Examples of Aerobic, Muscle-, and Bone-Strengthening Physical Activities for Children and Adolescents

Type of Physical Activity

Preschool-Aged Children School-Aged Children Adolescents

Moderate– intensity aerobic

• Games such as tag or follow the leader • Playing on a playground   • Tricycle or bicycle riding  • Walking, running, skipping, jumping, dancing  • Swimming  • Playing games that require catching, throwing, and kicking   • Gymnastics or tumbling
• Active recreation, such as hiking, riding a scooter without a motor, swimming • Playing games that require catching and throwing, such as baseball and softball
• House and yard work, such as sweeping or pushing a lawn mower • Some video games that include continuous movement

Vigorous– intensity aerobic

• Playing on a playground • Tricycle or bicycle riding  • Walking, running, skipping, jumping, dancing  • Swimming  • Playing games that require catching, throwing, and kicking   Gymnastics or tumbling
• Active games involving running and chasing, such as tag or flag football • Jumping rope  • Cross-country skiing  • Sports such as soccer, basketball, swimming, tennis  • Martial arts  • Vigorous dancing

Muscle strengthening

• Games such as tug of war • Climbing on playground equipment  • Gymnastics
• Resistance exercises using body weight or resistance bands • Rope or tree climbing
• Some forms of yoga
• Games such as tug of war • Resistance exercises using body weight, resistance bands, weight machines, hand-held weights  • Some forms of yoga

Bone strengthening

• Hopping, skipping, jumping • Jumping rope  • Running  • Gymnastics
• Sports that involve jumping or rapid change in direction

Note: Some activities, such as bicycling or swimming, can be moderate or vigorous intensity, depending upon level of effort. For preschool aged children, aerobic activities listed can be either moderate or vigorous intensity.

Meeting the Key Guidelines for American youth vary in their physical activity participation. Some do not participate at all, others participate in enough activity to meet the key guidelines, and some exceed the key guidelines.

One practical strategy to promote activity in youth is to replace sedentary behavior with activity whenever possible. For example, where appropriate and safe, young people should walk or bicycle to school or the bus stop instead of riding in a car. Rather than only watching sporting events on television, young people should participate in age-appropriate sports or games.

• Children and adolescents who do not meet the key guidelines should slowly increase their moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in small steps and in ways that they enjoy. A gradual increase in the number of days and the time spent being active will help reduce the risk of injury.
• Children and adolescents who meet the key guidelines should continue doing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day and, if appropriate, become even more active. Evidence suggests that even more than 60 minutes of activity daily may provide additional health benefits for school-aged youth.
• Children and adolescents who exceed the key guidelines should maintain their activity level and vary the kinds of activities they do to reduce the risk of overtraining or injury.

Getting and Staying Active: Real-Life Examples

Children and adolescents can meet the key guidelines and become regularly physically active in many ways. The first example is for a preschool-aged child showing how light-, moderate-, and vigorous-intensity physical activity can be incorporated throughout the day. The next examples are for a child and for an adolescent who are meeting the 60 minutes-a-day key guideline.

Jake: A 4-Year-Old Child At childcare, Jake goes outside twice a day and plays games like hide and-seek or hopscotch, chases his friends, and enjoys climbing up and going down the slide. At home, Jake is always on the move, whether he is building a fort in the living room, running around with his older sister, or seeing how high he can jump. On the weekends, Jake takes swimming lessons at the community pool or does gymnastics at the local recreation center. His family also likes to go to the city park, where Jake enjoys riding his tricycle. At home, Jake’s parents limit his screen time. All these activities ensure that Jake does at least 3 hours of movement a day.

Ebony: An 11-Year-Old Child Ebony has a physical disability and uses a wheelchair to get around. Ebony does 60 or more minutes of daily physical activity that is at least moderate intensity, and she also includes vigorous-intensity, bone strengthening, and muscle-strengthening activities. Here are the daily activities she participates in during a sample week:

• Monday and Friday: Wheels to and from school (20 minutes); races a friend during recess (10 minutes); plays basketball during an afterschool program (30 minutes) • Tuesday and Thursday: Wheels to and from school (20 minutes); actively participates during physical education class (50 minutes); plays four square in her afterschool program (15 minutes)
• Wednesday: Wheels to and from school (20 minutes); plays tag during recess (20 minutes); participates in an adaptive swim program (45 minutes) • Saturday: Participates in an adaptive swim program (45 minutes); wheels with her mom to and from the grocery store (25 minutes) • Sunday: Goes on a family bike ride using her adaptive bike (60 minutes); plays catch with her sister (10 minutes)

Ebony meets the key guidelines by doing vigorous-intensity aerobic activities, bone-strengthening, and muscle strengthening activities on at least 3 days a week:  • Vigorous-intensity activities on 5 days: basketball, tag or racing at recess, bicycling, and swimming • Bone-strengthening activities on 2 days: physical education class   • Muscle-strengthening activities on 2 days: physical education class

Darius: A 16-Year-Old Adolescent Darius does 60 or more minutes of daily physical activity that is at least moderate intensity. Here are the daily activities he participates in during a sample week when school is not in session:  • Monday and Wednesday: Walks dog (10 minutes); plays basketball at a nearby school gym that has a shared-use agreement for community physical activity during the summer  (50 minutes)  • Tuesday and Thursday: Walks dog (10 minutes); plays doubles tennis (30 minutes); does planks and push-ups (5 minutes) with his dad in the evening; rides his bicycle to a friend’s home (15 minutes)   • Friday: Plays Frisbee in the park with friends (60 minutes)   • Saturday: Vacuums his family’s home and cleans the bathrooms (30 minutes); rides his bike on a local trail (30 minutes)  • Sunday: Plays an active video game with his family that involves continuous movement at a moderate intensity (30 minutes); does body-weight exercises in his room (30 minutes)

Darius meets the key guidelines by doing vigorous-intensity aerobic activities, bone-strengthening, and muscle strengthening activities on at least 3 days a week:  • Vigorous-intensity activities on 4 days: basketball and bicycling • Bone-strengthening activities on 4 days: basketball, tennis • Muscle-strengthening activities on 3 days: body-weight exercises, including planks and push-ups.