Strength Challenge (Basketball Throw)
Why is it important?
Strength is one of the most important benefits of physical activity. When you are strong, your bones are healthier and your blood vessels are better able to move blood around your body. Also, with strength you can support your body weight, which allows you to perform many daily tasks such as lifting heavy things, carrying your school books, and throwing a ball for your dog. You’ll improve your score on the SportFit Basketball Throw station too!
How can I improve?
Rock Climbing
Rock climbing requires you to use your arms to pull yourself from rock to rock. As you climb up the wall, your arm muscles contract and relax repeatedly to move your body weight around; this constant strain on your arms causes the muscles to strengthen.
Bowling
Bowling builds strength because you have to lift bowling balls and roll them down the bowling alley. When you pick up a bowling ball your arm muscles have to contract and support the weight of the ball. If you bowl often, your arms will gain strength.
Carrying school books home from school
When you carry books home from school, or groceries home from the grocery store, you use your arm muscles to hold the books and bags and keep them from falling. You may notice after a few minutes that your arms start to feel a bit tired or sore; that feeling is the muscle contracting to support the weight of your books. If you carry your books to and from school every day, your arms will become stronger.
Playing on the monkey bars
Hanging off the monkey bars is a good way to improve your strength because your arms have to hold your body up and pull you from bar to bar. When muscles support weight for an extended length of time, they become stronger because they learn to use more of their cells fibres. The more cells fibres that a muscle uses, the stronger it becomes.
Push Ups
Push ups are a great way to improve your strength because you have to support your entire body with your arms and chest. Also, push ups give a good indication of whether or not your strength is improving; as you get stronger, you’ll be able to do more push ups.
Shoveling Snow
Shoveling snow is a great way to build your arm strength. The motion of lifting and tossing snow with the shovel gets your arms to contract repeatedly; this teaches your arm muscles to use more muscle fibres, which is how strength increases.
Taking the stairs
When you climb a lot of stairs, you legs start to get tired because your leg muscles have to work really hard to lift your body up each step. If you take the stairs regularly, your legs will get stronger as they get used to lifting you off the ground.
