Grade-schoolers' challenge: Do one pull-up
Grade school students in Channahon have issued a challenge to other grade school kids: Do one pull-up.
In Operation Pull Your Own Weight, the N.B. Galloway School first-, second-and third-grade students are challenging all takers their age to do one pull-up. That's right, just one, and they have until the end of the year to get it done.
The school with the greatest percentage of students who can do one pull-up by the end of the school year wins.
Last year, a third of Galloway's students were able to achieve that goal. This year, they're aiming much higher -- 50 percent. Galloway physical education instructor Debbie Larson said she has confidence her students will rise to the occasion.
"As a physical educator," Larson said, "we know that when kids try to improve on their own fitness levels by doing one pull-up they may not have an obesity problem when they grow up."
"A kid who can do a pull-up is not obese," Osbourne said. "You can't carry much extra weight and do pull-ups. If you can do that pull-up, and you eat nutritiously and exercise regularly, you'll be able to maintain that ability through your life."
Students who are heavier, he said, may not be able to do that pull-up the first time they try, but that goal may motivate them to begin eating healthier and getting more physical to get in better shape through the school year.
"This is a wonderful motivator to watch what you eat and exercise enough," he said. "And with twice a week practice, they can get closer and closer to doing a pull-up."
Osbourne said the idea for a pull-up challenge began a few years ago when he became part of an at-risk grant in the Quad Cities area. The idea was for students to do weekly exercises to develop enough upper body strength to eventually be able to do at least one pull-up.
"The goal was to improve self-esteem and performances," he said.
The straps are hung from a pull-up bar and adjusted for students' varying heights. The first day, they might do eight leg-assisted jumps to get as high as they can. The next day, they will do nine jumps, then 10, up to 12, after which the straps are raised an inch, then the jumps are started at eight a day again, and the cycle repeats. Eventually, with increasing upper body strength, many students are expected to be able to do pull-ups without the assistance of their legs.
That's what Larson hopes.
"We want them to get hooked on physical fitness," Larson said. "We want them to become lifetime consumers of physical activity. It's so much fun to see them when they do a pull-up. They're so excited."
For details on Galloway's Pull Your Own Weight Challenge, call 815-521-3184 during school hours. For information on the pull-ups straps, visit www.pullyourownweight.net.
