Fitness Education: Other Benefits that Being Fit Provides

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Fitness education could, in the immediate future, play a major role in the reduction of childhood obesity, as well as obesity throughout all age ranges, while simultaneously increasing the overall health of all individuals. In order for this to happen, fitness education must be incorporated into all levels of schooling, and be made more available to the adult population who were deprived of it during their school age, adolescent, and young adulthood stages of life. Fitness education is accompanied by a plethora of health benefits asides from obesity reduction which mustn't be overlooked. Join me as we explore these benefits and see how fitness education can be applied. In my opinion, the most practical approach to increasing the level of fitness education is incorporating youth strength training into PE curriculums. For years, so called experts have argued that strength training is harmful for prepubescent children, and therefore should be done away with for this age group. A lot of this has to do with the fact that the definition of strength training was being looked at narrow-mindedly in that it was directly linked to power-lifting. However, strength training exercises are not only about finding your three rep max on the bench press or back squat. Instead they are "exercises designed to increase an individual's ability to exert or resist force" (Faigenbaum, Micheli). Therefore, exercises such as pushups and pull-ups, along with many others, can be considered strength training, and if done with proper form, can lead to overall strength gains. Gradually adding weights into the workouts, and then slowly increasing said weight over time, will help make the program more challenging, and therefore yield greater results.... ... middle of paper ... ... stop it, it may be too late before we know it. Works Cited "Adult Obesity Facts." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 Aug. 2013. 20 Mar. 2014. "Exercise and Depression: Endorphins, Reducing Stress, and More." WebMD. WebMD. 21 Mar. 2014. Faigenbaum, Avery D. and Lyle J. Micheli. "Youth Strength Training". ASCM Current Comment. Volume 32, Number 2, Page 28. Gonnelli, Ajay and Gunnar Andersen. Fitness Edu. PowerPoint Presentation. Slide 2. 4 Feb 2014. Kotz, Deborah, and Angela Haupt. "7 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise." US News. U.S.News & World Report. 22 Mar. 2014. "President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition." Facts & Statistics. 22 Mar. 2014. Wenig, Marsha. "YogaKids: Educating the Whole Child Through Yoga". New York, NY: Stewart, Tabori, & Chang. 2003.

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