Lesson video

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Hi there, I'm Mr. Swaithes, and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

So today's lesson is about types of training and more specifically, we're gonna be completing a circuit training session, maybe something you've experienced before.

But if not, don't worry.

It's a great one to get you started and definitely one that you can complete at home.

So for this lesson, you'll need a clear space to perform body weight exercises.

And by body weight exercises, I mean things just using your body.

So you won't need any weights or extra equipment, but you will need a stopwatch.

Perhaps use your watch or a phone for this.

Okay, by the end of today's lesson, you're gonna be able to complete a basic circuit training session to improve your fitness.

And the keywords that we're gonna be using today are circuit.

Now, that is a series of exercises performed one after the other with little rest or, in fact, perhaps no rest.

And it works different parts of the body on each exercise.

A station is a set place where you complete one specific exercise before moving on to the next one.

And determination is the drive to keep working towards a goal.

Okay, let's get going then.

So before we get into this circuit training session, it's really important that you warm up and I want you to show me what you know about raising your heart rate and performing some gentle body weight exercises.

Perhaps start with marching, then jog on the spot as a pulse raiser, followed by performing some dynamic stretches before doing a few repetitions of five different body weight exercises.

Let's take a little look at someone performing a warmup that may be similar to what you are going to perform or you may have come up with your own ideas.

Well done, I hope that's got your heart rate up and you've managed to increase your pulse to above 100 beats per minute.

Perhaps take a check of your pulse and your carotid artery here in your neck.

You can take your pulse for perhaps 30 seconds and double the score that you come up with.

And you want that number to be above 100 beats per minute.

If it's not, perhaps you need to do a bit more of a pulse raiser.

So a bit more jogging, marching on the spot, maybe some star jumps to get that heart rate a little higher.

You should feel warm and ready for exercise.

I'm wondering, have you stretched all your major muscles and mobilized your joint?

If not, pause the video again now and just perform those basic stretches.

And make sure that you're in a safe space for today's lesson.

As I said earlier, you don't need any special equipment, you're just going to be using your body weight for the exercises, but you will need a safe space to move around in.

Okay, so we've split today's lesson up into two parts.

The first part, we're gonna practice the exercises, really focusing in on the correct technique.

And then, you're gonna perform a circuit with increasing intensity in the second part of today's lesson.

Let's get going with part one then.

So, staying fit and healthy requires you to really think about consistent sleep.

And in fact, sleep is a real superpower.

It's an overlooked thing that increasingly research is telling us.

It's perhaps one of the most important things to get right.

Maybe that's eight hours of sleep.

But what's really important is what time you go to bed and having a consistent wake time in the morning.

You should also have a commitment to regular physical activity.

So that means doing something every day.

You need to avoid long periods of sedentary time.

So that the sedentary time means sitting still or lying down.

So if you do a lot of gaming, it actually will make you a better gamer if you get up regularly and do some exercises.

Why my smart watch buzzes after 60 minutes of sitting still to prompt me to get up and move.

And you need a combination of aerobic, weight bearing and resistance exercise to formulate, I guess, that program of looking after your body and keeping fit and healthy.

And then, of course, we need a regular intake of all the major food groups including water, fruit, and vegetables.

We talked about that rainbow plate of lots of variety of things that you eat.

Remember, you must always warm up before exercise and this will increase your heart rate, your breathing rate, and your body temperature in response to exercise.

And then, you should perform a cool down to help your body recover after exercise and help prevent some of the soreness that you may feel the next day.

Exercise boosts your brain.

Did you know that?

So if we do some exercise, it improves our attention, our memory and our mood.

And it's why I try to start every day with some exercise.

Perhaps before you start studying for other subjects is a great thing to do.

And if you're training for a specific sport or an event, you may want to tailor your program to focus on a specific muscle or movements.

Let's have a quick check, shall we?

So which of the following does not improve fitness?

Is it A, regular physical activity; B, resistance training; C, sedentary time; or D, playing sport?

What do you think?

That's right, it's sedentary time, isn't it?

And I told you earlier that sedentary means sitting still and we really want to remove that sedentary time from our lifestyle if we can.

Now then, so keeping fit and healthy can be free.

You don't need to be a member of a really expensive gym to be able to keep fit and healthy, which is great news for all of us, isn't it?

So those body weight exercises can be performed with little or no equipment, can be done at home, and can be just as effective as using resistance machines or weight machines.

However, you've got to remember that you must pay attention to the correct technique.

You've got to ensure good posture and that full range of motion on the exercises that you do.

And you should always show determination to work hard towards a fitness goal.

So it's very often that people perhaps go through the motions, they go to the gym regularly, or they exercise regularly, but just at a low intensity and that's not really gonna get any fitness benefits.

So you've gotta really show determination and focus when you're in your training session and I hope you're gonna do that for me today.

Now exercises can be broken down into different groups and there's the ones that will exercise your lower body, those that exercise your core around your abdomen, those that exercise your upper body, and then other exercises that we tend to call cardio exercises because they exercise the whole body.

Now Lucas is wondering, "What different body weight exercises can you think of?

" Perhaps pause the video now whilst you think of the names of some different exercises you can do just with your body weight.

And for each of these different exercises, could you separate them out into the four categories?

Do they work your lower body, your core, your upper body or cardio?

Here's Laura and she's been able to name the following exercises or she's wondering whether you are able to name the following exercises and the body part or the muscles that are being targeted by them.

So do you know the name of this exercise where you're moving up and down from that standing position down into a lower position?

Do you know the name of this exercise where you lying on your back, keeping your knees bent throughout the process, making sure that you're just touching your temples, you're not pulling on your neck?

So those are two of the teaching points that help make that exercise safe.

And then, here's one that you may have seen the first two pictures before but not that rotation bit at the end.

And then, finally, I'm sure you've seen this one and maybe you did it as part of your warmup.

So we've got in the first picture: squats.

They work your lower body, in particular your quadriceps muscles, the ones on the front of your thigh.

Then, in the second picture, we've got sit-ups.

They work your core, in particular your abdominals muscles.

Then, we've got the press-ups with that rotation and they work your upper body primarily including your pectorals, your deltoids, and your triceps on the back of your arm.

And then, we've got the star jumps, which are known as a cardio exercise 'cause they're working the whole body.

Did you manage to name all of those?

And what about these ones then?

Laura's got some more exercises here.

Have you seen this one where you drive your legs up and back taking it in turns?

They're called mountain climbers and they work your lower body, again, in particular your quadriceps muscles.

Then, we've got these exercises.

They're really hard.

When you bend down into that squat position, jump your legs back, then jump 'em back in and stand up.

And they're called burpees.

They're one of the hardest exercises we'll do today.

They work your upper body, your deltoids, 'cause your weight's on your arms, but they also work your core and your lower body.

And then, we've got these exercises which are called bicycle kicks, where you rotate your legs round at the same time as twisting that upper body.

They require some coordination as well actually.

And then, finally, we've got these exercises, which are called spotted dogs, where you jump with one arm up and then your opposite leg forward and you rotate.

They're a good cardio exercise.

So then, circuit training, as we said at the beginning, is a rotational workout.

So you'll perform repetitions of a specific exercise, and then quickly move on to the next station to perform a different exercise.

It works your whole body as it combines cardio and strength training.

And remember, those exercises can be modified to focus on explosive strength or power or strength endurance, depending on whether you work really hard exercises for a short number of repetitions or perhaps easier exercise, lower intensity exercises for a longer period of time, which would work strength endurance.

Let's have another quick check, shall we?

Before we get into a practice task.

So which of the following exercises focuses primarily on the lower body?

Is it A, the roll and release; Is it B, the superman arch and relax; or is it C, the lateral bounds where this person's jumping over a cone or a line from left foot to right foot and back?

Have a think, which one do you think it is?

Brilliant, hopefully you selected the lateral bounds that are working the lower body.

So that takes us nicely into the first practice task of today's lesson.

Time for you to get moving again.

And I want you to perform the following circuit.

I want you to exercise for 30 seconds, and then try to rotate straight into the next exercise with minimal rest.

The first exercise is squats.

Then, we've got the full sit-up.

Then, we've got a press up and rotate as we saw earlier.

Then, we've got star jumps.

Followed by mountain climbers.

Followed by bicycle kicks.

And finally, we've got two more exercises.

We've got burpees, the hard one that I mentioned earlier.

And then, we round the session off with spotted dogs.

So in a moment, we're gonna play a video to you so that you can see a student performing these different exercises and you could exercise alongside him for the first set.

And then, repeat.

Or if you know these exercises, you can pause the video now and you could start your stopwatch with 30 seconds of exercise of each one, and then rotate.

Jun's got a quick reminder for us to remember good technique and full range of movement throughout is essential.

Making sure that after 60 seconds rest and a few stretches, you try to perform the full circuit again, but aim to do a few more repetitions of each exercise in that second set of the eight exercises.

So you're gonna do all eight exercises with no rest in between each one.

Then, you're gonna rest for a minute.

Then, you're gonna repeat.

And maybe you've even got the energy to repeat a third time, but I'll leave that decision up to you.

See you shortly.

Okay, how well did you get on then?

Were you able to complete those exercises correctly and safely in order to develop your strength and endurance?

Well, Jun says that he managed to perform the exercises with the correct technique and the full range of movement, and I hope you did too.

In terms of things to think about: Well, heart rate, breathing rate, and body temperature will all have increased in response to this exercise.

And Izzy's saying that she could definitely feel her heart racing and breathing rate elevated.

So she felt out of breath during the exercises and her body feels really warm now.

How do you feel?

Excellent.

Okay, so we've performed those exercises correctly with really good focus on technique, let's move into the second part of today's lesson where we're gonna look at performing that circuit or perhaps a slightly modified circuit with increasing intensity.

And remember, after exercising hard, it's important to keep moving to help with the removal of lactic acid.

So whilst you watch this video play on, maybe you want to just do a few stretches, a few mobility exercises, maybe even a few of those squats and star jumps or marching on the spot to help remove that lactic acid.

And then, move into some gentle stretches, particularly focused on your lower back to help with posture.

So rather than sit still and watch me, keep moving whilst you are watching me talk through this next part of the lesson.

So Jun's suggesting maybe you could copy these stretches.

So the roll and release, which is a really good one, or maybe the superman arch and then relax.

And remember, we should always exercise with moderation.

So depending on your current level of fitness, it's important to overload your body by working harder than normal.

However, you need to avoid that boom and bust training where you do nothing for a while, then train really hard and either get injured or so fatigued that you cannot train again for a while.

So instead, I'm encouraging you to build up gradually and show that determination to keep working towards your goal.

So then, I heard recently was this idea of if you miss a day of training, that's fine, but never miss two days in a row.

Different people have different goals, remember.

So Jun here wants to build a stronger heart and lungs.

And this is often called cardiovascular endurance and it helps with general health and stops us getting tired too quickly.

Whereas Izzy, she wants to increase muscle strength so that she can lift heavier, jump further, and protect her joints from injury.

And then Aisha is saying that she's more concerned about improving her mood, her focus, and her energy.

Now these are all valuable reasons or valuable goals to seek out through exercise.

Sofia's saying, well, that's great, but she also wants to improve her agility, her balance, her coordination, so that she can avoid tripping over things or feeling uncoordinated.

And Sam's saying that they agree.

But all these benefits will also help to be a better football player.

So maybe you've got a sport that you're aiming to improve at.

So by increasing the intensity, you'll perform more repetitions in the same amount of time.

And that's what we're gonna do in this second exercise bout.

We're gonna try and increase the intensity but maintain good techniques still.

And this will stimulate increased muscle recruitment, and hence growth if you perform it regularly.

So if you want to build your muscles stronger, you need to do it regularly.

So regular circuit training will also work your heart and lungs to grow stronger and more efficient.

So we get that benefit to our cardiovascular system, but also to our muscular system.

Let's have a quick check.

Which of the following is not a benefit of exercise?

Is it A, increased bone, muscle and joint strength; Is it B, a stronger and more efficient heart and lungs; Or is it C, decreased mood and energy levels?

Which do you think?

That's right, it's C, isn't it?

Because actually, it increases your mood and energy levels by doing exercise as well.

So remaining motivated is sometimes hard.

Sofia's saying that she's okay trying new exercise routines, but quickly gets bored.

What do you think she should do to try to be more motivated and determined to train harder and more regularly?

Well, Sam says they have the same problem.

"Why don't we try and keep a record of scores and try to beat them each time?

And we could also share our training plans and how it makes us feel with other people.

" So a good way is to keep a log of the number of the different exercises that you do and see if you can improve next time, and even better still share that with somebody else for comparison.

So then, this second practice task.

This time, let's perform the exercises at each station for 45 seconds instead of 30.

And I've also added two more exercises.

So I want you to increase the intensity.

Try and do more exercises for longer, but also maintain that good technique.

So we've got the squats like before, the full sit-up, the press up and rotate, the star jumps, the mountain climbers, the bicycle kicks, the burpees and the spotted dogs.

And then, this time I've added in the speed bounce where you two-footed jump, backwards and forwards, side to side across a line.

And then, the plank.

Now Aisha is gonna help us to understand what the plank is.

So it's just like holding the start of a press-up position.

And remember, if your arms start to shake or maybe your core starts to shake or if your bum starts to dip down, that suggests that your form has deteriorated.

And in those instances, you need to stop, shake off, and then get back in the position again and continue as soon as you can and that will help avoid injury.

I want you to perform all 10 exercises.

So, that's one complete set.

And then, rest until your heart rate is down to 80 beats per minute.

And then, repeat that 10-station circuit again.

And I wonder, can you manage three or four sets of this circuit before you come back to me?

Here's a short video of someone performing each of these 10 exercises that you could perform alongside them.

Or if you understand what to do, just pause the video now and off you go.

Okay, how did you get on then?

So, did you manage to complete those exercises correctly and safely?

And consequently, will your strength and endurance be improving?

Well, Sofia says that she had to stop a couple of times to shake her arms and release the tension in her back.

But otherwise, she managed to keep good technique for all 45 seconds of each of the exercises.

How about you?

And then, in terms of things to think about: well, heart rate, breathing rate and body temperature all increase in response to exercise, don't they?

And Izzy's saying that her heart rate, breathing rate, have gone up massively this time because she's working for longer and at a higher intensity.

So she thinks this will really benefit her from this workout.

And then, I wonder, are you able to keep going with these challenges?

Are you able to demonstrate determination?

Well, Lucas says that he worked really hard today and pushed himself to achieve more repetitions of each exercise on each set of this circuit.

Did you note down your scores and did you manage to improve on each set?

And then, giving support to others can help you achieve higher outcomes, can't it?

So Sam's suggesting that convincing a friend to do this whole circuit with them would be a really good way to try and improve that connection.

So maybe you could do that.

Maybe you could challenge somebody else to complete this circuit that you now understand with you later on this week.

Okay, that gives us just enough time for a cool down.

So I'd like you to perform the following exercises in order.

So first of all, can you do two minutes of marching on the spot?

Then, five lunges with alternating legs.

So you would step forward with your right leg, and then lower your left knee to the floor, and then step back up again.

And then with your left leg forward, lower your right knee to the floor.

Then, five roll and release exercises.

Remember that's the one where you lie on your back and you tuck your knees to your chest.

And then, straighten back out.

But then, roll over onto your front to get into that back arch position.

Then, five reaches up to the ceiling with big arm circles round.

Here, we've got a photo of that roll and release.

And then, rotate over to do a back arch of the superman position.

So, whilst you complete the cool down in those exercises, perhaps reflect on how well you feel now in comparison to before the lesson started.

Do you feel more energized?

And do you think you might ache tomorrow?

And then, I've got a challenge for you.

So I would like you to make a commitment to repeat this circuit and with somebody else that you could convince to do it with you before you tune in to the next lesson.

Well done today.

I think you've shown really good effort levels, especially working alone at home.

So we've just got time to summarize today's lesson and you should have understood better how to complete these exercises correctly and safely and how that will improve your strength and endurance.

Remembering that your heart rate, your breathing rate and your body temperature will all increase in response to exercise.

But we need to keep going when these exercises are challenging.

And to do that, we need to show determination.

And remember that, perhaps, if you give support to somebody else and get them to support you, that will help you to achieve higher outcomes because it helps with your motivation.

Great job today.

I look forward to you joining me for another lesson again soon.