Exercise: Do We Really Need More Incentive?

Does gym class gets kids fit?

I grew up in the 70's and '80's, so I don't really know whether things have been revolutionized since I went through it (I'm reading this book right now, which suggests that in some circles, anyway, they may be).  But for the most part, in my experience, the fit kids in first grade became the fit kids in sixth grade, the jocks in high school, and eventually, the ones who played sports in college.  With a few notable exceptions, your gym-class pecking order was pretty well set from day one.

The notable exceptions were the kids--I was among them--who took it upon themselves to get in shape outside of gym class.  I was never the slowest or weakest kid in class, but over time, my extra-curricular strength training boosted me from a middle-of-the-packer to one of the faster, stronger kids.  I was too much of a drama geek to be into team sports, but I prided myself on the fact that, by my junior year, the football coach wanted me to be. 

So here's my question:  why was I better able to get myself in shape by reading a handful of rudimentary bodybuilding magazines and Joe Weider books than the PE curriculum, whose purpose, at least in part, was to teach us how to get in shape? 

I think the answer is twofold:  gym classes--at least when I was in school--weren't designed to get kids in shape, but to expose them to team sports, the hope being that kids would take an interest one or more sport and join a team.  Fitness would be a possible side effect, not a goal in itself.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I didn't much care about gym class.  It was hack-off hour with my friends at the end of the day.  I was there to blow off steam, not put forth a serious effort.  In my basement gym, on the other hand, I was focused.  I knew what I was after, I went after it hard, and before long, thanks to my sweat, tears, and adolescent hormones, I had some extra muscle to show for my efforts.

I don't know if gym class as it was conceived when I was a kid really had a chance of getting anyone in serious shape, but I know I would have gotten a lot stronger and faster in gym class if I had actually committed to it.  If it had been a choice and not a chore. 

(This is the choir.  Don't preach to them.) 

So I wondered, when I saw this article, whether all the new 'incentives' offered by corporations--gym memberships, health surveys, and easy access to wellness programs--will really make a difference in the health of employees.  Anyone who's even spent an hour in a weight room can easily pick out the people whose workouts will make a difference and the ones who might as well have stayed home, or perhaps more charitably, strolled around the block, for all the work they're putting in.  Access to a gym, it's evident, does not a fit body make.

Nor do access to good food or access to massage or acupuncture or yoga or martial arts classes.  Go check out a group class of almost any kind:  try hard enough and you can dog it through just about any type of class.  A good instructor will call you on it, ride you till you try, but good instructors are hard to find.

All the programs and access and incentive in the world doesn't get people to work hard.  Until you decide for yourself that it's time to get in shape, that no excuse will do anymore, that nothing will deter you, I don't care how many platinum memberships you own, you're not going to get in shape.   

The key is going to be different for everyone:  the new girl who just moved in downstairs, an upcoming divorce, an upcoming marriage, an upcoming reunion, a sudden awareness of your own mortality.  But it's not going to be more 'incentives.'