Sample Lesson Plans: Fitness

As one of the six activity areas, fitness comprises 10% (10 hours) of class time during the year; however, it is unique in that it is meant to be incorporated throughout the year in as many classes as possible rather than being dealt with as a single 10 hour unit. Fitness activities can be included in the warm up, skill development and cooldown stages of a lesson. These fitness activities should relate to the activities involved in that lesson and unit. For example, if the students are focussing on the jumping events in track and field, attention should be paid to strength and flexibility .

Students in middle level physical education are at a developmental stage physically. It is not as important for them to improve their fitness levels as it is for them to get into the habit of being physically active every day. Particularly in the younger grades, it is more important that students get a sense of what it feels like to be vigorously active than it is for them to know if they are working within their submaximal heart rate range . Participation in physical education classes can show students that being active on a regular basis is challenging, invigorating and enjoyable .

Students should have the opportunity to make personal choices about being active. They should take responsibility, plan for, and engage in activity without the supervision of the teacher outside regular class time. Saskatchewan's health education curriculum provides students in grade 7-9 with the opportunity to design and run action plans related to various health issues in their lives. A sample action plan similar to the ones used in the health education curriculum can be found on page 156 of this section. Teachers may wish to integrate the skills students have developed in health classes with physical activity and fitness action plans in physical education. Teachers might want to have the students make two copies of their action plans so that one can be kept on file.

When teaching physical education to middle level students, educators might wish to focus on the following fitness parameters: cardiorespiratory endurance, strength and flexibility. Specialists in the areas of physical education, exercise physiology and so on are aware that there are other parameters as well, such as power and muscular endurance; however, time might be best spent focusing on parameters that will help middle level students decrease their chances of injury and help them move with ease.

The following pages provide teachers with basic information about cardiorespiratory endurance, strength and flexibility. They also contain suggestions about the types of activities which develop each parameter. Teachers will be able to add to these suggestions by using written, visual and human resources. For example, the Bibliography includes resources that may help teachers to incorporate fitness into daily lessons.

Fitness Parameters

Cardiorespiratory Endurance

In simple terms, cardio means heart and respiratory means breathing (lungs). Endurance is the ability of the heart and lungs to provide oxygen to the muscles so that a certain movement can be repeated many times. Examples would be biking, running, swimming. This parameter has the most influence on how a person generally feels on a day-to-day basis; that is, how much pep a person has.

Here are ways to develop this parameter:

• fitness walking
• running
• hashing
• rope skipping
• continuous motion relays (that is, where all team members are in motion at once)
• cross-country skiing
• snowshoeing
• aerobics (such as, aquacize, step, low impact)
• obstacle course
• circuit training

Strength

Strength is the ability of a group of muscles to exert force against some sort of resistance. Strength is important to middle level students' overall physical well-being because it allows an individual to perform everyday tasks without injury. For example, it is important for a person to be able to lift a carton and put it on a shelf above the head without dropping the box or injuring the lower back. This means the upper body (that is, arms and shoulder areas) must be strong enough to lift the carton. While the box is being lifted towards the shelf, the abdominal muscles must be strong enough to keep the lower back in alignment. Also, strong muscles are firm muscles. They provide a more pleasing physical appearance.

Developing strength requires little or no equipment. At the middle level, students may use their own body weights as resistance; they can also use soup cans instead of free weights, surgical tubing instead of a universal gym, etc.

General points to remember are:

• Muscles of the body work in partners. For the body to stay balanced both partners must be developed. For example, the biceps on the front of the upper arm is partnered with the triceps on the back of the arm. If biceps curls are part of a student's workout, then triceps curls must be, too. If a student has done side leg raises for the outside of the leg, then the leg must be totted at the hip and side leg raises for the inside of the leg must be done as well. When one partner is strengthened and the other is largely or entirely excluded, the partnership becomes unbalanced. The result is often injury to the weaker partner.
• Make sure students move their joints through the full range of motion. For example, if students are using soup cans to provide resistance for biceps curls, the elbow joint should move its full range so that the muscle becomes strong through that entire range.
• Strength exercises must be done slowly. A "one elephant, two elephants" count up and "one elephant, two elephants" down is reasonable.
• Avoid touching down between the upward movement and the downward movement. If a student is doing side leg raises, the proper technique would be a two-count up, a two-count down, avoiding the tendency to stop and rest the top leg against the bottom leg.
• Students will gain more strength benefits if they use the principle of negative training. Using a biceps curl as an example, as the student is doing the two-count up, he or she is to contract (that is, tighten) the muscle. On the two-count down, the muscle is to remain tightened so that it is working for four counts in a row. Students tend to tighten the muscle on the first two counts and relax the muscle on the last two counts.
• When working a muscle or a group of muscles, the student's goal should be approximately 15 continuous repetitions. Anything over twenty begins to turn the activity into endurance instead of strength.
• If older students are using free weights, a safe rule of thumb to follow is: if a spotter is needed, the weight is too heavy.

Here are ways to develop strength:

• Upper body
  • medicine ball (tossing, rolling, etc.)
  • climbing and hanging activities (peg board)
  • wheelbarrow - safety is a factor (The person acting as the wheelbarrow dictates how quickly he or she is wheeled.)
• Torso - abdominal curls (Note: the partner to the abdomen is the lower back. Injury to the lower back does not usually result from the back not being strong enough. What the lower back needs is development in flexibility as opposed to strength. A healthy lower back depends on good flexibility and strong abdominals which help maintain posture.)
• Flies with soups cans. This works the front of the torso. Strengthen the upper back by doing reverse flies.

  Lie on back.

  Knees bent.

  Arms straight.

  Raise cans up until

  they touch.

• High knee lifts to strength the buttocks (e.g., running through double rows of tires, running stairs)
• Legs - straight leg raises with a pelvic tilt for the quadriceps (i.e., front of the thighs). Students with lower back problems should work only one leg at a time.
• Hamstring curls using surgical tubing for the back of the thighs.

  Use side wall for support.

  Keep bent knee close

  to other knee.

  May also be done from

  a prone position

  (i.e., on stomach).

• Heel raises for calves.
• Toe taps for the other calf muscle which can be seen at the front of the leg.

  Support lower back by

  placing hands on thighs.

• Inside and outside leg lifts. Use one hand or tubing for resistance.
• Wall extensions - the student uses a partner for resistance.

  Use wall for stability.

Page 155 contains a sample of a strength circuit with a cardiorespiratory component. Students work in partners. Students may begin at any station and move on from there. Partner A stays in the centre of the activity area and jogs around a path indicated by pylons or lines on the floor or skips rope. Partner B begins at Station 7 (for example) and does knee pushups for 30 seconds and "v" sit-ups for 30 seconds. The teacher shouts "Roll over!" at the 30 second mark. After 1 minute, students are given 10 seconds to move to the next appropriate station .

Since the ten stations are focussing on strength, the exercises performed at these stations are to be done slowly, with "two elephants" up and "two elephants" down. If marks are to be awarded for this circuit, they should be assigned for proper technique, encouraging one's partner and so on. Marks should not be awarded for how many repetitions were done.

Flexibility

Flexibility is a joint's ability to move through a full range of motion. This ability is inherited to a large degree; however, flexibility exercises are important to maintain and improve (to a certain degree) the range of motion through which a joint can move without injury.

Page 157 contains information about stretching with towels or ropes. There is also information about partner stretching. Both types of activity are effective when the goal is the maintenance and improvement of students' flexibility.