By Judith Avery Santa Monica
According to Lloyd Garver (“Do a push up, go to jail,” page 4, June 21-22), one should strive to in fact not be physically fit, and therefore probably risk a variety of extremely poor health conditions to go along with that. I would surmise by his poor and personally skewed interpretation of an already limited study, that we should all sit around and eat chips and watch T.V. The association between being physically fit and being a criminal is absurd, not to mention the fact that he leaves out important evaluations of the study such as, “This study is a pretty weak gauge.”
It was also limited to Arkansas, where it was noted that most people entering the prison system there are on coke or meth which gives them the appearance of being fit and muscular.
And by the way, if Lloyd actually read the study, there was no strength evaluation done and it was all based on appearance and measurements. As it was also noted that it’s unlikely that someone not in shape is going to commit a crime where they would have to run away quickly.
And if we were to teach this information in schools we would basically be promoting childhood obesity which we are already seeing the health ramifications of now. How destructive can one be to not promote being healthy and fit in all walks of life?
And what does it say about you Lloyd that you’re “suspicious” of people who have good bodies? Maybe a little therapy is in order if you’re harboring that much insecurity.
What should be taught in schools is don’t believe everything you read; most, if not all, research studies are flawed; and eat well, get plenty of exercise, keep a positive outlook in life and avoid the horrendous number of diseases so much of our population is experiencing because they are not fit.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 26, 2008. Read the original PDF.