Contrary to what you may have heard, strength training is good for junior high students. When I was a kid, I was always told I couldn’t lift weights until I was in high school because it would stunt my growth. While strength training is safe and health for children of middle school ages, it still needs to be done cautiously. Body weight exercises are a safer way for children to develop their strength than lifting weights. Body weight exercises do not require the use of heavy equipment; therefore, you have a lesser chance of injuring yourself.
Push-ups
Push-ups are one of the best exercises man ever discovered. They are safe for children of all ages. You can either do a push-up or you can’t; it’s not like bench-pressing weights where you run the risk of overloading the bar and having it come down on your chest.
Sit-ups
Sit-ups, which for some strange reason the President’s Council on Physical Fitness calls, “curl-ups,” are a tried and true abdominal exercise. Now, you might be wondering why I’m suggesting situps instead of crunches. Crunches isolate the rectus abdominus, which makes them a great exercise for developing that muscle, but they don’t effectively stimulate the other abdominal muscles or the muscles of your lower back, which make up the rest of your core.
Pull-ups
The same rule applies here as for push-ups: you can either do a pull-up or you can’t. If you can’t do a pull-up, there’s a way around that. You can do modified pull-ups by finding a bar low enough for your feet to touch and leaning back to do your pull-ups. You’re still getting a pull-up-type of workout, but they’re not as challenging this way. Doing modified pull-ups is also a good way to develop the strength to do a regular pull-up.
Relay Race
A relay race is a really fun way to get cardiovascular exercise that you can do with your friends. When you’re in a relay race, you’re really giving it your all and running as fast as you can when you get the handoff. It’s just like sprinting. It’s an excellent way to improve your cardiovascular stamina and build strong legs without squatting weights.
Sources:
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/tools-resources/docs/getfit.pdf
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/strength-training/HQ01010