Gresham Students Opt for Early Workouts

Its 7:30 a.m., and inside the concrete-block fitness room below the gymnasium at Gresham Middle School, several dozen students already are breaking a sweat.

The equipment includes a stationary bike that dates back to the dawn of the fitness boom, as well as assorted treadmills, rowing machines and a Universal Gym. Before starting their workout, each student checks in with physical education teacher Genell Crawford, who wants to know if theyll be doing cardiovascular exercises, strength training or a combination of the two.

What are you going to work on today? Crawford asks. Kris, why dont you do your back, and Kelsey, why dont you climb?

At a time when schools across America are cutting back on physical education, Gresham Middle in Knoxville has initiated a voluntary fitness program that has dozens of students showing up before classes each morning for 45 minutes of exercise.

They meet in a brightly lit basement room that used to be a wood- working shop. The carpet was donated, and most of the exercise equipment was purchased at cost. It took three years of fund raising to complete the facility, which opened this year and features a rock- climbing room and bouldering cave built by Creative Structures, a Knoxville company that assists the school through the Partners-In- Education program.

On a recent morning Kelsey Miller, an eighth-grader, completed a difficult bouldering problem that involved clinging to a series of holds bolted to an overhanging wall.

Climbing gives you stronger abs, Kelsey said.

I think it gives you blisters, replied Carly Longmire, a sixth- grader who climbed in a knitted, purple-colored poncho, the same outfit she would wear to class.

Crawford described indoor climbing as the kind of lifestyle activity that can help students stay physically active long after theyve quit team sports and left school.

Physically, it increases strength and endurance, but it also develops decision making, Crawford said. Its like a chess game. Even though its slow, you have to make decisions sometimes while hanging on for dear life.

Middle school is an important time to develop lifelong attitudes about staying fit and having a positive self-image. The students that come here in the morning are starting their day on the right foot.

Back in the cardiovascular section of the fitness room, Michael Seal, a seventh-grader known to his friends as the treadmill king, is wrapping up a session aimed at weight loss and improving muscle tone.

Then theres Michael Berry, a seventh-grader who spent the morning doing pull-ups and abdominal exercises.

This wakes you up, and if youre mad or something, its a good way to take out your anger, Berry said.

Morgan Simmons may be reached at 865-342-6321.