How many high schoolers today do you think could hit this level? 🤔In 1962 after JFK called for a youth health revitalization, 4,000 schools across the country adopted a fitness program developed at La Sierra High School in California. The La Sierra System was grueling: At the highest level, you had to do 34 pull-ups, 52 bar-dips, 50 handstand push-ups, run a mile in 5:15, handstand for 45 seconds, swim two miles, and much more. A WW2 veteran named Stan LeProtti came up with the system, inspired by the classical Greek philosophy of “whole man” fitness.
I played 3 years of hs football, 2 years D2 college, as a LB.. at *no point in time* was I ever able to 34 pull-ups, 52 bar-dips, 50 handstand push-ups, run a mile in 5:15, handstand for 45 seconds, or swim two miles. I was able to bench 405, squat 540, deadlift 635, jump 35" vertically, and run a 4.6 @ 245lbs, 20 years old. But that goes to show you that even college athletes would struggle to meet this standard. I dont even think professional athletes who are non track and field possess that ability. Those standards (at the highest level) are nuts. Does the military even require a 5 15 mile run and 34 pull ups?
Only 21 students completed it over the 25 years the program ran. That's less than 1% back then. I'd imagine the number of outliers at both ends of the fitness spectrum have gone up but that the median level of fitness has gone down.
Also emphasized that mental and physical health go hand in hand - how often do you hear that today even from mental health advocates? Exercise is free, pills and psychiatrists are not. Exercise releases serotonin, the same thing anti depressants are supposed to regulate. Ever heard of a doctor that said “well we can try ssri’s but first i would like to get you on a tailored work out routine every day for a month, if that doesn’t work we’ll supplement with a prescription”? Sure there are some doctors out there like that, but that’s a tiny minority. “The study confirms that exercise “should be a legitimate first-line treatment for mental health issues and not just an ‘added extra’ as it’s often seen in medicine,” said Dr. Singh.” “A new study shows that physical activity is 1.5 times more effective than counselling or the leading medications. Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the review is the most comprehensive to date, encompassing 97 reviews, 1039 trials and 128,119 participants.” Just search “exercise more effective than medication for depression” if you want to see all the different articles covering that study for yourself, they also have links to the study.
72 hours is all it takes after shit hits the fan for people to see you as an obstacle to taking care of their family. It takes more than 72 hours to get into any kind of shape to defend or protect your family. The illusion of civilization has made a lot of people forget about how delicate civilization actually is
Not quite ! JFK was also wary of Agro-industrial oligopolies that were forming, consolidating( along with pharmaceutical corporations) and pushing sugary/ fatty over processed foods onto children via schools and advertising. It was around that time tv dinner started being a norm for the average U.S. family. That program wasn't just about fitness, but also diet with whole foods provided by American farming associations via large scale public contracts. The national archives have a great file online about this. A great read.
Yes you jBe it backwards. They guy who took over after him was the problem. Infact some day he had a hand in changing history on that fateful day in Texas. JFK had hope and aspirations in many of his things. The guy after seemed cold and calculated
Eisenhower/ Nixon administration already signed S.E.A.T.O in 1954 and installed a dictator in south Vietnam setting the stage for our Vietnam even before Kennedy got into the Whitehouse
@@elliottvaughn Just because he was a vet doesn’t mean he wanted war. Nobody (except maniacal psychopaths) wants war. My dad was a vet and that’s the last thing he wanted.
i bet he would say thing such: i'm truly disappointed with our government in that matter, we set the standards at that time and it is a shame to see how it had developed backwards. Just my theory too
You can choose not to eat crap. Fast food is so expensive. I don’t understand it when people say healthy food costs too much money. Bull. I eat much less expensively, than people eating McDonald’s every single day.
When I was in my late 50’s and no athlete for sure, I could out perform my 5th graders on the fitness tests. What frightened me was that they didn’t care that they couldn’t out perform me.
@@icedcoffee8561 I am not lying. This was also about 15 years ago. What could possibly be my motivation to lie about such a thing? I taught school for over 30 years and as overweight and obesity have increased physical fitness has decreased.
Some of us could say it was because of the era of the Cold War, but if it continues still today, many students would have a healthy life metally and physically.
Its so important to build a good foundation from an early age. 16 push ups is not that much if you raise children with better physical programs and make them have fun with moving. If you discover the joys of having a healthy and fit body you wouldn't complain about doing these exercises and everyone would be healthier
yeah ...every now&then an elderly Boomer will complain about it but no 👎 politician campaigns on it anymore&I'm a little curious as to why nobody has brought physical fitness back to schools..even MTG does crossfit& hasn't fought about getting it back in schools
Because today school boards and departments of education are terrified by the thought of one angry parent showing up in a principal's office with their lawyer in tow, loaded for bear because their, "soft, chubby, fat-looking" child hurled up their guts in phys-ed class after running from one side of the gym to the other (and after eating a bag of Doritos and a Coke for lunch. Or was it breakfast?). @@elliottvaughn
Back when Americans health wasnt compromised by processed foods and plastics in all food,you had neighborhood butcher, not 5 slaughter houses for the country. People grew gardens.
I used to be that average guy in P.E. Class who could do 10 wide push ups 2 normal push ups and no military standard push ups I was below on strength and had average cardio and after that day on the push up test where we were forced to do push ups to failure and I did 10 wide push ups seeing my friends do so so much more I was ashamed and when I got home I searched up how to improve and I did getting to 25 military standard push ups by the next test then I could finally do a pull up and now I watch channels like yours and finally be proud of myself because I went from 0 push ups and pull ups to 20 each this should be implemented from elementary school and there should be a lower difficulty section because improving at push ups and pull ups seeing that progress has made me so much happier
If you start doing dips, over head presses your push-up count will naturally go up. You’ll be lucky to get 3 decent dips if you’ve never done them before.
Delusional. You can pick out any person in the world without some disability and within 2 weeks have them doing over 30. Quit hating on the US because it’s trendy.
Exercising and weigh training is not only good physically but also for mental health . It is known in the books for mental health institutes that food and exercises helps alot of mental problems .but in real life they dont follow what the books say because it does not make money and medication does . There is a professor in the Netherlands who always talk about exercising during office work because it helps with the concentration and thinking he himself zelf in his office has a peddel bike unter his desk that he uses during his office work .he sit on his office chair and than uses the peddels ..
He was correct of course. Looking at the state of today's society, not only in America, but the Western World in general, is shocking. Over 50% of the uk population can't complete 10 press ups!
Yep, PE was required, no notes from parents were going to get you out of PE At my school , we ran a mile warm-up , but we all had to keep running- until the last person ( slowest) finished the mile. So we ended up running a lot more than a mile. There weren’t very many fat kids in my school. You better be puking sick or have a Drs note to get out of gym . We need this again.
And what about now? Instead of working out and being healthy, they prefer to talk about body positive. Remember, people, there is nothing positive if you are weak or fat. It was a long time ago and it is still the undisputed truth
Japan and Korea follow this model, Obesity in those countries is 4-5% . USA obesity is at 42% ....how is the US doing so poorly in education and health?!
Everyone should prioritize a baseline level of physical fitness. I think that if you aren’t able to pass a basic physical fitness test then you shouldn’t be eligible for subsidized healthcare. Disability aside of course.
@@sparda_ 0uch!! Our beloved America needs anti-progressivism prayers. Back in the day their parents were father figures now they are under the threat of being ruled by progressives.
Even then, it didn't work out. Mainly because it was an expensive change. Something America has always disliked. Poorly funded schools could t cooperate, and poor kids couldn't keep up with the nutritional values needed.
Fr, it's already fucked since some people mislead the meaning of "Fatphobia" and promotes body positivity the wrong way by basically saying "stay fat, it's ok" no it is not goddamn it
And this is why I hate electric scooters and e bikes we used to ride our bikes everywhere and build muscle and stay fit now you just hit a button and it will just make kids less coordinated and more obese and lazy in life if your a lazy kid your gonna be a lazy adult
There were activities in gym(physical education tests) for us starting 5th grade("61-62") . We didn't run but we did everything else, even swimming once a week)loved Tues. Vietnam's brewing in the background.
If this started very early, the goals aren't so high for people that are active through their whole lifes, and would be good for the kids for many reasons.
Not a coincidence that as we’ve become more sedentary and ignored physical health depression has risen. And by physical health I don’t mean muscle mass a la bodybuilding, I’m talking about movement and the ability to move without injury or restriction.
And now children and teens who weigh 400lbs is a somewhat common sight. There is at least one child like that in every school. Our food is a bigger problem than our exercise but our exercise wakes us up to how urgent our situation is when walking up some stairs knocks the wind out of people.
@@__skillzhe's not...because it's rare like a black Siberian 🐅 tiger they're out in Siberia but damn impossible for average ppl to find just like finding a 400lb teenager in America is almost impossible
That really is an unfortunate thing to have happen to a child I have a friend who has a 10-year-old daughter that is already over 150 lb and it is very sad to see because she will no doubt be bullied her entire time in school probably never have a boyfriend man just be all around worse off if you like because of it
I was a kid during this time period. And we were very fit because we had about an hour of physical education. And we had to do so many push-ups and so many Lapse around the gym. My father made made me work hard on the property. Back then, I used to just walk 6 miles a day. Living out in the country and working hard was just a normal thing for us.Phone girls and farm guys. At the age of thirty two I walked into a gym for the first time in the city and I benched two fifty. I had no idea what bench pressing was. I guess that was pretty good for somebody who's never lifted weights😅
I’m fat female forty and fair and I beat the year ten girls at their fitness test 😅😂 it’s unreal how unfit they are…I’m a relief teacher and I was wearing a dress and still got in front it’s crazy! But thanks to that I now have a fitness coach and getting myself sorted.
And y’all wonder why the government took him out. If everyone learned healthy lifestyles as a kid they wouldn’t need doctors or want fast food or any of that crap that make them richer today
Today school boards and departments of education are terrified by the thought of one angry parent showing up in a principal's office with their lawyer in tow, loaded for bear because their, "soft, chubby, fat-looking" child hurled up their guts in phys-ed class after running from one side of the gym to the other (and after eating a bag of Doritos and a Coke for lunch. Or was it breakfast?).
