Preventing childhood obesity should, and easily can be a matter addressed and resolved within the family setting if you implement the following simple prescription.

1. For less than $100 buy a door mounted, height adjustable pull up bar. (1) It will save you lots of money and enable you avoid headaches in the long run.

2. Adjust the height of the bar so that it's at chin level while the participant's feet (This should include Dad, Mom, and all the kids) are solidly on the floor.

3. Have each member of the family record the number of leg assisted pull ups* they can perform EASILY in two minutes. Don't make this hard. Make it EASY!!

4. Each participant's goal should then be to become MEASURABLY STRONGER this week than last, stronger this month than last, and stronger this year than last.

5. More specifically the goal of each participant should be to be able to do ONE MORE leg assisted pull up this week than they could last week...and write it down.

6. With that number in hand you've established the participant's BASELINE.

7. Now for example, in the worst case scenario, say a participant starts with ONE leg assisted pull up (LAPU) in two minutes, and adds ONE more LAPU each week.

8. After year one, the participant will be able to do 53 (1+52) LAPU's in 2 minutes.

9. After year two the participant will be able to do 105 LAPU's in 2 minutes.

10. After year three the participant will be able to do 157 LAPU's in 3 minutes.

11. After year four the participant will be able to do 210 LAPU's in 4 minutes.

12. After year five the participant will be able to do 262 LAPU's in 5 minutes.

13. You can calculate this out as far as you'd like and it all works to maximize physical efficiency and to naturally eliminate obesity without pills, shots, or fancy diets.

14. This concept has been described as COMPOUND INTEREST for fitness, because small, regular deposits made over time ACCUMULATE into something big and significant.

15. If you wanted to double your pace you could change your goal from doing one more LAPU each week to doing one more LAPU each workout.

16. If you really wanted to get aggressive, you could add leg assisted dips (LAD's) and another 4 minutes worth of workout on alternate days (a total of 8 minutes/wk.).

What do kids learn from this experience? Among other things they learn:

1. To compete with themselves instead of competing with others, and to judge their success accordingly.

2. That achieving a little progress week after week, month after month makes you stronger at anything...including reading, writing, and arithmetic.

3. To expect to succeed in public every single time you grab the bar.

4. That succeeding in public at a difficult task is not only fun, but it's cool, and it makes you feel good about yourself in the process.

5. When you expect to succeed in public, and you feel good about yourself, you're willing and able to tackle new challenges in public and know how to make progress week after week, month after month, one small bite at a time.

6. To set goals, achieve goals, take responsibility, and to IMMUNIZE themselves against obesity for life by maintaining the ability to pull their own weight.

7. Bottom line is they'll learn to succeed at anything through RELENTLESS PERSISTANCE, week by week, month by month, year by year. This idea has been described as COMPOUND INTEREST for fitness, because it accumulates over time.

And what do parents (and teachers) learn? They learn:

1. That ALL KIDS want to be strong at everything and weak at nothing.

2. That kids appreciate and respect adults who, without pressure, help them become stronger. This is especially true when it's their parents. But teachers benefit as well.

3. That kids appreciate and respect adults who actually walk the walk themselves.

4. That families who sweat together, stick together.

5. And by the way, this strategy works for KIDS FROM 3 TO 93.

Notes

Workouts should be done twice/week for 2 minutes each time...total of 4 minutes/week, unless you add leg assisted dips which would double your workout time to 8 minutes/week.

Height Adjustable Pull Up Bar or Height Adjustable Pull Up Straps are interchangeable in this conversation, and there are a number of good options to choose from in this regard.

Leg Assisted Pull Ups (LAPU's) - Start with your chin at bar level and your hands gripping the bar. From there let yourself down until your elbows are straight. Then, using both your legs and arms pull yourself back up into the starting position. That's one repetition.

Leg Assisted Dips (LAD's) - Lower the height adjustable bar to just below waist level. Start from a standing position with your hands gripping the bar. Lower yourself down until your chest is even with the bar, then using both your arms and legs, push back up into a starting position.

Between these two exercises you cover all your upper body pulling muscles, all your upper body pushing muscles, along with your hips and legs in both exercises. It's an extremely complete workout that can be accomplished in minimal amount of time.

In general terms, the more LAPU's a person can perform in a particular amount of time, the more physically efficient (the less fat) they are. When someone can do 100 or more LAPU's in two minutes, they can no longer carry much excess weight. In other words, at this level of performance, they can't be obese. And done right, ANYONE can do this!!

And if maintained, the participant has naturally and functionally IMMUNIZED themselves against obesity for life.

Finally, start them young (kindergarten or a little younger is ideal) and you'll maximize the preventative (and minimize the rehabilitative requirements) aspects of this program.

Rick Osbourne is an ex-physical educator and coach (17 years) who currently writes for a living and serves as the Executive Director of Operation Pull Your Own Weight, (http://www.pullyourownweight.net) an informational web site that's dedicated to eliminating childhood obesity in one decade. If you're interested in childhood obesity prevention, then check it out any time. Osbourne is also a public speaker, and he's recently published a book entitled "Operation Pull Your Own Weight: A Radically Simple Solution to Childhood Obesity," (on the website) that provides practical minded parents and educators with "a simple, easily implemented, easily documented, and affordable solution to childhood obesity," according to the American Society of Exercise Physiologists (http://www.asep.org). Osbourne can be reached at Osbourne.rick@gmail.com

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