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Thurgood Marshall Middle School

Everyone belongs. Everyone learns. Everyone grows.

Exercise Kids (and Parents) can do at Home

Exercise kids (and parents) can do at home

The exercise portion of Marshall’s PE program is designed to be full of things that kids can do at home. No equipment required- most can be done anywhere there is floor space. The exercise portion of a typical PE class truly lasts for about 5 to 10 minutes. We try to vary it each day so over the course of a week or so, kids exercise their whole body. The links on this page will give specific examples of exercises kids are taught and do regularly in PE. They should be able to demonstrate each of these for you at home. To keep it fun, perhaps invite the student to be the teacher and take you, the parent (or whole family) through a sample of our routines. This could last as long as you want – as little as 5 or 10 minutes. We generally try to pick one or two from these categories on a given day.

 

Please Note: Many of the specific exercises listed work more than just one or two muscle groups, so think of these categories as organized by the main muscle groups being worked.

    • Straight Crunches: Can be done with feet on the floor or feet in the air. Try to open up the rib cage each time you come down. For an extra challenge, try to pause when you crunch.
    • Side Crunches: Lean to the right – hips and shoulder just an inch or so off the floor. Do perhaps 8 or so like this, then switch to the other side off the floor, then repeat.
    • Leg Lifts: Laying down on back, keep legs straight and lift them over your head so your lower back comes off the floor. Start with 10 or so, then work up to 20 or 30.
    • Turning crunches: On the floor, turn shoulders and put a forearm underneath your body, then switch to the other side. Clap your hands in front of your face when you switch sides.

    • Regular Bird Dog: With knees slightly apart, punch the right arm forward and kick the left leg back. Extended arm and leg should be straight and slightly higher than your body. Then hug the knee, then kick and punch again, etc. Do this 5 to 7 times, then switch sides.  You will definitely feel this in your lower mid-back.
    • Sideways Bird Dog: Similar to #1 except the body is more sideways and the kick has a sideways toe. Keep the toe sideways when you hug the knee. Again, 5 to seven times on each side. You will feel this more in your obliques (lower back towards the outside).
    • (These first two can be modified and done from the “down dog” position.)
    • Full Squats: Great for full range of motion in quads and hamstrings and lower back.
    • Plank: Great for abdominal and lower back strength. The only downside of doing planks is that they are a static exercise - as in the muscles are not moving through a range of motion. It should be accompanied by other back and ab exercises that have more of a full range of motion. 
    • Moving Planks:  1) Going from forearms to hands or fists and back. 2)Alternating plank with side planks.

  • Almost all of our upper body strength exercises are done with variations of pushups. Below are some examples:

     

    • Pec Pushups (Hands at Elbow width): Hands about 8 inches outside shoulders. We ask kids to tap their belly and/or chest off the floor to ensure they are exercising using the full range of motion.
    • Triceps Pushups (Hands under shoulders, elbows stay against ribs): These are a bit harder than the Pec pushups.
    • Alternating hands in the air:  Can be done with either pec or tricep pushups. After each pushup, stick one arm straight up in the air and look at it. Alternate arms. This turns pushups into a ballistic exercise to develop more explosive power.
    • Pop both hands off the ground: Another ballistic version of this exercise. Some kids can pop both hands and both feet off the ground.
    • Elevator Pushups: Probably one of the quickest wast to get strong. Alternate between various heights of pushup without going to the floor for extended periods. 4th floor, 3rd floor, 2nd floor, 1st floor basement. Basement means lay on floor and take a break.
    • CAUTION: Adults should start off slow with any of these exercises, but especially pushups. Easiest way to start would be to kneel in front of a chair and do elevated knee pushups. Then graduate to knee pushups with hands on the ground, and finally to toe pushups with no knees on the ground. Go slow.

  • This is where a ton of our nervous system functions, as well as our digestive system. When done correctly, these exercises really help undo all the negative effects of sitting.

     

    • Mountain Climbers #1: Pushup position but with one foot extended back and the other foot between your hands (hips down and head up). Start by using this as a stretch, and switch when you’re ready. Then try it with your forward foot outside of your hands instead of between the hands.
    • Mountain Climbers #2: Same as #1 except switching fast so it’s more of an aerobic exercise. Alternate two or three with forward foot between hands, then two or three with forward foot outside the hands.

  • There are 26 bones and over 100 muscles in our feet and ankles! This category is really important because it’s where a lot of kids and adults have chronic pain. …not to mention how vulnerable to injury our ankles are.

     

    • Toe Raises with hands on floor: Get in a position like a pushup position, but walk your feet forward a bit. Try to start with heels on the floor, then go up on tip toes, and back down. These are great because you’re starting with your ankles bent really up towards your shins. Very good full r ange of motion.
    • Reverse Toe raises: Same basic position as above, but instead of going from heels down to tiptoe and back, this one goes from tiptoe forward to laying your feet on the floor (shoe laces on the floor).
    • Putting them together: Once kids learn to do both well, we do them all together and I just call out “Heels, Toes, Laces, Toes, etc, etc.)  Shins and calves are opposing muscles and this exercise has them working together.
    • Jumping Exercises: Include Jump rope (with or without a rope), hopping, vertical jumps, SKIPPING for height, side hops over 1 or 2 objects, hands-on-head jumping, etc.
    • Walking Exercises: We do these a few times a month and there are 6 of them. Kids basically walk about ten steps with each of these. Even better is 10 steps forward, then 10 steps backwards. Even better yet would be to do these up and down stairs.

     

    1-Max Duck Foot, 2- Max Pigeon Toed, 3- All weight on Arches, 4- No weight on arches,

    5- Tip Toes, 6- Walk on heels only.

  • It’s the triangle-shaped muscle that basically holds your arms onto your body.

     

    • Marshall Swimming Lessons: This is our fancy way of saying arm swings. Since OSD has not a single pool anywhere, this is as close as we get to swim lessons. Start with forward – as in like the front crawl. Make the biggest circles you possibly can. This should include extending the reach by rotating the body. Next go backwards, same big extensions. Then alternating one forward one back (kids take a few days to learn this one), then finally alternating the other way. When these are done without stopping for about a minute, you will definitely know where your deltoids are.
    • Overhead Press: Reaching with arms and spine. (best with light weights)
    • Deltoid Flies: With hand weights, arms at side to arms straight out. Do them standing straight up, then repeat leaning forward. You can also do this while sitting. (best with light weights)