Thin Slices of Progress Fuel the Motivational Flame

When it comes to the issue of childhood obesity, the BIG QUESTION is always, “How do you motivate kids to exercise more, eat less/better?” And once you have them in motion, “How do you keep them in motion?” Then to make matters even more challenging, “How can Operation Pull Your Own Weight even hope to motivate kids by focusing on the one exercise that’s almost universally hated by kids everywhere?”

Nothing Motivates Like Success
I’ll answer that question in one word, “PROGRESS.” More specifically, if the kids you’re working with can make regular, predictable, quantifiable progress, in public, almost every time they grab onto the pull up bar, they quickly learn to expect progress. They also learn that progress occurs in thin, but tangible slices. They learn that when those thin slices are piled on top of one another week after week, month after month, year after year, they add up to a whole bunch of progress. And finally they absorb this information at a very concrete, practical, hands-on level when working on a pull-up bar.

They Want A Return On Their Investment
Let’s say this in another way. I’ve observed that kids want to see a regular return on their investment of time, effort, and energy. They also want to avoid wasting their time, effort, and energy in activities that fail to yield a profit. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, they want to avoid investing any of their social capital in activities that could result in public failure and humiliation…such as being unable to do a pull-up in front of all their friends. As we’ve said on previous occasions, there are some kids who’ll tell you they want to be bad, but NO KIDS WANT TO BE WEAK AT ANYTHING.

Set The Stage Right And Win
So the trick is to start young, and set the stage in such as way that the time, effort, and energy your kids invest, yields a small, but tangible profit such as the ability to say, “Hey, I’m stronger today than the last time we did pull-ups, and I’ll be even stronger next week, just wait and see.” That is to say, if you set the stage right, your kids will quickly learn that regular work in conjunction with eating right, getting enough rest, and avoiding tobacco, alcohol, and drugs will make them stronger in every way (physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually). AND ALL KIDS WANT TO BE STRONG IN EVERYTHING.

It Works For Reading, Writing, And Arithmetic Too
Now that’s how you light the motivational flame in Operation Pull Your Own Weight on the pull-up bar, and keep it burning for a lifetime. And by the way, the same formula works for reading, writing, and arithmetic too. Now let me end by proposing a toast to a generation of kids who learn to Pull Their Own Weight in all kinds of ways.

Pull Your Own Weight,

The Old Coach

One Child At A Time…

Can I personally inspire and motivate vast numbers of children to learn to Pull Their Own Weight, and to functionally immunize themselves against obesity (and related problems) for a lifetime? The answer is an unequivocal NO! I cannot.

On the other hand, can I inspire and motivate your child to learn to Pull His or Her Own Weight and immunize himself, or herself against obesity for a lifetime? I’d lay money on it. Given the correct degree of attention, and the right information, there are very few children who are unable to learn to Pull Their Own Weight, and lots more.

Mass Produced Education
Realistically, education is almost never a mass produced phenomena. That’s one of the big problems with our schools today. We’re trying to mass-produce education, and in the process, all we succeed in mass-producing is an overall dislike for something that most kids are already born with, the desire to learn everything about their surroundings. But, by the time they reach second grade, most kids are fully aware of the fact that this thing that adults call “education” is not a privilege or an opportunity, it’s an obligation, a job. And that’s an absolute tragedy being mass-produced all over America today.

The Individual to Individual Connection
In contrast real education, real inspiration and real motivation takes place at an individual level, face to face, eyeball to eyeball, when one individual connects with another individual in a way that makes both interested and appreciated by the other.

Think about the teachers and mentors in your own life for a second, and ask yourself what allowed them to inspire, motivate, and activate you? My bet is that they looked at you individually, appreciated what they saw, and somehow convinced you that they cared about what you did and thought. Without that kind of connection, the spark of real education seldom comes to life.

One Kid at a Time
In my own view, this personal connection applies to almost any mentoring situation, no matter what you’re teaching…and that includes Pull Your Own Weight. So the question becomes, how can teaching kids to perform pull-ups become a successful childhood obesity prevention strategy in a classroom, in a school, a school district, a county, a state, across a nation? And the only answer is…ONE CHILD AT A TIME.

Contagious Practitioners Who Can Walk The Walk
That is to say, an individual adult (parent, uncle, aunt, teacher, big brother, big sister, etc.) must first understand OPYOW and become individually inspired and motivated to take up the practice, in order to be able to walk the walk. At this point the adult becomes contagious, and can easily pass their understanding and commitment on to any child, some of whom want to be bad, but NONE OF WHOM WANT TO BE WEAK.

Until next time,

The Old Coach

Nobody Else Can Do It For You

We’ve suggested so far that Operation Pull Your Own Weight must be presented and perceived as an opportunity, a privilege instead of an obligation or a job. And to be perceived that way, it helps to make OPYOW a social affair, and to take advantage of the collective expectations of success that can be cultivated in the social setting. You should also tap into every child’s burning desire to become strong and avoid weakness, and all these are important stage setters for the next point we’d like to make.

It’s Automatically Built In
An automatic, built in lesson for OPYOW participants is the realization that nobody else can Pull Your Own Weight for you. Only you can take the responsibility for doing that. In other words, nobody else can do the work for you. Nobody else can eat the right foods for you. Nobody else can get enough rest for you. And nobody can avoid tobacco, alcohol, and drugs for you. If you don’t do these things for yourself, you’ll lose the opportunity to become stronger every week, every month, etc., and you’ll be inadvertently choosing to become weak.

You Can’t Cheat the Pull Up Bar
In an age when copying a friend’s homework is commonplace, even acceptable as long as you don’t get caught, YOU CANNOT CHEAT THE PULL UP BAR! If you fail to fit the workouts in, if you fail to control your eating and sleeping habits, and if you dabble in tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, the pull-up bar will tell you immediately, and in no uncertain terms, by denying you the progress you expect to make each time you grab onto the bar. You may even get weaker. In short, the pull-up bar pulls no punches.

Of Pull-Ups and Homework
And interestingly enough, like the other concepts we’ve talked about so far, the rules that apply to the pull-up bar, also apply to all the other aspects of a child’s life, including their academic achievements. That is to say, you may get away with cheating on your homework in the short term. But in the long run, if you want to get strong in readin’, writin’, and arithmetic, nobody else can do the work for you. You have to do it yourself…just exactly like the pull-up bar. You must take responsibility for the various kinds of strength that you develop, and do the things necessary to earn them. In the end your life is your life and nobody else can live it for you. The ball is indeed in your court.

Talk to you soon,

The Old Coach

Every Body’s Different, Every Body Can Make Regular Progress, And Regular Progress IS Winning!

Presuming you have more than one child in the program, one of the things kids learn in Operation Pull Your Own Weight (OPYOW) is that every body is different. And I do mean every body. Some bodies are tall while others are short. Some bodies are light while others are heavy. Some bodies are male, while others are female. Bodies even come in a multitude, a veritable rainbow of different colors, and each one is unique and different from the other, which is why the pull-up bar in this program is height adjustable…to accommodate all these different kinds of bodies.

Every Body Can Get Stronger
On the other hand, another thing kids learn in OPYOW is that if you accommodate all these different kinds of bodies, every body can make regular progress towards the goal of being able to Pull Your Own Weight, towards getting strong, and towards immunizing oneself against obesity for a lifetime. And when I say regular progress I mean that…done right, every time a kid grabs onto the pull-up bar, he or she will be better, stronger, and closer to becoming immunized against obesity than the last time. And this predictable progress will continue for a good six to eight weeks.

Collective Success Is Built In
Done right, every kid learns to expect improvement, every kid expects to be stronger, every kid expects that all the other kids will improve every time they have the opportunity to work out on the pull-up bar. And after each successful set of pull-ups, kids give each other high fives, and revel in one another’s success. Done right, this collective expectation of success is built into Operation Pull Your Own Weight.

Regular Slices of Improvement = Winning
Another thing kids learn in OPYOW is that regular improvement is winning, and that winning is improving, getting stronger on a regular basis. They also learn that getting stronger on a regular basis requires regular work, good eating habits, sufficient rest, and avoiding negative habits like tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. As a matter of fact they also learn the reverse, namely that without regular workouts, good eating habits, sufficient rest, and without avoiding tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, you are choosing to be weak. And as we’ve said on previous occasions, NO KID WANTS TO BE WEAK!

Done Right, Every Body’s A Winner
When presented right, you have kids standing in line at the annual fall fest, twelve and fifteen deep, all night long, paying money for the opportunity to get on the pull up bar and show their parents how strong they’re becoming. You have fifty-out-of-fifty kids who actively choose pull-ups over recess. And in one case, you have an entire (at-risk) school full of kids who take pride in their ability to Pull Their Own Weight. In other words, when presented right, in OPYOW, there are NO LOSERS, NO FAILURES. THERE ARE ONLY WINNERS. So make sure and present it right.

Until next time,

The Old Coach

P.S. On the pull-up bar these lessons are learned in a very concrete (non-abstract, non-theoretical) way. In other words it’s not just more talk, it’s real live, hands-on, interactive action that gets built into PYOW participants at a very practical level.

“Some Kids Want To Be Bad, But None Of Them Want To Be Weak”

One of the important strategies of Operation Pull Your Own Weight is to exchange the terms good and bad, for the terms strong and weak in your child’s vocabulary. Why you ask? In the seventeen years I spent teaching and coaching, I met plenty of kids who “wanted to be bad.” But I never met one who “wanted to be weak.”

Girls, Boys, All Ages…
That goes for girls as well as boys, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, religion, etc. Think about it for a second, have you ever known anyone who actually wanted to be weak? Personally I’ve never known anyone, who ever knew anyone, who actually wanted to be weak. We all want to be strong. It’s just how human beings are programmed. And for most kids, being able to perform pull-ups is a sure sign of physical strength.

What Does It Take?
But what does it take to develop strength on the pull-up bar? According to the OPYOW recipe it takes…regular work (twice per week), eating right, getting enough rest, and avoiding tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

In other words we taught kids that if they worked out on the pull-up bar a couple times each week, ate right, got sufficient rest, and avoided tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, they’d get consistently stronger and stronger on the pull-up bar. We also taught kids that if they failed to work out regularly, if they ate poorly, failed to get enough rest, and messed with tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, they were shooting themselves in the foot, and asking to be weak.

No Way! That’ll Make Me Weak!!!
In fact I had a kindergartner back in the Jefferson School days who, in front a class full of kids, looked up at me and said, “Coach, my uncle Freddie wanted me to smoke a cigarette with him last night, but I told him, “No way. That’ll make me weak.” I immediately gave this youngster five, as did his teacher, and the rest of his classmates who all understood that messing with tobacco, alcohol, and drugs make you weak! And as we said previously, none of these kids wanted to be weak in anything.

Readin’, Writin’, and Rithmatic Too…..
Interestingly enough, those same kids who want to avoid weakness on the pull-up bar, also want to avoid weakness in all other aspects of their lives too, including their academics. And interestingly enough the habits that make you strong on the pull-up bar are the exact same habits that make you strong in every other aspect of life as well. If you work at reading (writin’ or rithmatic) regularly, over a period of time, eat right, get plenty of rest, and avoid negative habits like tobacco, alcohol, and drugs, you’ll eventually be strong in reading (writin’ and rithmatic), taking it one step at a time.

In Conclusion…
In conclusion, done correctly, the lessons you teach on the pull-up bar carry over to all other aspects of a child’s life because, as we’ve said a number of times now, some of them may want to be bad, but none of them ever want to be weak. If you make your case in these terms, your kids understand, they’ll respond positively, and they will develop not only physical strength, but an inner strength and confidence (self esteem) in themselves and their ability to meet challenges, and to overcome obstacles. Is there a better lesson you can teach a child at a young age? Personally, I can’t think of one.

See you next time,

The Old Coach

Make OPYOW A Social Affair

Last time we talked about making pull-ups and opportunity or a privilege instead of an obligation or a job. And one way you can accomplish this goal is to make sure your PYOW sessions are social affairs in which you’re coaching at least two, if not three or four kids at the same time. This arrangement makes it more fun for your kids, and it allows each of them to witness one another’s continued success, giving high fives, and collectively appreciating how strong they’re all becoming.

Start Off Real Easy
Now in order for this to really work, it’s essential that you customize each child’s workout in such a way that they’re starting out at a level that’s EASY for them. Remember, you want to sneak up on this thing, and get used to it, before it becomes a real challenge, which it will soon enough.

Build In Regular Success
By starting each child at an easy level, it allows you to build regular success (one more repetition, one more resistance level) into the PYOW experience. Done right, each child will improve every time they work out for at least the first six to eight weeks. This strategy sets the PYOW stage in such a way that each child EXPECTS TO IMPROVE, expects to get high fives and pats on the back, expects that there’s a payoff for the time and effort invested, and they begin to look forward to each new PYOW experience. Now that’s no small task.

We’re All Getting Stronger
Under these conditions all the participants will see that everyone is getting stronger, and they’ll learn to celebrate and feel good about other kid’s wins as well as their own. They’ll all see that Jimmie or Susie CAN DO IT, just like the rest of us. Collective peer appreciation and validation is an extremely potent form of motivation.

The Inevitable Challenge Won’t Intimidate
When you start things off in this way, and kids are expecting to get stronger and they begin to understand that regular work, good eating and resting habits do payoff. And when the inevitable challenges come (and they will), your kids will hang in there, they’ll persist, and they’ll overcome the hurdles that would intimidate and defeat children who lack these experiences and these expectations.

We used to tell kids that laying thin slices of success/improvement on top of one another week after week, month after month, eventually yields a whole pile of success…and they understood that.

Tap Into The Power of Collective Expectations
The moral of this post is that, if you make PYOW a social affair and tap into the power of collective expectations of success, the kids will continue looking forward to the opportunity to grab hold of the pull-up bar and show the world, along with their friends, that they too can pull their own weight, that they too are getting stronger as they work regularly at it, and that they too CAN DO IT!

Until next time,

The Old Coach

Privilege VS Obligation In Learning To Pull Your Own Weight

As he reached the last rung on the monkey bars, his face grimacing, his little hands grabbing hold and hanging on tight, Billy Jr. dropped to the ground, beamed with pride, and crowed, “Dad, did you see that? I made it all the way to the end!”
Bill Sr. smiled broadly at his son and gave him a high five. “You’re really getting strong aren’t you Billy,” his dad said with a tangible sense of pride in his own voice.

Kids Naturally Revel In Physical Achievement
Now with this picture in mind, you’ll know what I mean when I say that kids naturally enjoy, even revel in their physical achievements starting with the first finger they grab, and the first step they take. And just because a task is difficult and challenging doesn’t mean that it’s any less enjoyable for kids. As long as the goal is valued, (i.e. reaching the last rung on the monkey bars) difficulty even increases the enjoyment.

Kids Are Naturally Curious and Creative
Kids are not naturally lazy and slothful. On the contrary, they’re natural born explorers of their environments. They’re curious about everything and everyone around them. When they see it, they naturally want to reach out and touch it, grab it, taste it, smell it, hear it, and experience it as fully as possible. That’s how and why kids grow so quickly in their formative years.

Privilege VS Obligation
Since kids are naturally programmed to explore themselves and the world around them, the challenge for a legitimate educator is to tap into that natural curiosity, to cultivate it, to encourage it, to grow it, day after day, week after week, month after month. But in order for that to happen, education must be presented and perceived as something the child gets to do, not something the child has to do. In other words, education must be seen as a privilege, an opportunity, instead of an obligation, a job.

Keeping The Flame Lit…
When this challenge is met, and this goal is achieved, the child’s natural sense of curiosity will remain inflamed, and they will continue to soak in new knowledge from new experiences, and they will also come to understand and appreciate the fulfillment that learning, in the best sense, has to offer.

Or Extinguishing It
On the contrary, when we inadvertently turn education into a job, complete with commutes, daily starting times, tasks that have to be completed whether the child wants to do them or not, and extrinsic rewards (i.e. stars and grades) that transform the natural born learner into an object to be compared and judged against others, the flame is extinguished. The child quickly learns that what adults call education is not fun, is not something you get to do, is not a privilege, but a job, an obligation, and something to avoid whenever possible. Kids and teachers live for the weekend, and summer vacation.

Regular Improvement Feeds The Flame
For these reasons, it’s essential for anyone wanting to teach a child to physically Pull Their Own Weight, that pull-ups be presented and perceived as something children get to do, not something they have to do. And the key to growing that curiosity flame and that privileged status lies in making sure the child walks away from each experience feeling successful, feeling better this time than last time, feeling as if there was a payoff for the time and effort invested. We’ll explore that topic next.

Bad, But Never Weak…
Until next time remember, lots of kids today want to be bad. But you’ll never meet a kid who wants to be weak. They all want to be strong.

Talk to you soon,

The Old Coach