In a previous post, we talked about some great outdoor gym ideas for PE teachers. Today, we’ll delve into one of those ideas mentioned—fitness circuits! To reiterate what was said in that post, fitness circuits help work on a person’s strength and endurance. Your thirty-minute gym class has never gotten your students moving more! Take a look at our short guide to building the perfect circuit workout for PE class below!

Choose an Upper-Body Exercise

For one station, set up an area that’s meant just for upper-body exercises. Now, if you have our outdoor fitness stations, you can utilize any of the many arm and shoulder presses. If you don’t, you can have this station be for pushups, ab exercises, arm hangs, or any other arm exercise you want to focus on.

Choose a Lower-Body Exercise

Now, your lower-body section can be either muscle building or balance testing. You’ll need to choose an exercise or a few that will work the students’ lower bodies. Remember—you can even choose to do different moves each time through the circuit! Try out walking lunges, calf raises, leg presses, and more.

Choose a Fun Station

We suggest adding a fun station to your circuit as well! These stations should still have a purpose, like coordination or agility. Give your students a break from specific movements and let them enjoy a game that tests the above qualities. For example, bean bag toss, ladders, cone weaving, and even catch with a football or baseball are great options.

Choose a Cardio Booster

Next, you’ll want to add in a station that’s specific to cardio. Bleachers are a great option for a fun version of cardio that’s different from a run around the track. Have the students run up and down the bleachers or choose a different cardio activity instead. Jumping rope, running, dancing, and cycling are all wonderful options as well!

Leave Time for Rest

The last station on your circuit should be a moment of rest. You can make this a light yoga station, water station, or just a general moment for rest, but either way, this should help lower their heart rate.

Any of the aforementioned stations can be done in various orders and should last one-minute each—then, the circuit should be repeated six times. With the help of our outdoor fitness stations and portable aluminum bleachers, you’ll be on your way to creating a fun and effective gym class!