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Following teacher’s favorite activity, students pedal their way to improved fitness

By relating daily health lessons to her favorite activity, a Colorado teacher is developing heart rate training life skills for students in her middle school health class.

“Even though I’m in the health classroom, I’m constantly bringing in who I am and what I do and trying to set an example that these kids can buy into and continue with for the rest of their lives,” said Fort Lupton (Colo.) Middle School teacher Lindsay Yost.

When not in a gym or health classroom, Yost races mountain bikes – she won the 2013 U.S. Downhill National Championship – and coaches downhill riders during the summers. A former college heptathlete, Yost fuels her passion for exercise by focusing on her heart rate, both on her bike and in the gym. By teaching students what motivates her to remain active, she’s found an improved sense of motivation from her students when they exercise. Read More

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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

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School’s focus on student fitness contributes to academic successes

Data from student-worn heart rate monitors and research about the positive impact physical education has on academic success convinced an IDEA Public Schools principal to make sure students who need academic support don’t get it at the expense of exercise and fitness.

“‘You will no longer take kids out of PE for academic intervention until they have had at least 30 minutes in P.E. utilizing the monitors,’” mandated IDEA Monterrey Park principal Curtis Lawrence.

IDEA students wear the IHT Zone wrist heart rate monitors during physical education and strive to exercise at an elevated heart rate for as long as they can during class or activity breaks. Students can see in real time if they are improving their fitness by exercising in the target heart rate zone (yellow for moderate to vigorous activity; red for vigorous activity) by the color displayed on the heart rate monitor. Read More

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Hallway hustle helps Physical Education students keep heart rate up

Students focused on heart rate training during physical education often break one of the longest-standing rules in education: no running in the school hallways.

The students mean no disrespect to authority. They just don’t want to let their heart rate drop during a class session, even if they have to excuse themselves.

“The other day a kid had to go to the bathroom, and our principal came running into the weight room,” said Ridge View (Iowa) High School P.E. teacher Justin Kinney. “He asked if there was an emergency, and I said, ‘No, why?’ And he pointed out that student and said, ‘Well, he was just sprinting through the lunch room and we were worried and thought something might be wrong.’ Well, he was running because he wanted to get back to his workout so he could keep his heart rate up.” Read More

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Heart rate monitors get students ‘in the zone’ as more schools add them to curriculum

Originally published Jan. 26, 2018 in the Omaha World-Herald.

By Kelsey Stewart, World-Herald Staff Writer

Gabbi Zuerlein stepped up to one of the five squares of turf placed on the gym floor.

Golf club in hand, she lined up her chip shot. The 15-year-old sent 10 neon golf balls sailing across the gym. After retrieving her shots, she hopped into a two-person conga line and let other students have their turn with golf.

It’s important that the high school sophomore and her classmates don’t stop moving during physical education classes. If they do, the heart rate monitors they wear on their wrists will reflect that later.

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