PE circuit workout
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Top 4 High-Intensity Interval Training PE Circuit Workouts For Schools

The most impactful PE circuit workouts engage participants from the outset, get them to their target heart rate zones quickly and keep them moving throughout.

For adults and students alike, exercise time can be limited, so the quicker participants can get their heart rate up, the more beneficial the workout can be. During the school year, IHT has collected lessons from PE teachers that maximize student productivity no matter how much time they have to exercise. Teachers implement High-Intensity Interval Training PE circuit training workouts in different formats with similar results:

  • Quickly get students exercising at an elevated heart rate;
  • Engage students with a variety of exercises;
  • Teach students how to get a health-enhancing workout when crunched for time.

Through the IHT Spirit Video Challenge, teachers submitted their most impactful PE lessons. Most showcased their favorite HIIT circuit lesson, including the following four lessons that work for students across each grade level. Read More

Fitness Frenzy
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Fitness Frenzy Teaches Students High-Intensity Interval Training

HIIT Heart Rate Workouts Educate PE Students On Healthy Fitness Levels Produced In Short Exercise Sessions

Physical Education teachers at Klem North (N.Y.) Elementary School utilize fast-paced Tabata workouts to teach students how to develop enjoyable exercise routines designed to quickly raise heart rates to health-enhancing levels.

“Our focus, our job, is to get the elementary kids to love activity and love being fit,” said Matt Carpenter.

To accomplish their job, Carpenter and teaching partner Sarah Harding use a four-minute Tabata to open most class sessions. The Fitness Frenzy Tabata, selected as the Lesson for IHT Spirit for May after winning last Fall’s IHT Spirit Video Challenge, teaches students how to quickly elevate their heart rate into the target zone and reinforces heart rate management skills for even the youngest students. Read More

PE circuit workout
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Fitness Friday PE Lesson Helps Students Grow HIIT Exercise Skills

Students Make Most of Class Workout Time to Improve Cardiovascular Fitness

What started as a health teacher’s mission to add more personalized physical activity to her students’ day has grown into a popular, fitness-enhancing finish to the school week.

“I knew I needed to get these kids more active than they actually were,” said Hampstead (New Hampshire) Middle School health teacher Kate Muskrat. “So I started bringing my health group down and joining the physical education classes on Fridays.”

The joint Friday sessions evolved into weekly high-intensity interval training sessions that include 75 percent of the school’s students. High-intensity interval training is considered one of the most time-efficient ways to exercise, a key factor for teachers with limited class time to develop impactful workouts. Studies also show that by exercising at maximum intensity in shorter bursts, students improve their oxygen consumption while lowering resting heart rate and blood pressure. Read More

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Top lessons motivate students through creativity, PE technology

From frisbee to circuit-based fitness, physical educators are using PE technology to teach students the long-term value of heart rate training in a variety of ways.

“Part of our goal is to expose students to as many different activities and fitness exercises with the hope that it will transfer outside of the classroom and promote lifelong fitness,” said Kelly Spreen, a P.E. teacher at Shelburne Community School (Vermont) and the co-creator of one of the winning IHT Spirit Video Challenge lessons, “Fun, F.I.T.T.ness and Forever Strong.” Read More

frisbee fitness
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Fast-paced frisbee fitness PE lesson elevates student heart rate

Childhood favorite finds new purpose in Spirit Challenge-winning activity

By adding a new twist to a backyard game, Portland (Mich.) High School physical education students push themselves to exercise in a healthy fitness zone by re-connecting them with what many high schoolers consider a childhood past-time: the frisbee.

Portland P.E. teacher Andy Pulling’s Fun Frisbee Fitness lesson keeps students moving, uses national standards, can be duplicated at any grade level and teaches the importance of teamwork along with fitness. Pulling’s lesson ranked as one of six winning submissions in last fall’s IHT Spirit Video Challenge, and his superstar lesson is the March Lesson for IHT Spirit.

“It’s just a kids’ toy at the secondary level,” Pulling said. “But when we teach them how to play ultimate frisbee or do frisbee golf, it’s kind of like their youthful excitement comes back to life.” Read More