Welcome to 2012! Here’s hoping you had an excellent break. We have all returned to nothing close to Swimming Carnival quality weather that’s for sure!
Let’s take this opportunity at the start of the year to talk a little medium to long-term re the fitness and health of your students (and you).
I once heard tennis great Martina Navratilova say, that a bit of exercise several times a week is way better than one, intense hit out a week. With this simple, yet very effective piece of advice in mind, how about setting a goal to raise you student’s heart rate for a 15 minute period, 3 times a week (in addition to their PE Lessons)?
We're not talking marathons - just 15 minutes a few times a week.
There are a million different ways that you can achieve this and despite the jam-packed schedule of the average student and teacher, surely 15 minutes can be found.
For me, it’s all about heart rate. You’re not trying to build muscle on kids except the big one inside their chest, so getting the beats up and keeping them there for a sustained (this means games with no down time) 10-15 minutes is the best quality of exercise. Try these:
- Individual Skipping (not the big rope where a lot of waiting occurs).
- An extended game of Swim Fishy Swim, Stuck In The Mud or Octopus Tag (with limited time waiting at each end).
- Pac-man with a couple of ‘angels’ (to release those who have been tagged).
- Everybody’s In.
- Relays with short laps (20 metres) and small teams (again, to reduce waiting and a slowing down of heart rates).
If the majority of the class is at least a little short of breath from about 5 minutes in until the end of 15 minutes, then you’ve set a great task. Remember, repetition of this style of exercise will have remarkable effects on their metabolism, fitness and overall health.
If you would like an explanation of any of the games above, please get in touch. If you have others you know of, how about leaving a comment?
Enjoy!
How do you play Swim, Fishy, Swim?
Firstly, is that Margot from Harbord???
Swim Fishy Swim is played best on a marked netball or basketball court.
The kids all start down one end and you select approximately 5 of them to be ‘in’.
When you call out ‘Swim Fishy Swim’ they start running towards the other end trying not to be tipped by one of kids that are ‘in’.
If a player gets tipped they have to kneel on the ground and use their arms to try and tip other passers by.
Now I made an error when recommending this game as there is a potential for significant downtime regarding a player’s heart rate as when they are in, they can be largely sedentary for quite a while.
With that in mind, a better game from a fitness perspective would be ‘stuck in the mud’ which is exactly the same game however those ‘tipped’ can be released back into the game by having a classmate crawl through their legs.
Play ‘Stuck in the mud’ continuously for 10 minutes and little hearts will be pounding
Have fun!!!
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