6/5/20 ~530pm
Walking by he greets me, so I greet him back, he stops, and starts talking.
I go with it, no need to be rude to an 8th/9th/10th grader. I’ll talk to anyone, he likely needs to talk.
I often find myself as the much needed ear to young men. Taking the role of an older brother that they don’t have. Being a good man, I can’t not be this way, as it would’ve been helpful to me in my teens/earlier 20s.
He’s a fat kid, 13 (but big enough I thought him 15 just like people did with me), but is speaking of sports, and had been dribbling a basketball, so I assume he wants that to change.
I let him vent some, and I told some stories.
I never once insulted him, I did talk about going from 212 to 174 as a freshman riding the exercise bike nightly for 6-9 months, I told of quitting football and wrestling the same year, I told how to make weight once as a junior I did burpees and high knees for 20 minutes straight, layered up and under a heat vent.
I spoke of how I’d have enjoyed school more.
One of my first weight loss stories you could see his face discerning whether I was just mocking him or not. He read my vibe, saw that I try to have a big heart full of compassion, and didn’t take offense.
His listening went from “is he making fun of me” to “wow, it’s possible”.
“Honestly man, at your age my problem was too much snacking and too much playstation.”
“That sounds like exactly where I’m at.”
Looking at him, I saw and heard myself from the gate.
Height, weight, personality, I saw myself back then.
Pretty much everything he said I’d assumed rightly by thinking about my own grades 7-9.
Knowing where he’s at, I know that a pretty miraculous change can happen at that point.
With summer ahead, he could walk back into school next year completely different.
I know what I did at that age wasn’t perfect, but I did lose weight. That kid was mentally on the cusp of making it happen, I saw it in him, I remember it in me.
So I was talking to him like he was athletic and had already made the change. Just telling him what I experienced.
Seemed the outlook to take to build him up.
He was outside with a basketball, that’s what I was doing at the exact same age.
At 13 I was thinking about it then, a year and a half later was when I made the decision.
Without training the kid, what he comes up with on his own is going to be somewhat misguided, but it’ll work.
I hope I helped the seed grow more quickly.
I did it second semester freshman year.
He’s about to enter 8th grade. He has the potential to make that change a full year and a half before I did.
Starting fat I had three years of athletics in highschool. This kid could have all four, even have 8th grade.
If your parents eat garbage and watch tv sure it’s a struggle, but not perfect is good enough.
A fat kid who takes matters into his own hands and changes that, it’s a coming of age thing.
A conversation like that with a man in his mid 20s, speaking of being in the same place…
I never had that,
I hope I helped him.
-J
P.S. And honestly a gym done right would make money from adults, but be free or nearly so for youth so as to make positive change in the individual young adult and the community as a whole. Space. I need the space/place. $30/month youth dues could be work/traded at the rate of clean the place once a month for membership, and now you can have 30 kids taking pride in themselves and the place.
Also I thought about what I’d have this kid do : a couple bucks would build a tire sled to drag, otherwise holds/postures, and walks. Transition into calisthenics and sprints as strength is gained and weight lost. Though there’s probably a level of “fat boy strong” already present. Keep that, add movement, change him for the better. When I lost weight there wasn’t enough strength stimuli. Massive cardio is what I did, I would’ve transformed to a higher level if there was strength training present. This means I know how to do it, and teach it.