Gymnastic box exercises

Like the bench, the gymnastic box is an important preparatory tool, providing valuable and useful exercises as part of the physical education classes and sports training. The box is a tool of Swedish origin. Its size is 60x40x26-28 cm; it is usually made of wood, with leather or pearl canvas lining. It can be used to strengthen arm, leg and trunk muscles, and for pre - training tracking practices. The box can be used for individual, pair and group exercises. Before the practice we shall always check the tool’s condition, in particular, whether it may tilt.

The arrangement of pupils should take place in an open configuration. With very young pupils, if possible, we should prepare boxes before class sessions. (We need two young pupils to carry one box)

We always select different students for putting the boxes back in place, other than those who prepared the boxes for use.

For a teacher’s presentation we use a box which is centrally placed. During the presentation the children are set on the box so that they can better see the exercise.

When giving instructions we use commands which refer to the box. In dynamic exercises which involve movement we demand that the appropriate distance be observed, and the next pupil can start only when the previous one has left the box. (Table 19)