Interested in improving your child’s school performance by 27% – 36%?
This is a bittersweet year for me. This is the first year, I have not worked in some capacity as an educator. I started as PE teacher then an Athletic Director and Assistant Principal. But my heart was always obsessed with fitness and I became a Personal Trainer but…I LOVED TEACHING PE…or torture as the children would all it (Strength and Condo).
In my former roles as an educator, I saw students and parents obsessed about academic performance and saw my class as a necessary hoop to be jumped through. However, that mindset is flawed because academic performance and fitness go hand in hand.
There have been massive amount of studies that make it clear: there is a directly correlation between physical exercise and academic performance. If the student consistently moves and exercise it improves their test scores, their learning capacity, and their concentration.
Are you doubtful?
Dr. John Ratey (Harvard dude) studies showed drastic improvements in academic performance once students started a daily exercise routine.
In Saskatoon Saskatchewan, which is an inner city school, decided to bring in treadmills. Guess what? They saw dramatic and immediate improvement in the classroom regarding the students behavior and their academic performance. That is a win-win! The students were able to concentrate better, learn more and as a result their scores improved. “In just four months, the students in Allison Cameron’s class began improving academically. Grade level increases were in the 27%-36% range, and math increases were similar.”
That is CRAZY!
So this is the BIG SECRET! Students only need about 20 minutes of exercise each morning.
The big question is, “Why does exercise result in such a dramatic change in academic performance?” Studies are still ongoing but it seems that when students exercise, the brain grows new brain cells and these new brain cells create new pathways for learning to take place. The fancy term for this is Neurogenesis.
The takeaway message? If you are truly interested in academic performance, exercise should be a top priority. To push exercise to the side opens the door to both academic and behavior issues. As a once full time teacher and administrator, nobody wants this.
Go be awesome and get a good workout in.
KELLEN LAKE – Feed Your Brain By Training Your Body : )
PS – Need a workout? Check out the below 😉
Warm-up with 5- 10 minutes of light cardio, then dynamic stretches (leg swings, arm circles, etc.). After the workout, cool down with light cardio (walking, etc.) to bring down the heart rate, and then stretch.
Crank 1, 3x through:
5 Burpees with push-up + Broad Jump
5 Crab toe touches (1-1)
5 Renegade Rows
15 Mountain climbers each side
Crank 2, 3x through:
100 Jumps/jump rope
10 Plank floor jacks
10 Overhead Triceps Press
10 Plank Shoulder taps each side (tap shoulder with opposite hand)
Crank 3, 3x through:
5 (Left) Reverse lunge to knee-up/hop right foot
5 (Right) Reverse lunge to knee up/hop left foot
10 Gate swings
15 Russian twists each side
