Physical Education 30
Max’s Physical Literacy Journey: A Cautionary Tale
Max awoke to the busy sounds of what he immediately recognized as the Intensive Care Unit which he had been in before when his father had a heart attack. But how did I get here, he thought. His doctor had only warned him about his lifestyle choices and physical condition a month ago so there did not seem any reason for urgency. Sure, his Blood Pressure had been elevated for years but it he seemed too young to be taking pills as he was just turning 50 next month. Maybe carrying a few extra pounds hadn’t helped but he was working on it by reducing his fast food consumption by only eating out 3 times a week at his desk he thought, and Subway is healthy isn't it? I guess I should have listened to my daughter telling me to stop smoking, but my job is so stressful that it helps me to get through my 70-hour work week he thought. Wasn’t that daily glass of red wine and that little aspirin supposed to counteract the effects of smoking? And a few lite beers can’t have caused any problems could it have? Guess I should have known that if I was so winded after walking up a flight of stairs to my office that may have been a sign. I’m a long way from the days on the high school track team. I should not have put off that Cholesterol Test that I was supposed to go for last month. He couldn’t remember what the good kind of fat right at the moment but guessed it was all irrelevant now. How did I get here? Why didn’t I listen to my doctor and my family? Heck, old man Bennett, our PE guy, used to harp on us about this stuff when we were in high school but who cared about that stuff when we were young.......guess I should have listened he thought as he drifted back to sleep without the aid of his sleep apnea machine and a chest full of tubes and two new Stents in his heart. A doctor stopped by the room to talk Max’s wife and explained that he was a very lucky man as he had survived even though he had most of the Lifestyle Risk Factors.
Handout_Intro #1: Heart Disease Fact Sheet_Government of Canada
Handout_Intro #2: Ms. Understood: Heart and Stroke
Handout_Intro #3: Mortality Due to Heart Disease and Stroke: Conference Board of Canada
Handout_Intro #4: Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics (USA): American Heart Association
Assignment #1: Ideally you will skim all the information from the links and handouts above. The assignment will guide your reading and ask questions from all handouts and links. Your instructor will email you the link for the assignment.
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Recovery has been slow and painful, but the results are amazing Max told his co-workers on his first visit to the office since the heart attack. I still have a long way to go but I am moving in the right direction. I have learned so much about healthy active living in the past three months that I cannot even believe it myself. He told his friends that one of the main things he has learned is that fitness is for life. Lifelong Fitness seems like a simple concept but takes some time and effort to attain and sustain. My Physiotherapist and Kinesiologist have taught me so much about thePrinciples of Training and the FITT Principle. Who would have thought that there are actually two types of fitness? That I don’t remember from high school PE. My son was telling me about how they use heart rate monitors in school to learn about aerobic fitness or was it anaerobic I can never remember. Anyway, if you exercise in a certainTarget Heart Zone you can make your heart stronger and be less susceptible to heart failure. I was talking to our neighbor Joe who teaches Biology at the high school and it was unreal the number of physiological changes that occur in your body as a result of applying some basic principles. I have gotten so excited about this stuff that I am volunteering down at the 5K fun run this weekend. I think next year I will get on the committee and help organize or maybe I should try to run it. Gosh, I haven’t run that far since provincial track in grade 11. Why did I quite running he thought? The answer came to him but in retrospect he was embarrassed by the answer.......he had started smoking and that was more important at the time. His parents had smoked for years but they really didn't know any better because at that time no one knew the risk but should have. Now I hear that vaping is supposed to be better than smoking but I think its just a marketing ploy too.
Outcome 30.1: Leadership Through Service
Outcome 30.2: Lifelong Fitness
I remember as a kid that we used to play a lot of games in PE. I loved it but looking back there were a bunch of kids that didn’t like those games so much. I just realized that I don’t like playing competitive games anymore because I can’t find anyone I can keep up with, he laughed. My wife and I are going to take a ballroom dance class next month at the civic centre and I can’t believe how I am looking forward to it. I have been doing a lot of swimming and walking these days and I seem to be getting stronger every day. What was that principle called, Progression I think it was? I’m selling golf cart and going to walk from now on as long as my knees hold up. I am really starting to enjoy just being in the moment when I exercise and put all those stressful things out of my mind. I can’t wait for the rink to open this fall so that I can skate for 30 minutes before work. No more 70 hours a week for this guy.
(Max’s) youngest child is going on a school field trip in June and are already looking for helpers. Max thought about what skills he could bring to the trip. They are looking for someone to do some type of outdoor navigation. Being a hunter, Max was sure that he could set up an orienteering course and or a geocaching activity. Those are good lifelong skills and could even be done in the winter he thought to himself. Maybe he would go on his daughter’s grade 12 ski trip to the mountains as well. Might have to stick to snowshoeing though as skiing was never his thing.
Outcome 30.4: Movement in Multiple Environments
Max had been doing a lot of thinking about his kids since the heart attack. He was worried about if they would end up the same way he did. He was always active in high school with sports just like his daughter who played volleyball and hockey and his son who loves football and curling. It was his youngest though that really concerned him. As his business grew and time at home become less and he had less energy he just had not spent time playing catch or kicking the ball around with him. For whatever reason, Lance had just not acquired some of those basic skills like his siblings had. As a result, he just didn’t like sports even though they had put him in many different ones. He thought to himself how much fun he had as kid when he became proficient at basic skills and really understood the ins on and outs of different types of games.
Outcome 30.5: Complex Skill, Tactics and Strategies
Lance was more of an academic kid and really likes social studies and math. He is learning a lot about First Nations culture right now and seems to really enjoy it. Who knows, maybe he might like to play lacrosse as he likes going to those Rush games or learn about some other First Nations games. I saw some of those activities on the National one night and they look pretty challenging. Could be fun to learn them together he thought to himself.
Outcome 30.6: First Nations and Metis
Since the heart attack, (Max) could not believe how little he knew about nutrition. Heck, the old Canada Food Guide isn't even the same as he remembered. Someone said it had probably changed three times since he was in school. His nutritionist and kinesiologist were talking about BMI or was it BMR last week. Anyway, some formula that helps with determining how many calories you should eat. He did learn that caloric intake is important but you also need to know where those calories are coming from. All this talk about nutrition had got him thinking about the weight training program his son was one. What was that stuff he brought home from GNC the other day? Does he really need protein powder and creatine at his age? Is it really good for him and are there any side effects? Max then mused about all the diets that his wife had been on over the years and was that a good thing or not? There was the Atkins Diet and the Scarsdale Diet and then who is Jenny Craig anyway? He was pretty sure that the cardboard box that some of the food came in would taste better. And who really likes the taste kale. All this thinking about nutrition made him think that he needed to talk to his daughter’s hockey coach about all the Powerade they provide for the players. That can’t be good to drink that much can it?
One thing that he was really enjoying about his recovery was that he was getting back into the gym and starting to do some weight training. He remembered his mother not letting him have a weight set when he was young as she thought it was too dangerous. His kinesiologist has been stressing how important Biomechanical principles of movement are so that you don’t injure yourself and cause long term damage to your body. He sure hoped that the kid’s PE teachers and coaches are teaching and monitoring proper techniques.
Outcome 30.8: Physiology and Biomechanics
This made him think about a quote that he couldn’t quite remember how it goes but something like healthy mind is just as important as a healthy body. Max was pretty sure that those two things go hand in hand now. He was feeling so good now that he was really becoming interested in learning more about the interrelationship because physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Some of those ideas that they talked about at the hospital he had never even heard of but it was something he was seriously starting to believe in.
Outcome 30.9: Exercise Psychology
Max still could not believe that he had let so many things get away from him and he ended up in the situation he was. He was grateful for the medical care and family support he received. He had so many questions about his health and what he needed to do to maintain a healthy active life. He couldn’t decide what area he was going to investigate next. The one burning question that he thought about often though was why didn’t I learn all this when I was young?
Outcome 30.10: Self Directed Study