{"id":71078,"date":"2019-12-02T15:18:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T15:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/\/\/uncategorized\/classical-pe-for-all-a-fast-effective-bodyweight-program"},"modified":"2022-11-20T15:53:51","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T20:53:51","slug":"classical-pe-for-all-a-fast-effective-bodyweight-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingmuscle.com\/classical-pe-for-all-a-fast-effective-bodyweight-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Classical P.E. For All: A Fast, Effective, Bodyweight Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bodyweight training is fast, effective, accessible<\/a>, and the best way into training<\/strong>. With a progressive, consistent approach, elite levels of fitness can be forged in this manner. After all, the body and its environment are really all most humans have ever had to train with.<\/p>\n

Bodyweight training is fast, effective, accessible<\/a>, and the best way into training<\/strong>. With a progressive, consistent approach, elite levels of fitness can be forged in this manner. After all, the body and its environment are really all most humans have ever had to train with.<\/p>\n

Bodyweight calisthenics<\/a> is the backbone of Georges Heb\u00e9rt\u2019s Natural Method<\/em><\/a> and the training of nearly every elite fighting unit throughout time. This type of training typified the physical education of all great Western societies going back to ancient Greece. It is the training every citizen was once expected to do. Yet no one is doing it.<\/p>\n

What adults need is what our kids need<\/strong>\u2014at least a few days a week in a classical PE model<\/a>. This is probably nothing like what comes to mind when you think of your PE experience. Today\u2019s PE curriculums push instructors to all day yo-yo training.<\/p>\n

I wish I was joking\u2014four hours of yo-yo based curriculum. By contrast, a classical PE model is built to create well-rounded, movement empowered citizens who are physically literate and capable of physically contributing to the community. This was once an expectation of all people. Damn automation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Thirds of PE<\/h2>\n

Exemplified by Stan LeProtti at La Sierra High School<\/a> in the early \u201960s, classical PE focused on three equally important thirds: restorative arts (including traditional fitness, calisthenics, and correctives), defensive arts (self and national defense), and pedagogical (sports, games, play, and theory).<\/p>\n

Each day at La Sierra began with a 400-meter jog and a 12-minute strength-endurance routine. That was the bulk of the daily physical training dose responsible for creating a truly remarkable standard of physical fitness.<\/p>\n

These were followed by either defensive arts or pedagogical activities and finally finished with a run through the obstacle course\u2014a gauntlet of pegboard walls, ropes, and unique manipulatives that honed bodyweight mastery. They called this 5 minute period their \u201coff-the-ground\u201d time.<\/p>\n

Characteristic of \u201cgrease the groove<\/a>\u201d training, La Sierra students achieved a staggering level of fitness through consistent daily immersion in this short, simple training regimen. Training videos<\/a> demonstrate the awe-inspiring feats like the extension press-up that La Sierra students famously demonstrated on Johnny Carson and in Look Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A sophisticated testing and shorts system<\/a> helped appropriately progress athletes in intensity while creating a motivating atmosphere that demanded mutual support and student leadership. Shorts groups were known as teams. The three basic groups were the white short team, red team, and blue team, although there was also a gold and even a navy short team for the extremely elite.<\/p>\n

All ninth-grade students began in white shorts and every student had the opportunity to level up twice a year by hitting the \u201cceiling performance in all fitness tests\u201d of whatever test battery they were attempting. For example, to move from white to red shorts groups, a student needed to test at or above all these ceiling performances:<\/p>\n