ObedientiaZelum said:
I actually think the "playstation generation" isn't in any worse shape than people were 20 years ago.
I actually think there is more emphasis and interest in fitness now. Look at all the interest in the Spartan Races, tough mudders, crossfit, going to the gym, running. There is a lot of people out there who lead fit healthy lifestyles. It's everywhere. I think unfit people are just looking for an excuse. It's easy to blame video games and a sedimentary life style. I graduated highschool in 1997 and took gym every year. Gym was brutal, in a shitty lazy way. Our teacher would throw us a basketball and sit in her office, more than half the students would just stand around, natives would try to pop the basketball or kick it into the roof. Things weren't better at all 15-20 years ago in my neck of the woods.
I just can't get behind the theory that people are less fit today thus we should lower our expectations. Someone in this thread (bravely) mentioned that it took them 5 months to pass the basic fitness standard in the CF.
Mylene Paquette is 36 years old and it took her just over for months to row across the Atlantic..
Not "knowing" how to work out isn't a great excuse either (in generally not directed at the person who mentioned this here). It's 2013, if you go on the internet and search "getting in shape" you'll have 50'000 web pages on how to loose weight and get fit. There's probably just as many web sites about getting in shape for the military.
We need to stop holding peoples hands and treating them like children. It doesn't take very much initiative to do a little research and put some effort into something like this.
When someone goes to warrior platoon what exactly happens in terms of what they are taught and who their instructors are? Do we have qualified personal fitness trainers ,dietitians and the like teaching the science of getting in shape or is it some dude like me standing by the desert fridge telling people to put the slice of cake back?
If you want to join the police you have to pay out of your pocket to do the ATT testing and then, correct me if I'm wrong, you have to pay for your police course. Maybe if someone is THAT out of shape we should make them pay for a 2-3 month boot camp out of their own pocket- if they pass then pay them back or something.
Great post.
Sadly the health stats don't agree.
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-229-x/2009001/status/dia-eng.htm
You can't get behind the "theory"....well it's actually a theorem which is being proven by the stats and examples.
Gym is no longer a mandatory subject, and your example of so-called gym class at the secondary school level is a prime example of what many students receive even when they elect to take it.
You were the exception, rather than the rule. I would venture a guess that your drive and initiative indeed contributed to your fitness level. I am not saying that ALL late teens and early 20s are an example of this trend, but sadly, it is rising.
The emphasis of fitness in our society has less to do with it being popular by the masses, than it does with people with a modicum of intelligence realizing that their lifestyle now demands an actual fitness routine, since it has been deleted from everyday life. In fact, those that are taking up these contests, and hitting the gym are more often people in their late 20's and early 30s who have realized that a change is necessary.
http://toughmudder.com/press-room/tough-mudder-facts-and-figures/
Tough mudder average age was 29.
In 1994 when I first joined the CF there was no "Warrior Platoon"
Fat camp. The fact that it has become a necessity for new recruits to meet the minimum standard is quite telling.
