PE Lesson Plans for High School (FREE High School PE Activities)

Two students practices a kneeling table top during a yoga lesson in physical education class.

Physical education teachers have a lot to cover! We have put together a week’s worth of PE lesson plans for high school students that range in fitness, nutrition, yoga and more. We hope you enjoy the free content and give some lessons a try with your students! 

Struggling to find engaging PE activities for high school students?

 

Finding quality physical education lesson plans for high school is no simple task! Getting the right instructional materials that will engage and excite your students while not breaking the bank is hard! 

 

Yes, you can search online, go to a Shape America conference, or talk to fellow PE teachers and find hundreds of PE activities and physical education lesson plans to use.

 

But, you will often end up with tons of phys ed games for high school students that are fun once and then quickly lose student’s attention. Or, you end up finding workouts that have barely clothed models that are a far cry from what you want for high school fitness lesson plans

 

What is there for high school PE?

Producing high school physical education units on multiple topics is tough!

 

Do you feel like you are a jack of all trades and yet a master of none? You only have so much money in your budget and time in your day to teach all the different PE topics well. You are left asking yourself, 

 

  • What equipment do I need for fun and cutting edge PE games for high school
  • Do I have the right equipment to run PE workouts for high school
 

How does this all even fit into what my administrators want for high school physical education lesson plans?

 

 

A week’s worth of free PE lesson plans for high school classes

 

When you feel like you are at stalemate with your lessons, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to sample! With so many great phys ed lesson plans for high school, it is hard to make sense of all that is out there. Here you will find a sample week of high-quality content that high school pe teachers tap into on a yearly basis. 

 

With a combination of fitness, nutrition, yoga, and dance, there is something to for every student to look forward to in the week. Additionally, you’ll find that some days give you a little extra time to sprinkle in some of those fun pe games that your kids still long for!

Day 1: Intro To Fitness – Air Squat & Hinge 

 

Many students arrive to high school needing a full introduction to foundational human movements. Even if they did learn things like the squat, lunge, hinge, press, and pull at the middle school level, chances are that your high school physical education class will greatly benefit from movement review. 

 

Today, we are beginning our movement and fitness journey by learning two of the most important foundational human movements – the Squat & the Hinge.

  • 2 Minutes of light cardio
  • Spiderman & Reach – 1 Minute Continuous Movement, Alternating 
  • Alt. Samson – 1 Minute Continuous Movement
  • Good Mornings 4 x 10 Reps 
  • Elbow Plan 4 x :20 Seconds 
  • 1:00 Rest After Each Round
  • Introduce the 4 points of performance 
  • Air Squat 2 x 5 Reps

5 Rounds Of 10 Air Squats + 2:00 Walk/Jog/Run

Day 2: Intro To Nutrition – Calories 

 

Are you tasked with teaching wellness within your physical education class? If you need a day off from physical activity and in need of lesson ideas, nutrition can be a fantastic addition. 

 

While nutrition can be a part of k-12 physical education plan, high school is often the first time where students can start to contextualize the science and practical application of nutrition. With written and video lessons, paired with chapter questions students have an interactive way to start exploring their everyday nutrition.

  • 9 chapter questions provided that can be either done individually or incorporated as part of a group discussion

Discover the Power of PLT4M

Curious how more than 10,000 PE teachers are using PLT4M’s Fitness and Wellness Curriculum and digital learning software? 

Day 3: Intro to Fitness – Press & Pull 

 

Returning back to another fitness lesson plan for high school PE. Now, we hit the upper body and learn how to safely press and pull. We focus on scaling and modifying with all our physical activity, but place a special emphasis on this with things like pressing and pulling. 

 

In this lesson students will learn how to appropriately scale the level of difficulty the push up and inverted row.

  • 2 Minutes of light cardio
  • Shoulder Warm Up – 15 Slow Reps per movement 
  • 1:00 Jumping Jacks
  • Introduce the 4 points of performance of push up  
  • Review movement scaling and elevating the push up 
  • Elevated Push Ups 4 x 5
  • Introduce the 4 points of performance of the inverted row 
  • Inverted Row 5 x 5
  • Introduce the butterfly sit up 
  • Butterfly sit up 2 x 5
  • AMRAP 8: 60 Jumping Jacks, 10 Push Ups, 10 Butterfly Sit ups

Day 4: Intro To Yoga – Standing Poses 

 

Yoga is one of the most popular exercise options and requires no equipment. But as a physical education teacher you may not feel comfortable teaching yoga. 

 

Like any type of physical activity, yoga has basic components that can be introduced as an excellent start. In this lesson, students will get a chance to try and practice four of the most popular standing poses in yoga, and then put them into a more traditional flow.

  • Begin yoga integration 
  • Flow Sun A with performance and refinement cues 
  • Flow Sun A using breath to movement
  • Apply new poses to a full flow 
  • Practice 2 times through, 1 slow, 1 faster

Day 5: Dance Fitness 

 

Many physical education programs have what is called a ‘fun Friday.’ If you arrive on day 5 and want to give the choice of different gym games for high school students, then go for it!

 

You have had a great week of lessons, and your students can now have some time to explore and play different games like frisbee, badminton, or volleyball that you have throughout the gym. 

 

If you want to have a little more structure but keep the fun, give dance fitness a try! A trending topic in the world of fitness, dance gives students a fun way to sweat and move.

  • Get moving with some light cardio 
  • Layer in a few static stretches
  • Introduce and and practice the 8 main dance moves for the main cardio effort
  • Put the 8 dance moves to work through a fun sequence following along with Coach Alexa
  • Let your heart rates come back down and hit some stretches before going on with the rest of your day

Let us do the heavy lifting! Get access to our complete lineup of PE lesson plans for high school students

 

This was just one week of PE lesson plans to give you a taste! At PLT4M, you can tap into hundreds of high school physical education lesson plans that fit your goals and needs. Tap into fitness, flexibility, yoga, dance, weightlifting, and more all in a centralized and easy to use spot. 

 

All of PLT4M’s instructors make these resources with high school students in mind and work to keep it fun and engaging. On top of keeping your students excited about PE, keep your administrators happy knowing all of PLT4M’s programs are aligned to Shape America national standards.

 

 

FAQs

How are Plt4m’s high school PE units delivered?

PLT4M is totally flexible and customizable to your classroom, students and teaching style. Use it as much or as selectively as you like to enhance your curriculum. PLT4M is designed to work seamlessly with your classroom technology, whether you have a projector, are one-to-one, or can allow students to use their phones. 

 

What types of high school physical education activities do you cover?

Our ever-growing library of original content includes a variety of programs intended to spark lifelong physical literacy. Check out the options below: 

 

Do you only provide fitness activities for high school students?

No, we also have PE lesson plans for middle school students that are age appropriate and engaging! There is something for everyone within PLT4M! 

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