Too Many FAT Recurits

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http://www.comcast.net:80/articles/n...iting.Obesity/






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[Hostile0311]

Repercussions of the "Playstation" generation IMO. When I was a child, being outside and playing til the streetlights came on was the norm. Being "sent to your room" was a punishment. Now children relish the thought. They have Game Box, Internet, Nintendo and a plethora of other electronic gadgets to keep them occupied. Thus they are seriously lacking in physical fitness, except for their "Gameboy Thumbs"which get a great workout.

[afchic]

It doesn't help that when a school district is looking to save money, classes such as gym are the first to go. I can remember having gym 2-3 times a week growing up, now it is down to 1 day per week in the school district my kids go to.

[Doctor Porkchop]

I thought this was the perfect place for this. I am stationed in a tradoc post, today at 1500 my battallion conducted an APFT for NCOES schools, perfect weather and a perfectly flat 1/2 mile track. I had 3 SSG's and 1 SFC.
Push ups start, first SSG is up and does 40 pushups, then the SFC behind him runs right next to him and tells him to only do 50 and that "there is no sense in breaking himself for a PT test" SSG follows the order to the teeth. Next one up is the SFC and by the time he reaches 50 turns and asks me if he has done 50, I say yes then he gets up. Long story short, the same drill happened for the sit ups and for the two mile run 2 overwheight NCO's were degrading and screaming at the runners to pick up the pace.
Out of 10 soldiers being tested 2 of them ran in the 14's and the rest averaged 1700.

I felt embarrased to be around soldiers better yet "leaders" being so careless. Since selection i have felt embarrased of my APFT score of 290, I have train to improve my overall fitness and finally have reached the 300 apft goal. I know the APFT is nothing but a tool to asses one's minimal fitness, it doesn't involve ruckmarching for miles and miles. Situations like this one remind me of a comment some SF SGM said to all SFAS candidates, "Shi!#@! units are my best recruiter".

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by afchic

It doesn't help that when a school district is looking to save money, classes such as gym are the first to go. I can remember having gym 2-3 times a week growing up, now it is down to 1 day per week in the school district my kids go to.

Agree. That and kids who are put in front of the boob tube at a young age and are not encouraged to "go out and play". We had until the street lights came on to be back home. Being sent to our room was a definite punishment. Hell, even.

We had recess every day (bad weather we had it in the gym) in the lower grades. In High School we had Phys Ed every day. EVERY day for a 1 hour period no matter what year of school you were in. Depending on the day of the week, and your year (Freshman and Sophmores got what they got, uppper classmen had electives), it was swimming, gymnastics, softball, basketball, a full hour of calesthenics, etc. There were very few kids that were considered obese when I was in school. Sure some were a tad overweight by 10-20 lbs or so...but I honestly can only remember one or two who would be considered obese. My graduating class in HS was about 1000 kids. So...there you go.

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by afchic

I can remember having gym 2-3 times a week growing up,

Afchic You are SO young! In High School I had PE EVERYDAY from the first day of Freshman year until the last day of my Senior year. With Mr. Aubrey who (it was roumored and no one doubted it) had jumped into Normandy. And all my friends played one sport and most two. My darling daughter who is a sophmore in HS just completed the entire PE requirement 3 semesters. I pointed out "you can take electives" She looked at me like I was nuts. Ok sweetie . . . I'll get you up at 5 and we can go for a run. . . Her reply? "Mom, Dad's picki' on me."

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by Gypsy

There were very few kids that were considered obese when I was in school. Sure some were a tad overweight by 10-20 lbs or so...but I honestly can only remember one or two who would be considered obese.

Very true. I remember maybe one kid in grade school that was pudgy, but none that were obease. Middle School there were a quite were several. And in High School we had one person that was obease and they had physical issues, even the pudgy kids played football and participated in Track and Field.

In the grade school my kids attend there are quite a few that I would give odds of being grossly obease in their early teens.

The plague of Xbox, McDonalds

[afchic]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Afchic You are SO young! In High School I had PE EVERYDAY from the first day of Freshman year until the last day of my Senior year. With Mr. Aubrey who (it was roumored and no one doubted it) had jumped into Normandy. And all my friends played one sport and most two. My darling daughter who is a sophmore in HS just completed the entire PE requirement 3 semesters. I pointed out "you can take electives" She looked at me like I was nuts. Ok sweetie . . . I'll get you up at 5 and we can go for a run. . . Her reply? "Mom, Dad's picki' on me."

When I was in college I had PE every day of every week of every month of every year I was in school. Then again I was a PE major and had to have something crazy like 10 hours of PE classes to graduate (each being worth .5 hours).

I have to agree with the poster who stated the tape test is a joke. I was trained as an Exercise Physiologist as my undergrad. As such I helped run the local hospital's cardiac rehab program, did the stress tests for the local police and fire departments, and did all of the body fat assessments of the football and basketball players. My Junior year, ROTC found me to be "obese" by using the tape to measure body fat. I was found to be at 30%. Due to my major, I was able to get a true body fat test done in the dunk tank (the most accurate way to determine body fat) and found to be at about 24% which is well within standards, and good for a healthy 20 year old female. The Air Force would not accept the results, and I was placed on the "fat girl" program.

I have always been in good shape. Easily maxing out the pushups and situps, and a reasonable 11-12 minute 1.5 miles depending on the day, but I remained on the fat girl program through the rest of college. Did I mention I am 6 foot 1 and weighed about 179 in college? Because of the stress of lowering my weight so I would not be a fat girl once I became a Lt, I became bullemic and remained so for about 4 years.

The AF has finally decided to go to BMI as part of our fitness test, which is a step in the right direction, but still not a good indicator of true fat mass due to the differences in people's bone structure, height, etc. I can easily pass the AF PT test now with a 94 out of 100, but my weight as far as the AF is concerned is still a problem.

Studies have proven that there are "overweight" individuals who are indeed in excellent physical condition. I am one of those folks. The "ideal" weight for a woman of my height is 162-165 pounds. I haven't weighed 162 pounds since I was a freshman in high school, and if I weighed that right now, a stiff breeze would blow me over and I would be a cadaver.

I would much rather be in the position I am in now, where I am a little heavier than standards would dictate, but healthy, than when I was bullemic, and extremely unhealthy. There are all kinds of different body types out there, and one unit of measurement cannot hope to be a good indicator for them all. Just my .02 worth.

[Saoirse]

[QUOTE=afchic;244155]

Studies have proven that there are "overweight" individuals who are indeed in excellent physical condition. I am one of those folks. The "ideal" weight for a woman of my height is 162-165 pounds. I haven't weighed 162 pounds since I was a freshman in high school, and if I weighed that right now, a stiff breeze would blow me over and I would be a cadaver.
QUOTE]

Afchic, I know exactly where you are coming from. In HS, I played tennis and ran track.... I ran all the time and was bicycling every day to and from school and on the weekends (I was in training).
When I was in the army, I was in great shape, did very well on the PT tests (always pushing myself to excel), yet every PT test, when we were weighed, I had to go for the "pinch test" (another useless tool). It wasn't until the 3rd time the 1ST SGT saw me that he wanted to know why. In BDUs, its a little hard to tell the shape of a women (back then), until I pulled my tshirt really tight and forced him to really look at my shape. I was thin all around but unfortunately very buxom. That was the last of the pinch tests for me, per the 1ST SGT. I hadn't been my "ideal" weight since early HS years, 5'9 at 142... I looked emaciated! There were a lot of females in my unit that were like that, tall, buxom and a little over their ideal weight, did well on the PT test but still had to go thru that crap just so as not to be put on the "fat girl" program. I was in it at one point too...because of "my upper half" until they saw I did well or exceeded the requirements.

[JD82]

One of my cousins, a distant one thankfully, has allowed her little boy to become so attached to the TV and his Xbox that he literally cries and throws the largest tantrum I've ever seen if he is pulled away from his media trance and brought outside. Granted she's busy and so is her baby-daddy, but my Lord take the kid outside for some fresh air. He'll spend hours and hours in front of that TV and won't come up for air. This all began because it was an easy way to babysit him. He's so socially underdeveloped because of "digital sitter" that when he's around other children he freaks out and hides and he's still wearing a diaper at 5. And, of course, he's overweight. If he makes it to adulthood without become a social deviant, I'll be surprised. The moral of this story? Children are supposed to play outside!

[afchic]

[QUOTE=Saoirse;244159]

Originally Posted by afchic

Studies have proven that there are "overweight" individuals who are indeed in excellent physical condition. I am one of those folks. The "ideal" weight for a woman of my height is 162-165 pounds. I haven't weighed 162 pounds since I was a freshman in high school, and if I weighed that right now, a stiff breeze would blow me over and I would be a cadaver.
QUOTE]

Afchic, I know exactly where you are coming from. In HS, I played tennis and ran track.... I ran all the time and was bicycling every day to and from school and on the weekends (I was in training).
When I was in the army, I was in great shape, did very well on the PT tests (always pushing myself to excel), yet every PT test, when we were weighed, I had to go for the "pinch test" (another useless tool). It wasn't until the 3rd time the 1ST SGT saw me that he wanted to know why. In BDUs, its a little hard to tell the shape of a women (back then), until I pulled my tshirt really tight and forced him to really look at my shape. I was thin all around but unfortunately very buxom. That was the last of the pinch tests for me, per the 1ST SGT. I hadn't been my "ideal" weight since early HS years, 5'9 at 142... I looked emaciated! There were a lot of females in my unit that were like that, tall, buxom and a little over their ideal weight, did well on the PT test but still had to go thru that crap just so as not to be put on the "fat girl" program. I was in it at one point too...because of "my upper half" until they saw I did well or exceeded the requirements.

I know this is going to be TMI, but I know exactly where you are coming from. As well as being 6 foot 1 and big boned, I am also rather buxom!!! Great for my husband, bad for my wieght standards!!!

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by JD82

Granted she's busy and so is her baby-daddy...

I do not like that word.

How about, "the father of her child", instead?

Incidentally, did you notice that everyone else here has filled in their profile?

TR

[JD82]

to the "baby-daddy" remark, I understand it's not the best choice, but it's become almost common place in discussions amongst my family for reasons I'll not elaborate on here. It's something of a bad habit for all of us at this point. I'll refrain from using it further on here. And yes sir, I just realized that I needed to fill in my profile and I've filled in as much information as I wish to. If this is not deemed sufficient information about myself from the administrators, I'll simply refrain from posting and return to my lurker status.

[XJWoody]

Wow, have the height/weight standards dropped? It's been 17 years since I gave a care, but IIRC the max weight for my height (68") and age (25 at the time) was like 165#. It is now 174#! Holy Cow!! I think my fattest day in uniform was 150#, and that was after 6 months of intensive weight/ruck/seefood diet training. I was trying to bulk up.

Currently at 42, I feel like a teletubby at 160#... My worms died at age 35-/+, along with a career change to one that involves much less activity. No excuses, but at least the "why" is not a mystery to me... and I know the solution (more PT, less CocaCola.) If I were still in service, I'd be allowed 181#. Holy Cow once again!

I'm almost afraid to look up the current APFT standards...

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by afchic

When I was in college I had PE every day of every week of every month of every year I was in school.

OH YEAH? WELL . . . when I went back for my teaching certificate I had to take a 1 credit class on teaching PE. The damn thing met every damn day! And I was always late for my next class because I HAD to take a shower.
We did everything!. . . every game, every sport, every exercise. I had to teach a period of instruction that I titled "Start Your Day Like a Green Beret" It was the Daily Dozen to the nth degree. I almost killed a few of the 19 year olds (I was 45 at the time.) The day before we had almost an hour of one of the other students leading us through streches. For an hour! the next day we did ballancing stuff geared to 1st graders (that was actually kind of fun).
The nicest thing anyone ever said to me was "you don't have to beat us at everything." (Do too!) I did get my ass handed to me in the weight room though.