Heart Rate Recovery Curve While Stretching
Right after the main activity, students take their pulse at several points while doing gentle stretches and plot their recovery curve. It helps them understand heart rate recovery as a fitness marker.
How to play
- As soon as the main activity ends, each student takes their pulse at the neck or wrist for 15 seconds, multiplies by 4 and records it as minute 0 (1 min).
- Gentle standing calf and quad stretches led by the teacher; take the pulse again at minute 1 (2 min).
- Seated hamstring and glute stretches with pulse checks at minutes 3 and 5 (3 min).
- Each student plots their curve on the worksheet and works out how many beats it dropped in the first minute (2 min).
- Class discussion: a drop of more than 12 beats in the first minute means good recovery; talk about what affects it (2 min).
Rules
- Take the pulse with the index and middle fingers, never the thumb.
- No one lies down suddenly after hard exercise: the first two minutes are done standing.
- Data is personal and isn't compared out loud if someone doesn't want to share.
- Anyone who feels dizzy sits down and tells the teacher.
Variations
Easier
Take the pulse only at minutes 0 and 1.
Standard
Four pulse checks combined with stretches and a curve plotted on the worksheet.
Harder
Use heart rate monitors or phones and compare the curve with one from a previous class.
Adaptations
- Visual impairment: a partner calls out the stopwatch and records their data.
- Limited mobility: do upper-body and neck stretches in the wheelchair and take the same measurements.
- Trouble finding the pulse: use a heart rate monitor or a phone app.
Learning goals
- Measure recovery heart rate accurately.
- Interpret the recovery curve as a marker of cardiovascular health.
- Connect the cool-down with a gradual drop in arousal.
Equipment for a class of 25
- stopwatch: 1
- worksheets: 30
Teacher tip
Practice taking a pulse during an earlier warm-up so you don't lose time. Keep the worksheets to compare curves at the end of the term.
PatioLab has "Heart Rate Recovery Curve While Stretching" and 5176 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
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