What do you think of using exercise as punishment?

I see your point.

I'm not really sure how I feel about it. My college age son had coaches that did that when he was younger. He's all into working out now--both weights and cardio.

I used to play rugby... practice was NOT considered punishment BUT it was often punishing... and grueling... after " warm-up" guys would be bent over dry heaving or vomiting and that was just the beginning... exercise as punishment in order to participate in a sport is NOT really punishment it's extra conditioning... and most "guys" see it as the price of admission... there is NOTHING wrong with learning that wrong choices lead to negative results... THAT is merely a fact of life...

Good point. Just like training animals, positive punishments often have unintended consequences. A better idea would be to ignore the late band member and make them wait 10 minutes before joining in. The person wants to join in, standing there being seen waiting is negative punishment. Even better, the leader complements all the on-time people and not the late people.

For an example, of positive punishment gone awry, I wanted to teach my dogs about the new electric fence wires, in a controlled way. I baited the wire with peanut butter and with each dog , leashed it and lead it near the treat. After licking the wire and getting a shock, 3 of the 4 dogs understood to avoid the wire. The 4th dog became afraid of the leash. It took hours of work to get the dog to accept a leash again.

Positive means actively applying a stimulus, like running around the track.

lorib642 wrote: »

Another post triggered this thought but I didn't want to hijack.

Sometimes coaches or instructors will make students run laps or do push ups or some other physical activity for misbehaving.

This isn't any different than having to do extra math problems for being bad in math. It's physical conditioning that makes you better at your sport. Having to do math as a punishment in sports would be odd. Running laps in math would be odd. Each has it's appropriate method for correction.

For sports, fine. Other activities - no. Context matters a lot. If you are playing a sport extra laps for infractions seems reasonable. But laps for being late to a non sport event? I dunno. I probably wouldn't.

my hubby and I coach football. We have one coach who is horrible for using it as a punishment for dropped passes, missed tackles etc. We will not punish mistakes with physical activity. I've seen kids want to quit because of it. At the start of every practice though there is a conditioning series we do. Everyone does it, everyone hates it, everyone accepts its part of getting stronger, faster, and better at the game. Some kids do more laps or more push ups because the point is to push your limits. Making a running back do the same lap as a big line man is just silly.

I like it,, think its great to a degree, as long as they do not become a bully.

My kids are all competitive athletes. They love sports and exercise. That being said, all of their coaches use running and conditioning as punishments. It hasn't stopped my daughter from running 3 days a week, or my son from doing extra push ups at home. My youngest is a gymnast and comes home bruised and blistered all the time, but she still practices at home.

So I don't think it's really hurting anything for a kid who is already active. For a non-active kid? Maybe. Although they might discover that they like the rush after a few laps.

Absolutely horrible form of punishment. Teachers at my elementary school did this all the time, even in non-PE classes. It's one of the many reasons I hate all forms of exercise today.

I have zero issue with it, in context. Randomly making my girls run laps because they are goofing off during a school lesson makes no sense. Having them do push ups during dance class because they aren't paying attention does make sense.

We can't get rid of all punishment because it might cause long term avoidance behavior - we have to make sure we're using it in a way that makes sense and is used sparingly.

I was in dance and marching band - both had physical "punishments" tied into them - I don't view exercise as punishment.

As a generality, I agree...

That said, context is very important...I don't see anything wrong with it in the context of athletics or military training (I've done both)...but as another poster stated, it also depends on how the coach or drill instructor or whatever approaches things as well. For example, having to PT because I was a little out of step on a march would be pretty inappropriate...and It would generally bring about more resentment than anything...having to PT because you've made an error that in time of war could cause someone to get their *kitten* shot off is completely appropriate.

When you're talking athletics and the military and things of this nature though, I think it's understood that PT is not only going to be a part of your daily regardless, but it is also going to be a form of punishment for screwing up.

In the context of being a parent or whatever, I would never PT my kids as punishment for anything. We do a lot of physical fitness activities as a family and I like that my kids associate these activity with fun and enjoyment and quality time together.

One element of good coaching is "pushing" your client/athlete beyond what they think they can do and discover abilities they didn't know they had. This requires skill, knowledge, empathy and self-discipline on the part of the coach. Unfortunately very few coaches have these abilities -- the others are either bullies or blindly mimic the blustering caricature of a "coach".

Same concept as rewarding with food.