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Fit for Life'; Stoughton Middle-Schoolers' Physical Condition, Self- Esteem Boosted By Gym Classes

Posted on: Monday, 20 June 2005, 15:00 CDT

A small group of Stoughton middle-schoolers is relearning a 3,000- year-old educational tenet of the Athenians: The mind, as well as the body, needs to be trained. Because when one's body is fit, the mind and self-confidence will follow suit.

For two years, a group of overweight children at the River Bluff Middle School have participated in an experimental gym class that features not only a smaller class size between 10 and 15 as opposed to 25 or 30 students but also unconventional activities such as snow-shoeing, bicycle riding and cross-country skiing.

According to testimonials from parents and guidance counselors, in addition to hard research from scientists, the children have flourished.

Chris Drew said her 12-year-old son, Austin Lapp, has become "more of a leader, not a follower."

He socializes more than he used to, she said, and actually has started to encourage her to get moving.

"I get out a lot more. I'm more physical," said Austin. "I do it because it's fun."

It's also improving his health.

According to researchers Aaron Carrel, an endocrinologist at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, and Randy Clark, manager of UW's exercise science laboratory, the children from last year's class have improved beyond their expectations.

"Their cardiovascular fitness has improved by 10 percent," said Clark. "That's unheard of."

Results from this year's class aren't yet in.

Carrel and Clark presented the results from the first year of the study at this month's annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Nashville.

Tests and more tests

The study, which was implemented with help from school officials, such as guidance counselor Nancy Crassweller and Bob Hanssen, the school's physical education director, started with 50 students, ranging from 12 to 13 years old. Twenty-five of the students were controls. They participated in a standard gym class that met twice a week. The other 25 participated in the "Fit for Life" class, which met six times every two weeks, with a maximum of 15 students.

Before the class began, the middle-schoolers were tested to give the researchers a baseline on several psychological and physical variables.

Crassweller used a standard, multiple choice test to evaluate the children's self-esteem; Clark and Carrel used state-of-the-art technology to assess the children's fitness.

Three measurements were taken to establish each child's baseline fitness.

While a child ran on a steadily inclining treadmill, the researchers analyzed the VO2 output the maximal rate of oxygen consumption to assess cardiovascular fitness.

Then, after a little breather, each child was directed to a Dexascan, which resembles a giant, human-sized computer scanner, and scanned for body, muscle and bone mass.

Finally, blood was drawn so the researchers could measure each child's insulin level, a measurement used to predict susceptibility to diabetes.

The physical tests were taken three times during the school year. And for every single measurement, the kids in the "Fit for Life" class improved.

They lost more body fat, increased their cardiovascular fitness and improved their insulin levels significantly more than the kids in the control group.

The students also repeated the self-esteem test at the end of the year. And Crassweller said the results from those tests were astonishing: The kids' confidence levels, from the "Fit for Life" class, rose significantly.

Felt better, more confident

Hanssen thinks there are several reasons for this.

First, being in a smaller class, he believes the students felt more comfortable talking and moving. And because the class was filled with children who might be considered less athletic or agile than their peers, they weren't as intimidated or embarrassed to try new things to attempt and risk failing.

In addition, once they overcame their self-consciousness, they began to feel physically better and confident, Hanssen said. They realized they could do these athletic things they'd never tried.

"I think it's cyclical," said Crassweller, describing the process of increasing self-esteem exhibited by the kids: Once they felt better about themselves, they exercised more, and continued to increase improve their self-image.

She added that for parents, the results of the class were in some cases offering "mixed blessings."

She recalled a parent's comment that because their child was now feeling so good and fit, and because the child wanted to maintain that feeling, the child wouldn't let the parent shop for food alone anymore.

According to Crassweller, the parents said it was a real struggle to get a bag of cookies into the grocery cart their children didn't want any junk food in the house.

But all the researchers say getting this class replicated in other schools will be a challenge the cost of new equipment and classes, as well as the extra time required by physical education teachers may be too much for most public schools in light of tighter education budgets.

However, Carrel pointed out that "the small interventions he and his team made in these children's lives demonstrated that enormous health and emotional benefits could be reaped.

Trek donated the bicycles and the Stoughton Area School District made it possible for Hanssen to teach the Fit for Life class by securing a substitute to teach his other classes.

The kids from "Fit for Life" are now "on a par with everyone else" in their grade, he said. And exercising has become "their favorite class."

Copyright 2005, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved. (Note: This notice does not apply to those news items already copyrighted and received through wire services or other media.)

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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