PE Lessons for Muscular Strength

Physical education teaches students the importance of health and fitness. Incorporate lessons that allow the students to improve their muscular strength using their own body weight at least once a week. Increasing muscular strength provides your students with a variety of benefits, including strong muscles and bones to protect them from injuries and increase their metabolism, which helps control weight.

Exercise Stations

Divide the class into six groups and set up six stations around the gym. Each station is marked with an exercise, such as squats, lunges, jumping, the bear crawl, pushups and situps. Have each group start at a different station. Once the exercise is completed at the first station, students move to the next. Each student must perform all the exercises.

Secret Exercises

Place a set of cards face down in the middle of the gym floor. Each card has a specific exercise listed on it. Have the class make a large circle surrounding the cards. They start this lesson by running around the circle for 30 seconds. When the whistle blows, one student is picked to run into the middle of the circle and pick a card. The class then performs the exercise on the card. Repeat the process until all cards have been turned over and each exercise has been performed.

Red Light, Green Light

Have the class line up on one end of the gym. When you say green light, they run. When you say red light, they stop and perform an exercise to increase their muscular strength. Squats, pushups and situps are all effective exercises. Play this game multiple times.

Relay Race

Have students participate in a relay race, performing different physical activities for each leg of the race. For example, in the first leg, have all students do bear crawls down and back. On the second leg, students perform the crab walk. Have students complete at least four legs of the relay, choosing activities that build leg and arm strength, such as lunges, side squats, hopping, seal walk and the wheel barrow with partners.