(Barnes brother Solo #31-circa 2013)

Click photo to see “The HILL”

I posted this last week on my FB page, but I thought I’d share it again on RTM.

Figuring out what to do with the fellas for the summer can be a challenge. Thankfully, I have the flexibility to come up with the kind of regimen that will not on challenge their minds and bodies, but will hopefully prepare them to be successful for the upcoming school year and football season. In short—I work their asses off. If they want to talk about being great, that means I have to push them to be great. It just doesnt happen. I have a few sayings about greatest that I hope they hold on to and share with their sons (I’ll post them on the Barnes brother-isms page).

We talk on a daily basis about being elite, about being a ‘machine’. That takes work. And in my opinion, you can’t push a kid hard enough. Obviously, you know how much your own child can take; what kind of workload will push them to the edge. But its our job as parents to see how far they can go. You have to be cautious of physical and mental exhaustion and burn out. Once that threshold is determined, you give them all they can handle. They’ll thank you, maybe years from now, but they will. And no, I’m not Joe Jackson, I just feel like I’d being doing my dudes a disservice if I didn’t do everything I could to allow them to maximize their abilities.

Below you’ll find their weekly routine. Copy it. Put you kids through it for a week. Modify it. Its yours. Push them to greatness.

(For the 13, 9, and 7 year old)

*Get up; 7-8 AM *Wash up

*Clean your room and family room (on top of chores for the day); eat breakfast

*2-paragraph summary from an online news source; Mon-Thurs

*Read 2 chapters from book of choice

*4 pages (2-language arts, 2 math) from test prep workbooks

*Write down quote from notable African American on Monday to be memorized by Friday

*110 pushups; 100 situps *

Choose 2 from a group of 5 cardio exercises (run 4-6 laps,run hill 4-6 times, 200 jumping jacks, 200 revolutions jumping rope, 50 burpees)

Every. Damn. Day. (except for Sat and Sun.)