Shaq's Big Challenge: Episode One

Raise your hand if you watched Shaq's Big Challenge last night on ABC? You know my hand is raised -- In fact, I tivo'd it! I have been a bit apprehensive about the whole show from the beginning with my fears that they would exploit overweight children for Shaq's fame, but that was not the case at all.

Last night we met the team (Shaq, Joy Bauer and Dr. Carlon) as well as all the kids enrolled in the program (two 11 year old boys, a 13 year old boy, two 14 year old girls and another 14 year old boy). The ultimate goal? Getting those kids fit by the end of six months.

The team's first task was to assess the kids' current level of fitness, which was not good. The average girl 10-14 should be able to complete 30-37 curl-ups and 10-15 push-ups in one of minute each. The average boy aged 10-14 should be able to complete 35-45 curl-ups and 14-30 push-ups in one minute of each. The majority of the kids on the program could not even complete one single rep of either exercise.

The thing I found most interesting about it all was the role that the parents played. Most of them enabled these children to become extremely overweight whether it is from being overweight themselves, seeing it as a cultural norm or because it is was just easier to feed the kinds junk food or let them play video games 24/7 rather than face the music. We can only hope that other parents in the same boat watching the program may realize that overweight children are a family problem, not just something that falls only on the kid's shoulders.

These kids amazed me with how supportive they were of each other and themselves -- I am definitely anxious to watch the next five episodes (only 6 total). Shaq did a good job of balancing humor with seriousness. While it was strange that his massive Miami mansion got about as much airtime as the kids, I am still impressed with the show overall.

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