Gym teacher makes 9th Graders do Insanity Workout

MrsFowler1069

What sort of PE classes do you guys have over in the USA that some of you think insanity is too hard for young people? I'd have fallen down and kissed my PE teacher if all I'd had to do in high school PE classes was an insanity workout.

Instead we got mountain climbing (I hate heights), wind surfing (that was cool!), triathlon races (swim 1000m, bike 10km and run 3km), Gymnastics (rings and parallel bars, again the heights), trampoline (with somersaults, nearly broke my back here), karate, football (soccer), orienteering (10km circuit) and biking around the darn country for a whole week. I was fit and healthy all the way through my youth thanks to PE despite the fact that I despised those classes with the hate of ten thousand burning suns.

If only. Here in the US, "most" PE classes are a total joke. The kids sit around talking most of the time and if they are made to do anything remotely resembling exercise, the parents come to the rescue, while also complaining that children are more and more obese.

Oh, wait - all of this was already covered in the first post. Sorry....didn't mean to be redundant.

Elliesque

What part of the program do you disagree with?

I agree kids need a workout program but Insanity is for adults.

The school should have informed the parents about the program and requested permission to participate.

I am not familiar with Insanity. However, as a parent I would want to know if my kids were participating in something that may potentially be harmful to them. If a kid gets hurt during their program I'd hate to see the lawsuit that school will have!

BattleTaxi

That is kinda nuts! Kids only need sports or a playground!

snookumss

Personally, I was fat in school. I was 20-30lbs overweight and lagged in most PE activities. Soccer? Hockey? Basketball? Ultimate Frisbee? Nope.... trust me I tried EVERYTHING... I worked my hardest BUT none of those activities did I enjoy and none of them would have taught me to increase my fitness level faster than a P90X or Insanity Workout. I love that they are showing kids these things, and personally think its great! Kids SHOULD be able to do a lot of this stuff...

I would have learned more from my PE courses, if I'd done things like p90x or Insanity instead of stretching and walking around a circle track or attempting to keep up in any of the above listed activities I sucked horribly at even when I could keep up and hated.

I ended up finding dance courses in high school, which totally improved my fitness level compared to the generic sports-themed Physcial Education course. Get over it and let them ACTUALLY exercise!!!!

snookumss

Personally, I was fat in school. I was 20-30lbs overweight and lagged in most PE activities. Soccer? Hockey? Basketball? Ultimate Frisbee? Nope.... trust me I tried EVERYTHING... I worked my hardest BUT none of those activities did I enjoy and none of them would have taught me to increase my fitness level faster than a P90X or Insanity Workout. I love that they are showing kids these things, and personally think its great! Kids SHOULD be able to do a lot of this stuff...

I would have learned more from my PE courses, if I'd done things like p90x or Insanity instead of stretching and walking around a circle track or attempting to keep up in any of the above listed activities I sucked horribly at even when I could keep up and hated.

I ended up finding dance courses in high school, which totally improved my fitness level compared to the generic sports-themed Physcial Education course. Get over it and let them ACTUALLY exercise!!!!

ALSO... what if the teacher had actually PERSONALLY designed a fitness schedule with activities SIMILAR to insanity or p90x? Would that have raised your eyebrows? Nope...

snookumss

What part of the program do you disagree with?

I agree kids need a workout program but Insanity is for adults.

The school should have informed the parents about the program and requested permission to participate.

I am not familiar with Insanity. However, as a parent I would want to know if my kids were participating in something that may potentially be harmful to them. If a kid gets hurt during their program I'd hate to see the lawsuit that school will have!

Kids get hurt doing anything. My sister broke her shoulder and needed two pins installed for falling off the monkey bars.

devil_in_a_blue_dress

I think PE, as it is taught in the US anyway, is a complete joke. Kids should be signing up for an intramural sport of choice or a club that ensures they get adequate physical activity (like aerobics or walking). At least where I went to high school, some of the gym teachers were also sport coaches and were absurd about what they expected from non-athlete students. Other gym teachers taught health and were less rigorous/competitive? My point is, the experience was terrible if you got a coach and "normal" (lots of standing around with duh face) if you got a health teacher. Students/parents should be picking the type of PE that works best, so they actually doing something they are interested in doing.

Is a high intensity workout suitable for all students? No. I would have loved it vs. playing freaking "Danball" which was my sophomore gym teacher's version of football for his coed class.

fuzzieme

Geez, whatever happened to teaching kids how to play basketball, floor hockey, soccer, volleyball, etc.?

All the kids got fat doing it...

I think it has more to do with the crap food

snookumss

Yeah.....sounds like the gym teacher is being lazy by popping in a DVD rather than instructing the kids on something him/herself.

I agree. Football, for example, was created by someone else and so he can't introduce that sport. Basketball, by James Naismith, so he can't introduce that sport either.

Baseball? Softball? Hockey? Volleyball? Wait, what about Karate? Ooops....NOPE! He can't introduce those games either.

What do you suggest the teacher "CREATE" that he should do in PE? If you mention anything, then he didn't create it.

This is the dumbest thread on the board right now....WOWWW!

Don't forget stretching!!! That wasn't invented by the teacher either!!!

snookumss

I should also add that this program was APPROVED by a board from within the entire school district. This board, includes multiple people who thought a little more about this than a single biased whiner who caused the entire reason why so many sports these days are babied for teens because they COULD get hurt. I could get hurt walking.... taking that away from gym?

areksz

I think that kids should stick to team sports in their gym class. I think that things such as soccer, basketball, baseball or jogging would be appropriate. It might be a little too much for them to try something like that especially if their fitness level is not that great.

whierd

Um, who cares? It's not like they will keel over and die from doing Insanity. Sheesh.

SonnyN9

I think it's a great idea to introduce Insanity to a PE class. The mix workouts and movements adds a lot of fun to the kids and gives them a challenge. However, I think it's vitally important that the PE teacher doesn't push the kids to keep up with the rhythm and complete the sessions. It's REALLY intense. Best to let kids do what they can and at their own pace.

sloneczko2013

I agree with what most of these people are saying. Most kids won't put forth the effort to hurt themselves doing Insanity, as impressionable as they may be, and the few who will probably pay attention to how to do it correctly.

I don't believe what some of you are saying, though. I mean, ARE YOU FREAKEN KIDDING ME? Potentially dangerous? You don't need to 'be informed' if your kid is doing Insanity because for your teenager, ITS SAFER THAN FOOTBALL, or any other contact sports that parents have had their children playing since they were 6. Your backyard can be more dangerous, so can doing community service, OR EVEN running track.

It all comes down to this: You, as a parent, sign a waiver in the begin of each school year during which you chose to enroll your child into a physical activity of some sort. It says that you acknowledge all risks and hazards of your child participating in activities and the school and/or teachers cannot be held responsible for injury. WHICH MEANS- if you, as a parent, want to know EVERYTHING your child is doing for physical activity at school, you better get your butt to the coach's office and get a full list of crap for the whole year so you're not wasting your time. But instead of being a psycho parent, just trust the coaches because honestly, PE coaches don't really care. They aren't yelling in your kids ear like a drill sergeant trying to 'push them'. sports coaches are much harder trainers, and kids are more likely to be injured participating in sports.

Insanity is a tough workout. I commend anybody who tries it. As for kids, good for them if they try, but 90% will just 'go with the motions', and it will probably be the only workout your kid gets all year. So good for that PE teacher for keeping your kid from being sedentary, because if you think a kid doing Insanity or P90X is something to worry about, YOU must not be keeping them fit.

Good luck to all you parents out there who agree. Those who don't care about your kids' fitness- You will be the one they blame later when they're obese.

fishgutzy

Few students are so overweight that participating would be harmful. For those that are, use of an HRM provides sufficient monitoring that they can get a workout without overkill.
I was among those that at first blush thought this sounded a little nuts.
Personally, I cannot do insanity because of of the intense foot impact. So I find other ways to workout.
To ban Insanity because a few may find it too hard is wrong.
Here's an alternative for the severely gravitationally impaired students. Spinning class. Gets the heart rate way up without impact on the joints.
If I could do insanity I would. But I don't want any more foot surgeries. :bigsmile:

dbmata

As you can imagine the kids were struggling after 2 minutes of doing Insanity. Also the teacher plans to do more programs.

After 2 minutes? I'm fat and out of shape and I can outdo that easily. That's pathetic , PATHETIC if that is true.

It's kids, they need mandatory activity. It's too bad we can't use that time to get some decent labor out of them.


Waaaa, my kid went to school and was made to be marginally active.

ETA - this necro was just too good to ignore.

contingencyplan

As you can imagine the kids were struggling after 2 minutes of doing Insanity. Also the teacher plans to do more programs.

After 2 minutes? I'm fat and out of shape and I can outdo that easily. That's pathetic , PATHETIC if that is true.

It's kids, they need mandatory activity. It's too bad we can't use that time to get some decent labor out of them.


Waaaa, my kid went to school and was made to be marginally active.

ETA - this necro was just too good to ignore.

Pretty much all kids I know would be laughing after a round of Insanity. It would be hard for them but they could handle more easy.

rml_16

We learned to juggle in middle school PE ...

Myhaloslipped

It seems like way more effort than anyone in my high school would have ever put into gym class. We worked hard at sports we played otherwise, but in gym we just participated enough to pass and socialized mostly.

LassoOfTruth

If my gym teacher had made us do Insanity in HS, instead of 6 months of volleyball, I might not be so fat now. It's exercise. I'm sure the teacher isn't expecting them to do it perfectly. There ARE modifications.