“Strong as an OX”.
That is why for our Push-up challenge we chose the OX as our Beast Badge symbol. Physical activity is important however being intentional is just as important. To complete the challenge the children needed to complete 30 regular push-ups or 5 clap push-ups.
The Goal
We wanted Inspire children to become stronger with a fun/rewarding component. Something that was measurable, no equipment and to be done at any time with anyone.
The beast badge challenges are meant to be difficult so that children do need to train, commit and persevere. We wanted to ingrain that you can achieve a goal, if you commit the time, energy, determination and focus.
We stay away from words such as can’t and impossible because we want to shift away from a losing mentality to a winners mentality.
Beginners to Athletes
We wanted the children at Inspire to be familiar and knowledgeable about resistance training and in particular a popular exercise the push-up. To get involved to understand and feel the mechanics of going down and up while activating our muscles. The more they practise and get involved the more they understand about muscles, movement and training. This will help them stay healthier and stronger by having that experience early on.
Strong as an OX
Children having physical strength has many benefits such as increasing bone density, decrease in resting heart rate, strengthening joints, increase metabolism, decrease chances of chronic illness and more.
Mind Over Matter
Before your body decides to give up, it is your mind that has decided. The strength of your mind relates to everything that you do, it influences your attitude and choices in life.
By pushing your body to it’s limits you are also exercising your mind. The more we push our limits the more comfortable we will be taking on more difficult tasks.
The Results
A lot of children were not able to complete challenge and THAT’s OKAY!
What we did see was children overcoming their limits. We’ve had children start at 1 and end up finishing 10 push-ups. Not only are their bodies getting stronger but also their minds. A lot of attitudes that said they can’t or it’s too hard, have now shifted to “I am going to get to 12 next time”. This has been a fantastic result overall because now we’ve given the children a time where they have exceeded their abilities and expectations. From here they are able to look back and use that as a reference for another difficult task ahead.
Lead by example
We have phenomenal staff at each of our centres, they were also participating as well. They didn’t just sit there and watch. They joined in because that’s what great leaders and role models do, we lead by example.
Kind regards,
Danny Taing (Taekwondo Manager)