To Ed Thomas, physical education is so much more than just a class we were forced to take every week in elementary school; it’s his life.

Thomas is an Iowa State health and physical education consultant and he was a physical education instructor at NIU from 1979 to 1993.

While at NIU, Thomas used historical methods of physical instruction to develop training models which are now being integrated into Army-wide physical readiness training.

“Students on campus acquire deformities through education,” Thomas said. “Physical education was designed to correct these things.”

Organized American physical education began in the mid-1800s, Thomas said.

“It was influenced by physicians who understood that rational movement could prevent and cure illnesses,” Thomas said. “European immigrants fueled the evolution of the physical education profession by bringing highly-evolved systems of physical training from Germany, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and other countries.”

These European systems were aimed at improving national productivity, national security and leisure, Thomas said.

“Training included on-the-ground, off-the-ground and combatives,” Thomas said. “Boxing, wrestling and fencing were the most common combatives, and the off-the-ground training was highly sophisticated. On-the-ground training included drills with dumbbells, medicine balls, sticks, Indian clubs, free calisthenics, running and other skills.”

In the 1920s, America began to focus on sports and games, Thomas said.

“We have struggled since then to understand the nature of physical culture,” he said. “Today’s youth are less fit than ever before, and postural deformities are so common that we look at them as normal.”

Progression, variety and precision are three principles of rational physical training, Thomas said.

“Post-secondary physical educators began to focus on theory in the early 1960s,” Thomas said. “Practical physical training skills are not appreciated in many schools, but I actually enjoyed serving without recognition or support at NIU. My rewards came from watching thousands of students transform themselves, and I appreciated the opportunity to teach and study at NIU.”

NIU was Thomas’ academic base camp.

“I arrived in 1979 and I was an instructor in the physical education department,” Thomas said. “I left in 1993 as an assistant professor.”

Thomas’s time at NIU motivated him to develop training models.

“My experience at NIU was a combination of continued study and practice, fueled by the joy that comes with working with interested and motivated students,” Thomas said. “My childhood experiences, military service and years of teaching at the University of Iowa all began to come together at NIU, and each trip abroad gave me more ideas about how to be a better teacher.”

Thomas received a service award and medal in 1996, and the United States Army Physical Fitness School recognized him when he left for Iowa in late 2000.

Thomas has advice for today’s students.

“The development and care of your body is a moral responsibility,” he said. “Take a careful look at how you treat it, and resolve to become wiser with time. Associate with people who value mind, body and spirit equally, and never be satisfied with mediocrity.”