Wondering what you think of this...

[tnumrych]

Read this article today and have mixed thoughts about it. On the one hand, maybe it will at least assure gym classes accomplish something more than "here kids here's a ball to play with for the next 40 minutes", on the other hand the other hand I'm annoyed by the insistence that quality of exercise must be measured by reaching a "target heart rate". This program sounds like a bastard child of a Polar salesman and a "health and wellness teacher"/school administrator.

I wonder if this is a beginning of a larger trend to adopt similar programs cross country? Care to weigh in?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Jesus, this is so fucking tiresome. Feels like we haven't accomplished a single thing.

[medwards]

From the article: "I no longer have to grade students just by looking at them," she said. "Now I know if they are really working."

She's going to grade them on their heart rate?

[Sean Herbison]

Well, for general physical activity, I don't think there's anything wrong with "here kids here's a ball to play with for the next 40 minutes." It's not training, but it's still exercise (and coordination development), and exercise is good.

On the other hand, I think it's like the ban on large sodas they tried to push in New York. Do I think it's the right way to address the huge problem of overfat people? No. But at the same time, at least they're trying.

Is trying all that matters? No. Someone can try very harder to increase their 1RM on squat by doing hundreds and thousands of air squats, but it won't accomplish the goal. But it at least indicates that they're willing to put effort into it, however misguided it is.

And who knows? Maybe the kids will love it and it will encourage them to be more active, leading to less overfat kids. I think grading based on their heart rate is, let's say, suboptimal, but as to the effort? Well, we'll see.

[Andres Onu]

"I no longer have to grade students just by looking at them," she said. "Now I know if they are really working."

Oh man, doing your job is just the WORST, isn't it?

[tnumrych]

Maybe I was misunderstood in my post. In no way do I agree with or want such a program in physical education classes cross country. I think it's a waste of time, in that it won't accomplish anything close to what the school wants it to accomplish. But I could see this being adopted on a wider scale because it shows them something they think is useful.

I guess I wanted to read your opinion/rant on how dumb this is.

[Bill Quick]

They'll be well prepared for life after graduation, when they're wired up to the monitoring computers at Megacorp, Inc.

[Mark Rippetoe]

From the article: "I no longer have to grade students ...

Tells you much of what you need to know.

Maybe I was misunderstood in my post. In no way do I agree with or want such a program in physical education classes cross country. I think it's a waste of time, in that it won't accomplish anything close to what the school wants it to accomplish. But I could see this being adopted on a wider scale because it shows them something they think is useful.

I guess I wanted to read your opinion/rant on how dumb this is.

You know what I think about it, and it will spread because it gets them out of some work.

[heints25]

Tells you much of what you need to know.

Exactly. Who wants to think anymore. Just let the monitor do your job.


What's wrong with giving them a ball and telling them to play around for 40mins? That's how I grew up. We would fire that ball back and forth, trying not to get hit. And if you chose to sit out, or not work, guess who was the biggest target? America needs more of this, and less trying to reinvent the wheel with some fancy technology.