Free exercises
When designing these exercises firstly, our students’ age and previous experiences should be taken into consideration. Secondly, we must not forget about gradualism either. The aim of teaching free exercises is to make student know more about their body parts (head, neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs and feet), to learn about different starting positions and simple basic elements of movements. It is crucial to teach them the appropriate positions and postures right at the beginning. In this phase of teaching 2 tempo and 4 tempo movements are used.
In the next phases students should be taught how to hold their hands, arms, feet and head appropriately. There should be enough opportunities to practice these basic forms and elements of movements. Without this they cannot perform completed exercises. We must equip them with the ability of evaluating their own performance and correcting themselves.
In the third phase of our teaching we should make our students become aware of the techniques and modes of more complicated and complex exercises, for example, the ones with 4 – 8 rhythms. Here we can ask them to do asymmetric movements with their arms. It is worth alternating different strengthening, relaxing and lengthening exercises while involving various muscles. Strengthening exercises should be done after the slower ones. We should make students practice complicated movements and repeat them regularly. These are the basis of teaching shorter and longer exercises.
It is done properly if.
- in the first phase we use short exercises (8th rhythm) that involve 1-1 group of muscles
- then we should make students perform exercises (8-16 rhythms) where 2-3 groups of muscles are involved
- finally, in case of children they can be made to execute exercises (32 rhythms) that involve all the groups of their muscles.
Children can easily be motivated by using music. The following formations can be used to perform free exercises:
- open column
- open line
- more gropes, opened
- open circle
- open semi-circle
- scattered.
Read these few suggestions if a gym is too little or the numbers of children are large!
- arm’s length can be used
- every 2nd group is made to step forward-backward, or to the left-to the right
- we can gain more space /room if students are made to do a 45 degree turn.
We can pursue interesting, friendly entertaining way of teaching.
The following chapter contains examples of exercises by focusing on their effects.
- Head and neck exercises (Table 1)
- Types of lengthening exercise: bending the neck, turning the head, circling the head and complex exercises.
- Types of strengthening exercises: the previous exercises with loading, lifting, fighting down resistance with headrest.
- Arm-shoulder exercises
- Torso twisting
- Abdominal exercises with stretching effects: torso twisting backward, turning, rotating torso, passive bending while lying on abdomen. (Table 4.)
- Abdominal exercises having stretching effects: sitting, lying and hanging positions, from sitting into lying supine positions and in front support (Table 5).
- Stretching exercises: bending the body forward, bending forward to the side (Table 6)
- Back strengthening exercises: bending exercises, lifting the back in the prone position, leg lifts, exercises tightening the trunk and improving posture, backwards/reverse push-ups, (Table 7)
- Side stretching exercises: side bends, horizontal and vertical turns to the side (Table 8)
- Side strengthening exercises: side-lying trunk lift, side-lying plank hip lifts, side planks (Table 9)
- Leg exercises