CatholicFIT Week 6 – Self Control & Pulling Strength (with Videos)

CatholicFIT Curriculum | Module 6

Here is the Module 6 Worksheet to open and review or print out.

This week’s principle is SELF CONTROL. I am what I focus on. Today is about “priorities” – what is important to us? Where do we spend our time? What distracts us? When do we struggle with self control?

We can reflect upon many ways to teach, embrace and practice self-control such as setting meaningful, clear goals to help us stay on track, keeping reminders of our goal-state around (a picture, rosary, etc), asking others for support or joining a support group/club or community with similar goals.

“God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

Activity Review & Learning Objectives

After this week, students should be able to:

  • understand the importance of reaching high overhead with a straight elbow to express good elbow, shoulder and upper back (posture) mobility.
  • demonstrate a proper pull up or pull up bar hang for an (biological) age-appropriate length of time. (Chronological age is the number, where as biological age takes into account physical development and maturity. This can vary greatly from student to student.)
  • identify different forms of temptations in their life: eating too much junk food, staying up late on mobile devices, spreading gossip, playing too many video games, talking back to parents or teachers, etc.
  • understand a few ways to counter these temptations or temporary lapses in self control through praying, breathing deeply and being mindful of actions, asking for intersession from St. Monica, the patron saint of patience.

Reflection Questions

  • When is a time you struggle with your self-control?
  • What is something you can focus on instead that could help you be healthier?
  • During times you want to focus on a task like homework or practicing a sport, how can you remove  temptations that may distract you?

Week 6 Resources & Worksheets

This week’s exercise is in part, a tough one, as many PE Teachers have no pull up bar. Nonetheless, as seen in the video below, consider the fetal, deskbound posture we are in most of the day. We must “reverse this posture”, and unglue our bodies from the desk chair position.

As we age, having the shoulder mobility to reach high overhead is something lost that also can cause shoulder, neck and rotator cuff issues, mostly due to our daily posture and sitting in chairs – so this week we discuss reaching overhead, pull ups, hanging, and pulling strength (think pulling the cord on a lawn mower, or pulling a heavy door open at the shopping mall.)

    Primary Exercises – as important as the deep squat for mobility, the ability to reach straight up overhead is crazy important for neck, upper back, and rotator cuff health. We then explore hanging, pull up bar hangs and “eccentric” pull ups (lowering yourself down from the bar.)

    Advanced “Cathletic” Pulling Strength Exercises – here we look at another good shoulder mobility drill you can do with a PVC pipe or broom stick, and then more pulling strength exercises including the TRX Inverted Row and Bentover Dumbbell Row.

    Next Module | Learning, Sharing & the Genuflect

    Next time we will practice the lunge exercise, which looks just like the genuflect! Plus, we will discuss “what you learn, you share” and that what you read, listen to, and watch on TV and your computer influences you more than you realize. This is the principle of LEARNING & SHARING. I am what I hear and watch.