Push Notifications: The Anti-Couch Warm-Up

A warm-up where every phone «notification» becomes a movement. Students get their bodies going and notice the posture they slip into in front of a screen.

How to play

1. Everyone walks around «looking at their phone»: hands together in front, head down. Notice how the shoulders and neck close in (1 min).
2. The teacher holds up cards: «Message» = 5 backward shoulder rolls; «Like» = 10 high knees; «Video» = 4 lunges with a trunk twist; «Call» = sprint to a cone and back; «Update» = 5 squats with arms overhead (4 min).
3. In pairs, one partner flashes cards to the other, faster and faster. On the signal, switch roles (3 min).
4. «Airplane mode»: everyone freezes, head tall, arms out wide. Each student tells their partner when in the day they spend the most time with their head down (2 min).

Rules

• Walk and run looking ahead, never with your head down.
• On «Call», tag the cone and return on the outside so nobody crosses paths.
• Partners keep a pace that is fast but still lets the moves be done well.
• Squats keep knees in line with the feet.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students with visual impairments: notifications are called out loud and the partner runs alongside on the sprint.
• Deaf or hard-of-hearing students: large colored cards; «airplane mode» is signaled with a raised arm or by dimming the lights.
• Ankle or knee injury: swap high knees and sprints for shoulder and trunk mobility seated on a bench.

Learning goals

• Warm up the body progressively before the main activity.
• Recognize the forward-head posture caused by phone use.
• React to visual cues with the right movement.

Equipment for a class of 25

• notification cards: 80
• cones: 8

Teacher tip

Make the cards on paper with a simple hand-drawn icon; if you have none, use a hand signal for each notification. The usual mistake is going so fast that squats turn into half-reps: reward quality, not speed.

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