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| No | 86% | 616 votes | Total: 720 votes | |
| Yes | 14% | 104 votes |
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Add to FavoritesBodybuilding should always be optional for students - if it is to be a curriculum option at all! Unless you are living the lifestyle of a lumberjack or a gladiator (which has been passe since ancient Rome), there are no justifiable health benefits to body building. At best, it is a vanity sport.
Bodybuilding creates a great deal of muscle mass which is not suitable to all body types and lifestyles. It certainly doesn't confer superior strength or agility ... some of the strongest people on the planet are relatively slight of build, such as many martial arts experts in the Orient. Their superior strength and agility is not attributed to bloated muscle mass (which incidentally, can put a strain on the heart).
All that bloated muscle mass, once attained, must be sustained or it can lead to sagging flesh and a seriously unfit appearance. Bodybuilding also effects one's hormone levels ... unless you are in a lifestyle where generous bursts of testosterone are desirable or even practical, think twice before building the massive biceps!
Also, not everyone is athletic by nature. As a youngster, I found gym class to be purely torturous ... my most dreaded class period! Pure misery! In fact, I failed gym one year and had to take it over in summer school, which wreaked havoc with my family's vacation plans. Instead, we were stuck in the hot, polluted inner city for the season - rather than swimming at a Cape Cod beach which would have been far, far healthier! Little good did that do me in the long-run scheme of life. Somehow, I stayed fit despite being terrifically unathletic. In fact, I had a perfect figure and was much more inclined to gentle exercise like yoga than lifting barbells! Had bodybuilding been a mandatory part of my curriculum, I may have been turned off to exercise of any sort!
In my opinion, all sports and typical physical fitness curriculum should be optional for students. More free playtime in the fresh air and sunshine and less obsession with body image would be far more beneficial to many students than forced hours in any gym. Bodybuilding, if anything, should not be actually "encouraged." Yoga and Tai Chi, on the other hand, should be encouraged, though not mandatory! If any youngsters wish to pursue body building, let them do so on their own time, as a personal choice, and not at taxpayers' expense! Most importantly, students should not be deceived into thinking that bodybuilding is a superior way to achieve fitness.
Learn more about this author, Violet Fortune.
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Yes
To most people bodybuilding and weight training are synonymous; however, there are significant differences. For this title, I believe that weight training may have been the intended topic.
Bodybuilding is a sport in and of itself. It consists of a very strict (bordering on dangerous) diet, grueling weight training sessions, never ending cardiovascular workouts and often require controversial diet supplements to achieve the lean, overly muscular physique required for competition. The demands placed on a person's body far exceed anything that should be allowed in any school age program.
Weight training, on the other hand, is invaluable in its physical and emotional benefits and should be compulsory, along with a cardiovascular fitness routine and nutrition classes, for students in the grades 10 through 12. Weight training is an important component of any fitness regimen.
Obesity is attacking our children at alarming rates. We not only need to teach our children that fitness is important, but we need to give them the tools they need to maintain a healthy lifestyle throughout their lives. Weight training, done properly, increases bone density, fights osteoarthritis, increases the body's overall metabolism (in turn increasing the body's ability to burn calories)and gives the body a lean, strong look.
Most kids are going to find their way into the gym on their own, either for sports conditioning or because they want to look more fit. No person should begin a weight training program without proper training and the last thing that you want is one untrained child teaching another untrained child. Poor form, lifting more weight than is controllable and over training can all lead to serious injury, the kinds of injuries that cannot be healed without surgery. Nowhere is proper education more important than when a person is beginning something new. Bad habits are difficult to break and I see bad lifting habits in the gym all the time. Learning the correct techniques and principles from the onset will allow your body to get the most benefit from each training session and provide the foundation for a healthful life.
Weight training along with cardiovascular conditioning and nutrition basics should be compulsory for our children. Most kids are going to find their way into a gym on their own and need to be armed with the knowledge to use the equipment safely and efficiently. Furthermore, it is important to give all kids the education and training they need to live long, healthy lives.
Learn more about this author, Victoria Sullivan.
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