Dumbbell exercises

The Dumbbell exercises technically do not pose a difficulty for the children, because in most cases they mean grasping, holding, rocking, raising, lowering and rotating the dumbbell, in a firm manner.  Nevertheless, in physical education at school they are very rarely used, although dumbbell movements are very useful, and have a multifaceted developmental impact.

Boys and girls alike can use dumbbells (mainly in upper grades), but first you should apply general warm to prepare your muscles and joints for increased exertion.

The dumbbells are short iron rods, with iron spheres located at both ends. Nowadays they are covered with neoprene or sponge for a more comfortable grip. Their weight varies between 0,5-1-1,5 and two kilograms, being adapted to the student's age, prior experience or physical condition. Most of the time we work with two dumbbells, each in one hand, but we can hold two dumbbells in one hand as well.

In respect of their impact, exercises with dumbbells are more powerful tasks, especially for the development of the arm and shoulder girdle muscles, but we can use them to mobilize the trunk, and leg movements. Of course, it provides an excellent tool to increase the impact of stretching. The commands also refer to the dumbbells. 

The dumbbell exercises are performed individually. The equipment should be prepared for use already before the class, put on one side of the gym, on the ground, in pairs, in an orderly fashion.

The distribution proceeds similarly to that with the balls. The method of carrying dumbbells: one dumbbell in each hand, arms held down, at the sides.

We arrange pupils at a distance greater than arm width, in an open line, column, or circle, or in a scattered pattern. 

We call students’ attention to the risk of accident, because when performing the tasks where we need to make the two ends of dumbbells hit one another, our fingers can be damaged, and dumbbells can be dropped, which can result in serious injuries to any part of the body! When the two ends of dumbbells hit one another we need to rotate the instrument so that the ball ends touch.

When presenting some of the practices, or between more difficult exercises, we should allow some time to rest, so that the pupils could place the tool down on the floor before them!

Posture correction exercises with dumbbells should also be carried out, mainly to gradually strengthen low back muscles.

Collecting and depositing dumbbells should take place in a manner similar to their distribution! (Table 16)