At the end of February, the first pull-up day took place under the motto: "Pull yourself up and learn!" with over 100 students in grades 9 and 10 at the Eduard-Spranger-Gymnasium in Filderstadt.
The pull-up day, which was initiated together with Nicolas Wolf, sports advisor to the regional council in Stuttgart, is a new, innovative teaching concept that integrates two to three pull-up training sessions per week into the lesson. With both primary goals to increase the executive functions of the students in the classroom in addition to the physical training. Based on current scientific findings from a still new discipline of brain research, movement neuroscience: According to this, physical activity of a certain type, duration and intensity is of great importance for mental health and cognitive performance (see overview by Ratey / Hagermann, 2013)! Numerous empirical findings show that the so-called executive functions (EF) in particular can be trained by doing sports. The EF are also referred to as cognitive control functions and thus make a significant contribution to cognitive performance.
The course of the pull-up training so far
So far, all 100 students have been consistently training twice a week since pull-up day and doing three to four sets. If lessons were canceled, the respective training unit was simply made up for during a break. The current training plan until the Easter holidays looked like this:
The students use a power point timer to measure pace and breaks and all have their own training diary in which they record the results of the training sessions. To date, all students have improved very well.
At an open day at the school 2 weeks ago, all visitors were guided through the school building in groups. Everyone was also informed about the project in the area of pull-up bars. There were some parents interested in the project. Some also took photos. A father suggested that this would also be a good idea for the office where he works.
Before the Easter holidays, which are currently taking place, some students have already asked how they can maintain the pull-up progress they have already made. One student has even bought a pull-up bar and installed it at home. We have given all other students further recommendations so that they can also do the pull-up training during the holidays.
The aim is to change the pull-up variant after the Easter holidays and to increase the number of units to 3 times a week.
The next Pull-Up Day follows in May, introducing new pull-up variations and methods to increase pull-up performance—and executive function.
For a complete overview of the “Pull yourself up and learn! – Pull-up training in the classroom” project click here
Picture: Nicolas Wolf (right) and Wolfgang Unsöld (left) in front of the pull-up bars in the Eduard-Spranger-Gymnasium in Filderstadt.