As many are working to keep up with healthy New Year’s resolutions in January, Goshen High School students can now get an extra boost in achieving fitness goals through the use of a new application, PLT4M.
PLT4M, an app that complements school physical education programs, offers guidance in exercises and wellness practices. It also allows students to log physical activity for teachers to track. The app uses the data to create a scoreboard with personal records and a broader leaderboard for student records in groups.
A place for personal bests and variety
The hours, reps, and sets students log come from a wide variety of instructional videos the app provides to teach students different exercises. Exercise categories have names like: Intro to Fitness, Intro to Strength, Badminton, Kanjam, Yoga, Pilates, and Boot Camp. The Fitness Anywhere category features a video depicting a student squatting with a backpack. Videos also offer instruction in social-emotional learning, nutrition, mobility and flexibility.
Although the app was only recently introduced to the school’s P.E. classes at the start of the new year, students are responding to it positively.
“It’s pretty cool,” said GHS Senior Eric Faith. “My favorite part is the PR (personal record) board. Hopefully I’ll get a trophy for No. 1.”
Another senior, Kerry Caplicki, said he’s already learned new skills.
“It’s helped me improve a ton,” he said. “I can do a 360 now on a snowboard because it taught me specific snowboarding workouts.”
Students can view the videos as a group in their classes, and have access to the app on their phones outside school so they can use it anywhere.
“Our kids live through their phones,” said GHS Principal Nick Pantaleone. “PLT4M is great to promote lifelong fitness, and a good way to blend technology into the P.E. curriculum.”
A customized P.E. experience
The platform also gives students the freedom to cater their P.E. classes to their own individual skills and interests, said P.E Department Chair Ed Killenberger.
“It’s a great resource, with beginner, intermediate, and advanced options,” he said. “Students can learn the mechanics of the 100-yard dash, agility, ladder training, air squats, and about the lumbar curve.”
Groups for sports teams are also a great feature, explained P.E. Teacher John Stephens.
“They have speed training, conditioning, and in-season training which works well for teams,” he said.
Plus, he added, many of the demo videos feature students, so they can take the opportunity to create their own weight-lifting programs to post on each group’s main page.
“It enables them to come in, and it’s all them,” said Killenberger.
#Goals
PLT4M’s developers say their commitments include encouraging small improvements while students continually work to better themselves, teaching proper technique in exercises, and ensuring that students graduate with the fundamentals of physical literacy. Students then can incorporate healthy movement in their lives, with habits sticking even after high school.
And these goals are not unique to PLT4M, they are shared at the national level.
According to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Supporting schools to establish physical education daily can provide students with the ability and confidence to be physically active for a lifetime.”
The CDC states other benefits of effective physical education include: an increased level of physical activity, improved grades and standardized test scores, and the ability to stay on-task in the classroom.