Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? I hope you're feeling great.

My name is Ms. Afzal and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling pretty great, I must say, because today we're gonna be looking at muscle strength.

Yes, I'm really excited about this.

I love this topic.

We're gonna be thinking about muscles, we're gonna be thinking about exercises and about this wonderful human body.

I hope that sound interesting to you.

A lesson is called Improving Muscle Strength.

Who doesn't wanna improve muscle strength? And it comes from the unit of work, Introduction to the Human Skeleton and Muscles.

So if you're ready with some energy, some interest, some enthusiasm, a human body to experiment with, let's begin.

The outcome for today's lesson is, "I can design a fitness circuit to improve muscle strength." I hope that sounds interesting to you.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them.

My turn, your turn.

Muscles.

Athlete.

Exercises.

Fitness circuit.

Stretches.

I like the sound of these words.

I'm gonna read them one more time.

We have muscles, athlete, exercises, fitness circuit, and stretches.

Pause here and share with someone.

Have you heard of any of these keywords before? Thanks for sharing and don't worry if you've heard of them before or if you haven't.

That's okay.

We are gonna be going into them.

We're gonna be learning all about them in today's lesson.

Let's find out the meaning of these keywords.

Muscles are parts of the body which pull causing bones to move.

An athlete is a person who's good at sports or physical exercise, especially one who competes in organized events.

Exercise involves using effort to move our bodies so that they are fit and healthy.

A fitness circuit is a type of workout that involves exercises that target different groups of muscles.

And stretches are when you extend your body or a part of your body in order to stretch your muscles.

And stretches are when you extend your body or a part of your body in order to stretch your muscles.

These are our keywords.

Let's look out for them.

Let's listen out for them.

Let's think carefully about these keywords that will be coming up in our lesson today.

Today's lesson is called Improving Muscle Strength, and it has two learning cycles.

First of all, how athletes strengthen their muscles, and then design a fitness circuit.

Let's begin by exploring how athletes strengthen their muscles.

We have muscles all over our body to help us move.

We have muscles in our arms. Pause here and move your arm and see if you can feel some of those muscles in your arm as you move your arm in different ways.

Muscles that are found close together on your body often help you to perform similar movements.

Can you think which muscles on your body help you to write? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Izzy is using the muscles that are in her wrist, lower arm, and upper arm to write on the board.

She's also using the muscles in her head and neck to look at what she's writing.

And there we can see Izzy writing.

Jun uses the muscles in his shoulders along with the muscles in his lower and upper back to help him carry his rucksack.

He's using the muscles in his lower legs, upper legs, and bottom to help him walk.

Think about which muscles you're using that are close together, which are helping you to sit on your chair right now.

Pause here and share with someone.

Which muscles are you using right now as you sit? Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

Different types of movements can use different groups of muscles.

Pause here and decide.

Is this true or false? Well done if you selected true, and now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Choose from one of these two statements.

When we are doing different movements, all of the muscles in our body are being used When we are doing different movements, we use specific muscles depending on what we are doing.

Pause here while you choose which of these statements justifies your earlier answer.

Well done if you chose statement B.

Indeed, it's when we're doing different movements.

Well done if you chose answer B.

Indeed, when we're doing different movements, we use specific muscles depending on what we are doing.

Look at these different athletes.

Which groups of muscles need to be strong so they can compete in their chosen sport? Pause here and share with someone.

Which muscles need to be strong for the gymnast and which muscles need to be strong for the snowboarder.

Thanks for sharing.

The gymnast needs strong lower back muscles to hold a position and strong upper and lower arm muscles to control movement.

The snowboarder needs strong lower back muscles to stay upright on the board and strong upper leg muscles to change direction of the board.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Match the athlete to the muscles that they would focus on strengthening the most for their chosen sport.

So we have these four athletes, a golfer, a basketball player, a swimmer, and a surfer, and muscles that they need to focus on strengthening.

Here are the options for which muscles they'd need to strengthen.

We've got arm and shoulder muscles, leg, arm and back muscles, thigh and stomach muscles, wrist and arm muscles.

Pause here and share with someone.

Which muscles would each athlete need to strengthen the most for their chosen sport? Well done if you selected the arm and shoulder muscles for the golfer, the leg, arm, and back muscles need to be strong for the swimmer, the thigh and stomach muscles for the surfer, and wrist and arm muscles for the basketball player.

Many athletes have a coach to help 'em keep fit.

The coach helps them by designing special exercises to improve strength in the muscles they use the most.

Here we can see a coach helping out some athletes.

If you play any sports, you may have a coach who shows you different exercises to help your muscles get stronger.

This football coach will give the players exercises to help strengthen their leg and back muscles so they run fast and kick the ball with more power.

Pause here and share with someone.

Have you ever had a coach who supported you with any sports you've played? Thanks for sharing.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

Exercise doesn't help muscles get stronger.

Pause here and decide.

Is this true or false? Well done if you selected false, and now I'd like you to justify your answer by choosing from one of these two statements.

Either A, eating lots of food makes muscles stronger, not exercise, or B, humans can improve the strength of their muscles through exercise, such as lifting weights.

Pause here while you choose which of these statements justifies your answer.

Well done if you selected statement B.

Indeed, humans can improve the strength of their muscles through exercise, such as lifting weights.

That's a great justification for your answer.

What exercises do you think this tennis player's coach would give the athlete to improve the strength of their muscles? Pause here and share with someone.

What do you think? Thanks for sharing.

Sprinting would strengthen leg muscles so they can move fast from one side of the court to the other.

Pull-ups would strengthen arm muscles.

They could hit the tennis ball hard and sit-ups would strengthen stomach and back muscles.

They could twist from side to side to hit the ball.

It's a really great range of exercises there.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which one of these exercises would help a netball player get stronger arms and shoulders? Is it A, sit ups, B, running, or C, weightlifting? Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected answer C, weightlifting.

This would help a netball player get stronger arms and shoulders.

And now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to draw yourself taking part in your favorite sport.

Label the muscles on your body that you would need to strengthen most for your chosen sport, and describe which exercises would you need to do to strengthen these muscles to help you improve in your chosen sport.

You could do some secondary research to find out.

So pause here while you have a go at this task.

Labeling the muscles in your body that you need for your chosen sport and which exercises you'd need to strengthen those muscles.

I'll see you when you're finished, is great to be back with you.

So how did you get on with that task? Labeling the muscles in your body you would need to strengthen most.

You may have chosen to be a javelin thrower.

We can see arm muscles are needed there, shoulder muscles, stomach muscles, and lower leg muscles.

And which exercises would you need to strengthen these muscles? I would do pull-ups to strengthen my arm muscles to throw the javelin far.

I would do sit-ups to help me twist to aim the javelin.

This exercise would strengthen my stomach muscles.

I would lift hand weights to strengthen my shoulder muscles to throw the javelin far, and I would do squats to strengthen my leg and ankle muscles so I could run fast.

That's a really nice range of exercises.

Great job.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle.

Design a fitness circuit.

Many athletes need to strengthen more than one group of muscles in their body to succeed in their sport.

The athlete's coach would design a fitness circuit, including exercises for them to strengthen many groups of muscles.

The fitness circuit should aim to improve the strength of different muscles in the body.

They're sometimes performed in a circle to show that the exercises are repeated.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

A footballer only needs to do exercises to strengthen their feet muscles so they can kick the ball hard.

Pause here and decide.

Is this true or false? Well done if you selected false, and now I'd like you to justify your answer.

Choose from one of these two statements.

A, footballers need to strengthen their leg muscles too, so they have strong legs to kick a ball around.

Or B, footballers need to strengthen lots of other groups of muscles as they also need to be able to run fast, throw the ball in, move sideways, and jump up high.

Pause here while you decide which of these statements justifies your answer.

Well done if you selected answer B.

Indeed, footballers need to strengthen not just their feet.

They need to strengthen lots of other muscles as they also need to be able to run fast, throw the ball in, move sideways, and jump up high.

Which muscles does a swimmer need to strengthen to be able to swim fast? Pause here and share with someone.

What do you think? Thanks for sharing.

They need strong legs to kick the water to move forward fast, strong arm and shoulder muscles to pull their body through the water, strong stomach and back muscles to hold them straight in the water.

If you were that coach, what exercises would you put in a fitness circuit for them? Pause here and share with someone.

What exercises would you include? Thanks for sharing.

A fitness circuit for a swimmer might include crunches so strengthen stomach muscles, pull-ups to strengthen arm muscles, squats to strengthen leg muscles, press-ups to strengthen arm and back muscles.

Well done if you included some of these exercises in your fitness circuit for a swimmer.

Whenever you do exercise, there's something important you need to do to prepare your body.

What do you think this is? Pause here and share with someone if you know.

Thanks for sharing.

Here's Laura.

"My coach says to warm up and do stretches before we do our basketball fitness circuit." But why are stretches important? Pause here and shower with someone.

Do you have any idea why a stretch is important? Thanks for sharing.

Stretches are important as once the muscles are warm.

Stretching helps increasing muscle flexibility and prevents injury.

Let's have a check for understanding.

which of these statements best describes a fitness circuit.

It's a set of exercises that you do one after another that strengthen the muscles in one part of your body.

B, it's a set of exercises that you do one after another that strengthen different muscles in your body.

Or C, it's a set of exercises that you choose just one of, to strengthen a muscle in that part of your body.

Pause here while you decide which of these statements best describes a fitness circuit.

Well done if you selected answer B.

Indeed, it's a set of exercises that you do one after another that strengthen different muscles in your body.

That's a fitness circuit.

Have you ever done a fitness circuit in a PE lesson or a sports club? Pause here and share with someone if you have.

Thanks for sharing.

Here's Lucas.

"I do one at archery.

The exercises are all in different places around the room." And Sofia.

"I do one at football club at school, which has lots of different exercises in a circle that I have to do." What kind of exercises do you think Lucas and Sofia might do? Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

In Sofia's and Lucas' fitness circuits, there are some stretches to do once they're warm.

They stretch their neck, back, and shoulder muscles.

And there's an exercise called reach for the sky to stretch the whole body, or we could stretch the arms. Should we have a go at that now? Join in with me.

Stretch the arms up, reaching for the sky.

These exercises would stretch different muscles and prepare them to start the fitness circuit.

For the rest of the fitness circuit, there would be a sequence of exercises to improve the strength of different muscles.

Each exercise targets a different muscle group and may be given a time or number for each round.

So we could have kettlebell swings for 30 seconds to strengthen arms. Five lunges on each leg to strengthen thighs.

20 pushups to strengthen back and leg muscles.

Oh, I'm not sure if my pushups look quite like that.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these activities would be best to improve the strength of your arm muscles? Would it be A, sit-ups, B, bouncing a ball, or C, reading? Pause here and share with someone.

What do you think? well done if you selected answer B.

Indeed, bouncing a ball would be a great exercise to help improve the strength of your arm muscles.

And now it's time for your next task.

I would like you to create a fitness circuit that your friends can take part in to strengthen their muscles.

You might need to do some secondary research to investigate which types of exercise strengthen different muscles in the body.

Choose six different exercises.

Draw them onto a sheet of paper in a circle.

Put numbers next to each exercise to show the order.

Under each exercise, write which muscles it will strengthen.

Put on your sports clothes and have a go at your fitness circuit.

Enjoy And remember to include a warmup and some stretches at the start of the circuit.

So pause here while you have a go at this task, creating your own fitness circuit for you and your friends.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's great to be back with you.

So how did you get on with creating a fitness circuit to improve muscle strength? So let's take a look at the circuit.

At the start, we stretch.

Always remember that.

Number two, hop.

Three, squat.

Four, Sprint.

Five, ball throw.

Six, skip.

I love the variety here.

So let's see.

At the start, we made sure to warm up and stretch our muscles.

The hop strengthened the top of the leg muscles.

The squat strengthened the back and buttock muscles.

The sprint strengthened arm and leg muscles.

The ball throw strengthened hand and neck muscles and the skip strengthen all the leg muscles.

This is a great all round workout.

I love it.

I Think I might try it myself.

In our lesson, Improving Muscle Strength, we've covered the following.

Muscles that are found close together on your body often help you to perform similar movements.

Athletes focus their training on different muscles, depending on their chosen sport.

Humans can improve the strength of their muscles through exercise, such as lifting weights.

A complete fitness circuit should aim to improve the strength of different muscles in the body.

Well done, everyone, for joining in with this lesson on Improving Muscle Strength.

We explored muscles, which muscles are used for different sports and different kinds of exercises, and then you went on to complete your own fitness circuit, which I will definitely be taking some ideas from you and helping to improve the fitness and strength of my body.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.

I really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Until then, stay curious.