ORANGE : School Gym Club Works Out Well

A rowing machine. Bench presses. Computer-operated stationary bikes. It looks like a state-of-the-art health club.

But look closer: The patrons are students between the ages of 12 and 14, all wearing white T-shirts and green shorts and working out as part of their daily gym class at El Rancho Middle School in the Orange Unified School District. A noise that sounds suspiciously like a physical education teacher’s whistle pierces the air frequently, and the children move quickly to another piece of equipment.

The children are in their daily gym class.

The workout facility is in a converted storage room at the Anaheim school. The mastermind of the creation is gym teacher Donna Thompson. Three years ago, Kaiser Permanente gave the school $10,000 to buy the equipment and a computer that programs goals for each of the school’s 882 children. Factoring in their sex, weight, fat-to-muscle ratio and results on physical fitness tests, the computer designs the program goals each child should meet.

“This is state-of-the-art. High schools don’t have facilities like this,” Thompson said. “We constantly have graduates returning and asking if they can work out using the room.”

The students use the room an average of twice a week, Thompson said, spending their other gym periods in more traditional team sports like volleyball and basketball.

The goal of the program is to improve the upper-body strength, aerobic endurance, body composition and abdominal muscles of the youngsters, as well as to develop a lifelong habit of exercise. And besides the computer and up-to-date machinery, the program also makes use of more traditional exercises such as simple stretches and variations on rope climbing.

Thompson said she finds that girls like the room more than the boys.

“You would think of a weight room as being for boys, but it’s not. Girls are more into weight and body type at this age,” Thompson said. “Your first stereotype is that boys use the weight room, but it’s not. It’s the opposite. It’s crazy.”

Many of the students heartily endorse the new twist to school.

“It gives you a break for a while,” said Courtney Lore, 14. “Instead of making your mind strong, it makes your body strong.”

Added Sonia Chin, 13: “I like working out, exercising and stuff. This is the only class I get to do this in.”

The kids also say it helps them improve their all-around athletic performance.

Brad Schaefer, 13, who plays baseball, soccer and football, said he has doubled the number of pushups he can do since the class began in July.

“I love this class. It’s my favorite class,” Schaefer said.

And just last week, the program won second place in the California School Board Assn.’s Golden Bell Award, a statewide competition among education programs.

“We’re proud of” our gym, said school Principal Roger Duthoy. “When I was in phys ed, we played football, basketball. There wasn’t an emphasis on lifelong physical fitness.”