Movement Across the Curriculum

Cardio/Strength Relay

Set the game up on a basketball court with all the playing cards in a pile, upside down in the center court.  The partners line up across one of the two sidelines, leaving enough space to have two piles of cards (Cardio and Strength) and the ability to do the exercises. Begin the game with both partners jogging, one in place and one to the center to get a card and then jog back.   The partners decide if the exercise is mainly strength or mainly cardiovascular, and put the card in the appropriate hoop.  Both partners do the exercise; 100 steps for cardiovascular and 20 Reps for strength. The partner who picked the card stays and jogs in place until the second partner runs and retrieves another card.  Continue this pattern until the team has all 14 cards.

If a player retrieves a double (same card that has already been sorted), the players do the exercise and then when the player runs to middle to retrieve the next card, the duplicate card must be put back into the middle.

Assessment.  You can assess the students form as they do the exercise.  You can also assess whether they know the difference between cardiovascular exercise and strength.

I always stretch at the end of every lesson.  No matter what, we take 2 minutes to stretch the major muscles used in class.  If necessary, you can review while the students stretch.

Click the link below for the Cardiovascular and Strength Game Cards.  They are formatted six to a page. Print as many copies as you need to create one set per partner group.

Complete Set Fitness Game Cards

Differentiation Ideas:

You can play this game using anything you have to categorize.  I played “reptile or amphibian” with my 4th grade!  Played this game and the students had to decide if it was reptile or amphibian.  If it was reptile, they chose a cardio exercise to do for 100 number of steps.  Strength was Amphibian, 10 of their choice for strength. Allowing the students to choose the cardiovascular or strength exercise allows you to assess their ability to identify whether an activity is mainly strength or cardiovascular.  Again you can assess form as well as their ability to classify, in this case, reptiles and amphibians!