“I don’t know, but I been told…”
Physical Training (PT) an extinct concept in America
I am currently serving with a service organization called AmeriCorps for the next year. Specifically I am part of a branch called FEMA Corps. As part of this program, we have a physical training requirement. This is a non-military program (in every way, shape, and form) that employs some ideals that are common in military branches; such as our PT requirement and having a strict chain-of-command structure. When I first became interested in this program I looked at past members’ blogs and saw a lot of comments on their posts asking what the PT was like. Most of the questions seemed to come from a place of fear or loathing. I myself was a tad concerned because while I am all for getting in better shape, I am not looking to wake up at 4am and be yelled at by a drill sergeant. Because as I mentioned above I am trying to learn more about FEMA and the field of emergency management, not become a Navy Seal.
Well now that we have settled into the program we have had our introduction baseline PT session consisting of a 1.5 mile run, and 1 minute to count how many sit-ups you could do followed by push-ups. There was no requirement or minimum to complete this, it will solely be used as a benchmark to see if we improve by the end of the program. I did my best and completed the running section in 22 minutes in the 97 degree heat (we ended up running about 2 miles by accident and my real time was closer to 15 minutes) and I held my own in the push-ups and sit-ups. We had some members on our team that walked the whole way and we had some who ran cross-country in college for whom it was a breeze. Regardless we all finished and recorded our baseline results. Today though, we learned in our first training PT classroom session that our program would be undergoing a few changes. We have a new staff member who is reshaping PT to include running in formations while shouting cadences among other pseudo-militaristic style PT aspects. Some of our members grumbled, others look forward to the challenge, some were just dissapointed that they are no longer able to do their own thing for PT. I was somewhere in the middle which lead me to start thinking about physical training and the meaning behind it and why I was worried that I might have to run in formation for PT.
I believe that unless you enlist in a military branch, physical training in America is all but dead. I tried to remember the last time that I had required PT in my life and came to the conclusion it was during elementary school; and that is a stretch because it was called Physical education and consisted of us having to run one mile before we could run around and play tag on the playground. In middle school (the chubby awkward years) if you joined the band you didn’t have enough time in your schedule to take gym. It was the same with high school if you were in a foreign language and any other elective. We were highly encouraged to take anything but gym because it provided no “academic value”. I managed to sneak in two basketball classes senior year, but besides shooting three pointers and trying not to break a sweat, do to the lack of showers and changing time, there was very little phsyical activity. I stayed fit because I played sports in high school. Next came college where you either became a gym rat/meat head or you drank too much beer, put on the freshman fifteen (or 35 if you were me) and worked out before every spring break to at least try and have some sort of muscle definition. My point is PT has never been a required thing for me or for my generation for the most part.
Why is this?
Why has exercise or just overall well-being been such a forgotten concept to teach and practice in schools. You can point to the funding of a school or other economic/academic issues, but I don’t think they hold up. It is 30 minutes to an hour everyday that could make a huge difference in the health of our population and we completely ignore it.
Another problem may be the mere fact that we just don’t want to work out. I myself above even said I didn’t want someone pushing me to work hard at working out. Why is that? Have we all become lazy? Soft? A mixture of the two. We tell ourselves that if we are not in the military we don’t need to push ourselves (unless you are a work out nut). What do we need to be in shape for anyways? But I think we do need to be pushed a little bit. Because if we can’t push our bodies, then how can we push our mind, or our will to achieve goals and find success—Or simply survive. It all starts with our physiological needs.
I am looking forward to this new PT style in our program because I want to push myself and achieve results. I think we should all try to find ways to push ourselves, starting with our bodies. Join a class, find a personal trainer, or simply start making the baby steps to getting yourself healthy. It will not happen over night but if we can change our mindsets about PT then we can start to make our population healthier and happier.
