-packaged garbage?  I wonder if it was sodium free pre-packaged crap if the kids will still be fat?

Study #2 shows a genetic link as having more influence than environment in childhood obesity.  This is one that’s going to be misrepresented and used as excuses across the world.  There’s a genetic tenancy towards body type.  Tall kids, short kids, big boned, and birds.  What there isn’t is an excuse to let your kid be a little turd and toss up the “it’s genetics” card.  If your kid has a salt block in the living room and doesn’t move unless forced…it’s nurture.  Everyone has tendencies, that means that it’s “harder” for some people to achieve X than other people.  Those tendencies mean that the environment has to accept MORE responsibility to fight the good fight.  Your kid may not be a ripped superstar, but they can be healthy.  Make an effort folks.

Study #3 finds that teens losing weight has no negative effect on bone loss.  Previous studies found that adults losing weight have lost bone density so it was a concern in growing (shrinking) little bodies.  The key point in this article that I seen was that the kids were put on a plan.  While the details weren’t laid out I’d almost bet money that some form of exercise was going on.  Bones are living little creatures that respond to the environment.  If they’re stressed then they strengthen and if they’re not stressed than they become weaker.  An adult lugging around 100 extra pounds of flab is naturally stressing their bones, if they lose that resistance and don’t replace that stimulus with something else then blamo…drop in bone density.  Bump up the activity then blamo…increased bone density.  It’s like magic.

News

Here I am still ragging on the school system. A few days ago I noted an article of a private school implementing a weight training regime into the kids world. Now here’s another one where they’re integrating actual “movement” into PE. No one sits down and everyone has something to do all the time. They even give kids some options so they can do what they “want” to do…tricky little gits those PE teachers.

In my opinion that’s a great execution of a relevant plan. Even as far as adults go, the real kicker isn’t “working out” or “training” or burning…something. It’s just about doing something. Get out there and make physical activity a part of your every day life. You might not “get jacked” or have a six pack, but you might save yourself from being obese and the coronary that goes along with it.

News

In the news today they’re teaching weight training in schools!   Well, one private school is letting kids play in a machine based training room anyway.  I want to be in favor of this…I really do…I just can’t help but ask “Why not just use PE class effectively”?  Unless you’ve got an injury or working with free weights that are dangerous to be doing on your own (as in will kill\maim you if something goes sour)…why hang out with machines?  For comfort?  For safety?  As in if they’re not training hard enough to hurt themselves (or really make legitimate gains from) or be forced to try something new that they might be uncomfortable with?

I don’t want to abuse kids or crush their worlds…I don’t.  But if you’ve ever seen a small child play, you’ll appreciate how much they’re capable of doing and how hard they push themselves to do it.  I’ve got a 1 year old that finds her way up the stairs all the time.  If you scale that up to adult size, that’s 20 stairs at hip level that she belly’s and drags her diapered butt up.  Monkey bars?  Jump rope?  Hell, even hopscotch is pretty tough.

My biggest whine is that it gives the impression that they need to go to a gym or do a set routine to “work out”.  What happens when they want to do something but can’t go to the gym?  Nothing happens…that’s not good.  I say play movement based games.  If you want to add resistance…medicine balls…sandbags…have them pull each other on pieces of carpet.  Make it fun, dynamic, applicable to SOMETHING that they might do at some point in their lives (stairs are a hoot).

The idea is great.  The execution leaves something to be desired.