Active or Not, Here It Comes!

Physical Activity

Big Question: What counts as physical activity?

This lesson helps you see that physical activity is much more than just playing organized sports. Sure, playing on a football or soccer team counts. But so do lots of other things! Swimming with friends or lifting weights counts too. Lifetime sports like golfing or walking count as well. Even everyday things like walking your dog, dancing to your favorite song, or mowing the lawn are forms of physical activity.

Once you understand this, you'll realize something exciting: you're probably already doing physical activities every day! This can give you confidence to add even more activity to your life.

Why This Matters

Regular exercise is important for keeping your body healthy. Here are some benefits of staying physically fit:

• Maintaining a healthy weight
• Having energy and strength for daily activities
• Good muscle tone
• Strong bones
• A strong heart and lungs
• Better mental health

Personal exercise, especially activities that build cardiovascular endurance (how well your heart and lungs work during exercise), is the foundation of fitness.

Making choices about your health involves thinking carefully about risks and benefits, your personal goals, and even pressure from friends or family. Understanding how your choices affect your body can help you make smart decisions.

What You Will Learn

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Describe the health benefits of physical activity
• Connect physical activity to many different events, not just organized sports
• Keep an accurate record of your own physical activity

Important Definitions

Exercise is planned and structured. It involves repeating body movements on purpose to improve or maintain fitness.

Physical Activity is any movement made by your muscles that uses energy. It's connected to physical fitness.

Physical Fitness is your body's ability to do physical activity well. There are five key parts of physical fitness:

1. Body composition (what your body is made of—muscle, fat, bone, etc.)
2. Cardiovascular endurance (heart and lung strength)
3. Flexibility
4. Muscular endurance (how long your muscles can keep working)
5. Muscular strength

Getting Started

Your teacher will list some activities on the board. You'll vote on whether each one counts as "exercise" or "physical activity."

Explore Physical Activity

In small groups, brainstorm a list of everything that could count as physical activity. Try to think of activities that use different parts of your body—remember, one activity might work several body parts at once! Write each activity on a strip of paper.

Sorting and Explaining

Your class will list major body parts and systems, such as the heart and lungs, shoulders, arms, abdomen, and legs. You'll sort your activities under these headings and discuss your choices.

You may also watch a video showing people being physically active. Watch closely and figure out which body parts each action works. You might even try the motions yourself to feel which muscles are being used!

Afterward, you can decide if you want to change how you sorted your activities.

Digging Deeper

You'll receive a worksheet describing a scenario with actions like climbing, stretching, and lifting. Complete the worksheet on your own, then think about these questions:

1. Are these actions physical activity? Why or why not?
2. Which body parts do these actions work? How do you know?
3. What other things you do during the day might count as physical activity?

Track Your Activity

For three days, you'll keep a log of your personal physical activities. You'll calculate how much time you spend on each type of activity and think about your overall activity level. You'll also identify health benefits you notice from your activities.

Remember: Middle school students should aim for physical activity five days a week, adding up to 60 minutes a day. Try to include a variety of different activities!

After tracking your activity, think about these questions:

1. What benefits come from the physical activities you did?
2. Which body areas should you work on more? Why?
3. How does your activity level compare to what's considered a healthy amount?

A Quick Safety Reminder

Before doing physical activity, always warm up first. A warm-up is gentle movement that raises your body temperature and gets your muscles, tendons, and ligaments ready for exercise. It should use the same muscles you're about to work, slowly raising your heart rate and warming up your joints.

After physical activity, always cool down. A cool-down is gentle movement that helps your body return to normal. It slowly lowers your heart rate and helps prevent stiffness.

If you don't exercise often, be careful not to jump into very hard activities too quickly—this could cause health problems. And always let your teacher know about any health conditions that might affect what activities you can safely do.