An Open Letter to Michelle Obama Regarding Childhood Obesity Prevention
The following is a proposal that I sent on June 26th, 2023 to the Obama Foundation, in the care of Michelle Obama. It addresses her interest in the continuing pandemic of childhood obesity. I have yet to get a response from her. By turning it into an open letter I’m hoping to get her attention on a very resolvable problem.
Re: Functional Childhood Obesity Prevention Proposal
Dear Ms. Obama,
Having followed your Let’s Move initiative since its inception, I am well aware of how serious you were about addressing and resolving the 21st-century obesity crisis. I’m also sure you know that the COVID pandemic has caused the crisis to become worse than ever.
In that light, my name is Rick Osbourne. I’m an Aurora, IL resident and a self-ordained Functional Childhood Obesity Prevention Specialist with an MS in Physical Education from Western Illinois University. I taught PE and coached for 17 years and during that time I NEVER saw an obese child who could do even one conventional pull-up. In other words, in my own experience, children who COULD DO at least one conventional pull-up were NEVER OBESE.
During that same period, I attended numerous Physical Education conventions where I asked many colleagues if they’d ever seen an obese child who could do even one conventional pull-up. The answer was ALWAYS a resounding NO WAY! NEVER! So, no physical educator that I spoke with had ever seen an obese child who could do even one conventional pull-up. The verdict was unanimous.
While attending one of these conventions I was introduced to data that featured 492 fourth and fifth graders including 290 boys and 202 girls. The ONLY qualification was that every participant was able to do at least one conventional pull-up.
Of the 202 girls, 91% were in the normal range (5-85%). 8% carried a little excess body weight (85%), while 0% of these girls were obese. 100% of the girls were NOT OBESE!
Of the 290 boys, 83% were in the normal range. 14% carried a little excess body weight, while 2% were technically labeled obese. I didn’t see any of these boys, but my bet is that the 2% labeled obese were actually the linebackers in the group and likely did not carry 30% body fat. Regardless, at least 98% of the boys were NOT OBESE!
With that information in hand, I speculated that if we started young (elementary school) before obesity got a foothold, and helped students learn to do them, most students could arm themselves against obesity for life by simply learning and maintaining the ability to perform pull-ups.
BTW, maintaining the ability to do pull-ups requires almost no time per week, almost no equipment, and almost no money. The ability to do pull-ups (at least one) is functional proof that one’s nutrition and exercise habits are good enough to avoid obesity. Show me 100 people who can do at least one conventional pull-up and I’ll show you 100 people who are not obese.
The question at this point became how can we MOTIVATE students who are likely to resist doing an exercise that’s generally considered to be pretty challenging? The answer is that we introduced a set of infinitely adjustable suspension training straps in conjunction with a simple technique known as leg/squat-assisted pull-ups.
With access to these, 99% of all students found a place where they could start successfully as well as a systematic way to make regular, documentable progress on their way to reaching the goal of doing pull-ups. We found that regular success (getting stronger is always cool) in front of their peers was an extremely strong motivator.
My Proposals
That said, I propose the following. First, ask yourself if you’ve ever seen an obese child/person who can do even one pull-up. Presuming the answer is no, ask Barack,, Malia, Sasha, and 25 of your closest friends the same question.
Presuming the answer is still no, I propose we survey all the physical educators in Chicago Public Schools and ask them the same question.
Presuming the answer continues to be no, let’s disregard the enclosed data and create our own by identifying 400 CPS students, half boys, and half girls, reflecting the ethnic makeup of Chicago Schools as closely as possible. All participants must be able to do at least one conventional pull-up. Then let’s collect their age, grade level, height, and weight, calculate their BMIs, and see what percentage are obese and what percentage are not obese.
Let’s also identify 100 adults, 50 men, and 50 women, all of whom can do at least one conventional pull-up, and collect their age, height, and weight, calculate their BMIs, and see what percentage of these adults are obese or not obese.
Next, if the first several proposals reflect my research, I propose that we approach the Cooper Clinic in Dallas and ask them to reinstate conventional pull-ups on their Fitness Gram test that’s used to measure student fitness nationwide. This would give physical educators a good reason to help students learn to physically pull their own weight.
The cost of doing all the above would be relatively small.
Presuming the Cooper Clinic agrees, I finally propose that the Obama Foundation promote the ability to do pull-ups as a simple, functional, and cost-effective way to prevent obesity nationwide/worldwide. This, of course, would require substantial funding.
“It’s easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults.” Frederick Douglass
Note, we are NOT saying the INABILITY to do pull-ups makes anyone obese. There are many (if not most) normal-weight, and under-weight children who are unable to do a conventional pull-up. However due to their lack of excess body weight, these kids learn to do pull-ups quickly.
Respectfully,
Rick Osbourne
630-857-3502