Too Fat for Boy Scouts?

It seems that the Boy Scouts have implimented new height and weight guidelines for those who want to participate. Some are angry, while others agree with it.

Apparently I’m overweight for my height at 5’ 6" 210 lbs, I’m only supposed to be 118 - 167. Guess I need some carrotz.

The restriction applies only to “high adventure” outings. I completely agree with that. I was involed in the Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts and volunteered for alot of these things. As the adult leader you are responsible for the safety of other peoples children, if you have a heart attack or stroke you leave a group of kids trying to care for you or get your body out of the woods.

If one of the kids get hurt you better be able to handle that, no matter what. Can the guy who is 370lbs climb a rope to get a kid out of a hole or anything like that. Not to mention what a drag it would be for a bunch of kids to have to slow down and wait for the fatty to catch up with them.

It is a matter of safety for the kids and liablility for the Scouts.

As an Eagle Scout… I must say it kind of sucked to have the fat kids on the “high adventure” trips. I would have to move at probably less than 1/2 my pace because some kid was too lazy to take care of himself.

I think the scouts should implement a fitness program along with the new restrictions in order to help motivate this kids to get in shape.

[quote]totalfit wrote:
The restriction applies only to “high adventure” outings. I completely agree with that. I was involed in the Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts and volunteered for alot of these things. As the adult leader you are responsible for the safety of other peoples children, if you have a heart attack or stroke you leave a group of kids trying to care for you or get your body out of the woods.

If one of the kids get hurt you better be able to handle that, no matter what. Can the guy who is 370lbs climb a rope to get a kid out of a hole or anything like that. Not to mention what a drag it would be for a bunch of kids to have to slow down and wait for the fatty to catch up with them.

It is a matter of safety for the kids and liablility for the Scouts.[/quote]

But what if they are stranded and have to resort to cannibalism? it could be an asset.

My max weight is 260lbs, thats actually perfect, don’t really ever want to weigh more then that; maybe 265. But I can do the whole don’t drink water/starvation/wrestling thing for a day haha.

It’s one thing to say they shouldn’t be fat, it’s another to have artificial national standards. It would be better to have them pass a fitness test. The kids could take it too and it would double as education.

There is not even an exception for fit individuals. A doc can sign off but the red writing says it doesn’t even matter what the doc says.

When I was in scouts my dad was over 250 maybe 275, he had about 20% body fat at the time. Under this standard he wouldn’t be allowed, even though he would have been the strongest adult and be the most reliable in an emergency (due to his training and general hard assness in the face of emergencies lol).

All the other dads and volunteers were puny except for this one big old German woman with man hands.

Of course he is an exception, just like all big strong guys are an exception nowadays. But that’s the problem with national standards: my father would be the MOST qualified to rescue another person, and was in the best shape and would need rescuing the least, but would not be allowed on.

re: rescuing a hurt kid, it’s actually about rescuing the adult. But let’s say the scenario of rescuing a scout: no way in hell would my scoutmaster have allowed us to stand around while the adults did the rescuing. We trained for rescue and first aid, and they’d make us do it and probably supervise to make sure were were doing it properly and safely (important esp. for things like water rescue or someone falling through ice).

But that’s boy scouts, the article says boy scouts but the pic is of cub scouts. Obviously the adults would have to do any rescuing if it’s cub scouts.

The guy who was interviewed, and restricted because of his weight, complained about the BMI not taking into account things like lean body mass and overall fitness. He complained about how someone like a bodybuilder would be excluded because of his musculature. Of course, this guy was 5’6 270 lbs, and nowhere near a bodybuilder’s strength, physique, or leanness. Maybe bodyfat percentage would be a better indicator, but I think things got better with this rule. Most people don’t get excluded from shit like this because they are carrying too much muscle.