Good morning everyone!
This week is looking pretty gloomy, please try to get outside when you can, fresh air supports a fresh mindset!
Weekly Active Activity
Ladder workouts! Some of you may be thinking- Coach Sadie we did that last week… and you would be correct! This week however is a different type of ladder workout. This is for strength and endurance, last week we worked on agility and short, fast movements. Our exercises will be set into a progression MEANING we will begin with a small number and work our way up to the big number, and then back down to the small number. I will give you a workout for each day this week. Preschool to first grade your active activity will be below this portion! I did not forget you! You are more than welcome to try the grades 2-3 exercises as well!
Tuesday
We are going to do upper body and core exercises today. I have chosen Superman, Flutter Kicks, and Shoulder Dips. Superman exercises and engages our core including our abdominal muscles and our lower back muscles. Flutter Kicks engage our lower abdominal muscles as well as our hip flexors. The Shoulder dips will engage our triceps which are on the back of our arms! Below will be a GIF of each exercise. If you are having a hard time viewing please make sure you are in google chrome, I find I have a hard time viewing in Safari.
Grades 2-3 Your ladder will be 3, 5, 7, 5, 3. This will look like 3 supermans, 3 flutter kicks, 3 tricep dips. Take a 1 minute rest. Now try 5 supermans, 5 flutter kicks, 5 tricep dips. Take a 1 minute rest. 7 supermans, 7 flutter kicks, 7 tricep dips. Take a 1 minute rest. Now work your way back down the ladder, 5 supermans, 5 flutter kicks, 5 tricep dips. 1 Minute rest. 3 supermans, 3 flutter kicks and 3 tricep dips. NOW YOU ARE DONE WOOO!
Grades 4-6 Your ladder will be 5, 7, 10, 7, 5 This will look like 5 supermans, 5 flutter kicks, 5 tricep dips. Take a 1 minute rest. Now try 7 supermans, 7 flutter kicks, 7 tricep dips. Take a 1 minute rest. 10 supermans, 10 flutter kicks, 10 tricep dips. Take a 1 minute rest. Now work your way back down the ladder, 7 supermans, 7 flutter kicks, 7 tricep dips. 1 Minute rest. 5 supermans, 5 flutter kicks and 5 tricep dips. NOW YOU ARE DONE WOOO!
Superman! Sometimes this is a holding exercise, I want you to lift your body up hold for one second, and drop, then repeat.
Flutter kicks! Try not to lift your head, and try not to lay on your hands!
Tricep Dips!
This first one is the beginner tricep dip, keep your knees bent and lift your body with your arms. Try not to sink your head into your shoulders, you got this!
Version number 2 is a little more difficult, keep your legs straight out and remember to lift your body with your triceps and shoulders! Don’t lift with your legs, I believe in you!
Wednesday!
Cardio ladder day! Today I would like you to grab a timer of some sort (watch, kitchen timer, ipad, iphone, android, clock). Now you will go OUTSIDE! You will set the timer for the following times:
Now high five yourself! You rock!
Thursday
Another exercise ladder! This time we are going to work on our lower body. We are going to do calf raises, side lunges and leg raises.
Grades 2-3 Your ladder will be 5, 10, 15, 10, 5 remember the one minute rest in between each level!
Grades 4-6 Your ladder will be 10, 15, 20, 15, 10 remember the one minute rest in between each level!
Calf Raises! These are simple you essentially go up on your tippy toes. If you have a stair you should put your heel near the edge of the stair, and dip lower than the edge. If you are like me and do not have that option in your home a simple calf raise will do! These work your calf muscles, did you know you have two calf muscles? They are called your gastrocnemius and soleus muscles. This exercise is mostly felt in your gastrocnemius which is the bigger calf muscle.
Side lunges! These are great for strength and flexibility, try to get low and lift yourself and switch to the other side without losing your balance! These are great for our hamstrings, quadriceps and gluteus maximus muscles which make up our thighs and our bottom.
Leg raises are great for our hamstrings, and quadriceps but more importantly our gluteus minimus which is the smaller of our gluteus muscles. This muscle can be hard to exercise and this exercise seems silly but is great! This muscle is important because it strengthens our hips which is important for how we move and support our body!
Friday
Today we will do another cardio ladder! This time we are going to do jumping jacks, squat jumps and mountain climbers! The only new exercise today is a squat jump and it looks like this:
Grades 2-3 Your ladder will be 10, 14, 18, 14, 10 remember the one minute rest in between each level!
Grades 4-6 Your ladder will be 14, 18, 20, 18, 14 remember the one minute rest in between each level!
Again give yourself that HIGH FIVE!
Preschool, Kindergarten and First Grade!
Our ladder workout this week will look a little something like this:
Tuesday
Have a guardian time you for 5 seconds hopping on one foot, then 5 seconds hopping on the other. Now try to do 10 seconds hopping on one foot, now the other! Try to hop for 15 seconds on one foot, and the other!! This Is SO HARD but such a fun way to burn off some of our energy. We are also working on practicing these locomotor skills still as we grow with our bodies more!
Now let’s try to do 2 inch worms, take a break, now do 3 inch worms, take a break, now do 4 inch worms! This ladder will only be a build up because inchworms exercise our WHOLE body!
Last one for today! Let’s try to do a crab walk for 3 crab steps, take a break, now 4 crab steps, take a break, now 5 crab steps! Again we are going to stop at the top of this ladder PHEW!
Great work!
Wednesday
Today we are going to RUN! Have a guardian time you for
30 seconds running, 30 seconds walking, 45 seconds running, 45 seconds walking, 1 minute running, 1 minute walking, now lets try to work back down the ladder!! 45 seconds running, 45 seconds walking, 30 seconds running, 30 seconds walking. Phew! Done with that!
Thursday
Time for a skiing ladder! Don’t own any skis? No worries! I don’t either, in fact I’ve never gone downhill skiing! This ladder will mostly be jumping in different forms that remind me of skiing. Why do we jump so much? Jumping moves our body in a way that we transfer weight. What that means is our body has to learn how to balance when we land from a jump. This is a skill that we are developing and will help us with our balance and agility as we grow bigger! Today we are going to the pretend ski slopes and we are going to try to do another ladder! Try to take a one minute break between each exercise.
We will start with Moguls! Here we are going to try to jump from side to side! Imagine you are flying down hill on a pair of skis and you are bouncing from jump to jump. Lets begin with 10 Side to side jumps!
Now we will head over to the Cross Country skiing area where we will begin with 10 big glides.
Head back to moguls one more time for 20 more jumps side to side! Then ONE MORE ROUND of cross country glides! Lets do 20 front and back. Remember to propel yourself using opposite hands and legs! You can do it!!
Friday
We are going to RUN AGAIN! Have a guardian help you time yourself!
45 seconds running, 45 seconds walking, 1 Minute running, 1 minute walking, 1:15 minute running, 1:15 minute walking, now lets try to work back down the ladder!! 1 minute running, 1 minute walking, 45 seconds running, 45 seconds walking. Phew! Done with that! Great job!
Challenge of the week
Juggling! This week I thought it would be fun to work on variations of juggling. See if you can find 3-4 like items around the house that would be safe to throw and catch. I recommend things like hacky sacks or stress balls. If you don’t have these items try balled up socks, clementines (if your guardians okay that…), tennis balls work but may be frustrating because they are light weight and bouncy. Alternatively you can make them using rice, plastic bag, and balloons if you have those floating around your house!
Level 1
-Throw the ball in your dominant hand (the hand you feel stronger throwing with) and catch with the same hand
-Throw the ball in your dominant hand and catch in your NON Dominant hand. If both of these feel comfortable it’s time to move on!
-Throw the ball up over your head and turn around and catch the ball with one hand. Try to throw and catch using both hands! Keep practicing!
-Throw the ball up, and catch the ball between your legs using your dominant hand, then switch to practice the other.
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
I would love to see how far you have progressed with this challenge! I am still working on juggling 3 balls! This is a great challenge when you need a break from work.
I hope you all have a healthy and active week!
Coach Sadie
–