{"id":55042,"date":"2016-03-16T10:12:56","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T15:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=55042"},"modified":"2026-10-22T20:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:40:12","slug":"podcast-183-when-high-school-pe-was-a-man-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/strength\/fitness\/podcast-183-when-high-school-pe-was-a-man-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #183: When High School PE Was a Man-Maker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Think back to your PE class in high school.<\/p>\n

If it was like most, you probably spent 45 minutes playing basketball or maybe had a lecture about the food pyramid or something. It was a blow-off class that you took because 1) it was required or 2) it was an easy A.<\/p>\n

But during the 1960s, high schools across America used a physical education program that was designed to create strong, athletic young people who’d go on to be strong and useful citizens with character.<\/p>\n

In short, it was a man-maker.<\/p>\n

The program was the brainchild of a WWII vet named Stan LeProtti. His inspiration for it came from the ancient Greeks and 19th century strongmen. The program consisted of a 12-minute bodyweight strength routine and a grueling obstacle course that emphasized functional movement. LeProtti’s system, which he created at La Sierra High School in California, was used in 4,000 high schools across America and inspired John F. Kennedy to make physical fitness a renewed priority in America’s schools. But after 1970, the program faded away and was replaced with what we now know as PE.<\/p>\n

My guests today on the podcast, Doug Orchard and Ron Jones, are making a documentary called The Motivation Factor<\/a><\/em> about this forgotten physical education program.<\/em> Today on the podcast, we discuss the history of the La Sierra program, its effects on the kids who took part in it, the routines they were doing, and the conversation they hope to start about physical education in today’s schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Think back to your PE class in high school. If it was like most, you probably spent 45 minutes playing basketball or maybe had a lecture about the food pyramid or something. It was a blow-off class that you took because 1) it was required or 2) it was an easy A. But during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,156,42380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","category-podcast","category-strength"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/183-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/183-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/183-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/183-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/183-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"\nPodcast: 1960s PE in High Schools | The Art of Manliness<\/title>\n<meta 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