Lesson video

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Hi there, I'm Mr. Swaithes, and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

So today's lesson is movement.

Can you balance in different ways within appreciation of the task?

And it comes from the remote learning: moving with confidence unit.

So as you can guess from the title, we're very much gonna be looking at how well you can balance and trying to develop your balance competence during this lesson.

So you're gonna need a safe space to perform different balances.

So make sure that you've got that before you continue.

By the end of today's lesson, you're gonna be able to find safe ways to perform balances that are challenging, yet achievable for you.

And the key words that we'll be learning throughout today's lesson are about balance.

So that's the ability to stay steady and not fall while moving or holding a position.

Safety, which is protecting yourself and others from harm or danger.

And then mirror.

And that means to copy someone's movement as if you were their reflection.

So you're perhaps using the opposite leg so they are to be mirroring that performance.

Let's move into a warmup then.

So show what you know about preparing the body for a session focused on balancing.

I want you to try the following sequence: jogging on the spot, followed by some lunges and torso twists, followed by calf raises and holding on each leg.

And then single leg stork balance and holding on each leg.

So having to go on your dominant, your stronger leg, standing on one leg, raising up onto tiptoes and holding that position for as long as you can.

And the same with your opposite leg.

Let's watch a quick video to see what that could look like for you.

Okay, so I'm wondering, have you increased your pulse as you've done those?

Do you feel warm and ready for exercise?

And have you mobilized the major joints in your legs and worked your muscles through the full range of movement?

And if not, maybe you'll want to do a few stretches as you continue to listen to me.

Making sure that you're in a safe space with enough room to move around.

So today's lesson is split up into two parts.

The first part will be all about static balances, and then the second part of the lesson will be moving into dynamic or moving balances and combining a sequence of different balances.

So let's get going then.

What different types of balance are there?

Can you think of any?

Well, Andeep says that, "Static balances are where you keep your center of mass over your base of support and remain still.

So for example, standard on one leg" like you did at the beginning.

"And that's also known as a stork balance.

" 'Cause a stork is a type of bird that often stands on one leg whilst it rests the other leg and then switches over.

Here's an example of what that might look like.

And it's best to put the leg that's not down on the floor in against the side of your knee in that kind of Y shape.

How long can you hold that stork balance for?

Have a good at it now as you continue to listen to me and compare what are you like on your dominant and your non-dominant leg.

I'm certainly better at balancing now on my right leg than my left.

And then Laura is saying, "Well, a different type of balance is called a dynamic balance.

And that's where you maintain control of your body whilst moving, or the base of change," sorry, "Your base of support is changing position.

So for example, if you are walking a tight rope or a beam, then that requires dynamic balance.

And you should have good smooth transitions as you move.

" Which of these balances do you find the hardest?

This front support position where you've got your feet and your hands, so those points in contact with the floor?

What about a single leg raise?

And can you extend that knee to be straight?

Have a go at this as you watch them.

What about the bridge position where you're on your back and you raise your hips up off the floor to try and make that straight line through from your knees, through your hips to your shoulders?

Can you do the airplane position where you stand on one leg and raise the other leg up behind you?

You can have your arms by your side or out to the side.

What about the crow position?

Now you have to be really careful with this one and make sure you've got a soft landing and space in front of you, but getting your hands down and lifting your legs up.

Finding that tipping point requires good wrist strength and dexterity to do the crow position.

So why don't you try and hold each of these for five seconds.

Press pause whilst you do that and then come back to me when you are ready.

And let's have a little think then about how to reduce the risk of injury.

Well, Laura says that, "You should always work within your capabilities.

So when bearing weight through your hands, keep your core engaged and your body aligned as shown in these progressively challenging examples.

" So you've got that front support then up into raising one leg off the floor.

And then finally, that crow pose is the most challenging.

And you may want to wait until you've improved your balance before you even try that final one.

So show me, can you perform a shoulder stand like we see on the left hand side there, where you get on your shoulders, you point your toes up towards the ceiling?

And then can you rotate out of that into a v-sit position where you've got your toes pointed and your hands out for balance?

Remember that you use your shoulders or your bottom as the only patch in contact with the ground when you're performing these two different types of balance.

Repeat it until you can hold the balance for at least five seconds.

Okay, so why does the center of mass matter?

Well, your center of mass, which is usually near your belly button, must stay directly over the base of support, so those body parts are in contact with the ground.

If it moves outside of your base of support, you'll fall unless you move, for example, a foot to create a new base beyond where that center of mass has fallen.

And quite often we do this in a sprint start.

We actually move our center of mass right to the front of our hands so that when the gun goes, we can accelerate forwards out of the blocks rather than standing up and then running forwards.

So if your center of mass moves outside of your base, you are full.

And we need to be able to shift our weight forwards onto our toes when we're ready to move, or backwards onto our heels to be more stable, or side to side whilst maintaining balance.

Sometimes you can do this actually on a pillow or a cushion.

You can lay that on the floor to make it a slightly more unstable base to practice some of those balance points.

And certainly when I've sprained my ankle in the past, one of the exercises I've done to restrengthen those ligaments is one-legged balancing on that slightly unstable surface.

What are the key things to remember about balance?

Well, Sofia is saying that, "You need to focus on maintaining equal weight distribution above your base of support, engaging your core, especially if holding weight on your hands, and then working within your capabilities to maintain safety and avoid injury.

Remember, repeated practice to build up your confidence is required, and you need to do that gradually.

" What are points and patches?

I've mentioned a couple of those words already today.

Well, in gymnastics we refer to a point as a small body part touching the floor.

So for example, a hand, a foot, an elbow or a knee.

Whereas we refer to a patch as a large body part touching the floor.

So for example, your back, your bottom, your stomach or the side of your thigh.

And by reducing your points of contact with the floor, it increases the difficulty of a balance.

So balancing on points is typically harder than balancing on patches because they're smaller areas, aren't they?

Okay, let's do a quick check.

Which of these balances is not on four points in contact with the floor?

Is it a donkey kick hold?

Is it a bridge, or is it the wild thing pose?

What do you think?

That's right, the wild thing pose only has three points of contact with the floor, doesn't it?

So it's a less stable balance.

That brings us nicely into the first task for today's lesson.

So I want you to focus on weight distribution, perform at least a ten second hold of each single leg balance before moving on to the next.

So firstly I want you to have a go the stork balance on tiptoes, so raising up onto tiptoes, not on a flat foot.

Need to try the airplane.

So leaning your chest forward and your leg out behind.

The front scale.

So that's like a stork balance, but then you lift your leg up straight out in front of you.

So the leg that's not in contact with the floor, you lift it up, straight out in front of you.

That's called a front scale.

Or the tree pose, which is like a stork balance, but you have your hands up above your head.

And Sofia's just got a quick tip here, "Remember, repeated practice will build up your body awareness, quality of performance, and your confidence.

So try copying what you see on the video in real time and then press pause and repeat it numerous times.

" Let's have a look at the video then.

Well done.

So from a move perspective then reflecting on that lesson or that task, we're trying to get you to maintain equal weight distribution above the base of support to ensure that you are stable and well balanced.

And John says that if he started to lose balance and fall in one direction, he would shift his weight or lift an arm out in the opposite direction to regain balance.

Did you find you were doing the same thing?

From a think perspective, well, holding your own weight on different body parts requires an analysis of safety and capability before attempting.

And Izzy said, "Well, I don't think my back is flexible enough for the bridge position.

" And she also doesn't think her risks are strong enough for the crow pose.

So she's not gonna do those ones yet.

Maybe that's the same for you.

From a feel perspective, well, repeated practice builds up confidence and you should move on to more complex balances as you get more confident.

Well, John says he really struggled with most of the balances at first, especially on his left foot, but with some practice, he knows, he's gonna be able to crack it.

What about you?

And then from a move perspective, well, holding your weight on your hands requires an engaged core to keep the body aligned and prevent strains.

And Izzy said that she tense the muscles in her stomach and her bottom, and that helped make sure that her back was nicely in line.

And as she started to lose that straight back position, she knew she needed to stop and rest a little bit and then get back into that position again.

Was that the same for you?

Okay, let's move into the second part of this lesson then where we're moving more into dynamic or moving balances.

So what about balancing on the move then?

Well, Aisha says that, "While static balances are important, more often in life we need to maintain balance whilst moving.

" And Izzy adds to this and says, "Well, dynamic balances and building a sequence of balances that transition smoothly from one balance into another sounds like it will be a bit like a flow yoga routine.

" And absolutely, Izzy, it will be.

So can you move between these different point balances?

We've got the Warrior 1 position.

You may have come across that phrase before.

The three-legged dog.

It's like a downward dog, but an extension to it.

The triangle pose.

The crescent lunge.

The half moon.

The chair pose.

And Sofia says, "Why don't you try pausing the video now and try holding each of these different positions for five seconds before pressing play and continuing?

" So what did you focus on?

Well, Aisha says that she made sure her weight was well distributed above her base of support.

We said that's often around the belly button area, didn't we?

Whereas Lucas says he practiced each position in isolation first, pausing the video to mirror what he could see on the screen before putting them together into a little sequence.

That's great, Lucas.

Let's do a quick check.

What do we mean by mirroring again?

Is it A, using video feedback?

Is it B, to copy someone's movement as if you are their reflection?

Or is it C, copying a movement but whilst inverted or otherwise upside down?

Which do you think?

That's right, it's B, isn't it?

So to copy someone's movement as if you were their reflection.

What about a transition then?

What does that term mean?

Well, it's the movement that connects one pose or balance to another.

It bridges those two moments of stillness together.

And flow is the ability to move smoothly, i.

e, without jerky stops, hesitations, or losing momentum or balance.

So you need to shift your weight gently in the direction you want to move and then recenter above your base of support.

Aisha says, "If you transition too fast, your momentum carries you past your target and you tend to fall forwards.

" Whereas Lucas says, "If you transition too slowly, you might stall or tip over.

And dynamic proprioception," so that sense of feeling where your body is at, "is where your brain learns to track where your limbs are, even when they're moving and even when you are not looking at them.

" Let's see if you can show me this.

Can you transition smoothly between a tuck, a shoulder stand and a v-sit and then repeat it?

Pause the video now whilst you have a go at that.

And your transitions with control should hold each of those balances for about five seconds before you move into the next one.

Make sure you've done that before you move on to the next part of this lesson.

Okay, it's time for the second task of today's lesson.

So I want you to create your own sequence of balances now.

I've shown you a whole variety during this lesson and you've had a go at some of them.

Now I want you to select five balances that you can perform safely.

I want you to explore the best order to sequence them so you can flow from one position to the next.

And then I want you to see if you can add more balances to your routine.

Aisha says, "Why not either film your performance and watch it back to analyze how you can improve or get someone to watch you and provide some feedback?

" Let's have a little look at a video of someone performing their choice of five different balances.

What do you think of this one?

Okay, let's reflect on that then.

So were you able to maintain equal weight distribution above the base of support to ensure that you're stable and well balanced?

Well, Lucas says that he moved from one position to another and it helped to move arms and torso in the direction he wanted to move in order to initiate that movement.

From a think perspective, while holding your own weight on different body parts requires an analysis of safety and your capability before you attempt them.

And Sam says, "Well, though it's important to stick to balances you are able to hold correctly and safely.

Make sure there is enough clear space on all sides in case you do topple over.

" From a feel perspective, well, repeated practice builds up your confidence to try more complex balances, doesn't it?

And Lucas says, well, he felt like he was increasing his ability and his confidence from just 10 minutes or so of practice.

Imagine what could happen if you repeated this every day for a month.

And then from a connect perspective, we're looking at mirroring these balances, aren't we?

And can you see on screen matching the timing requires awareness?

"So to mirror the action properly, you have to balance on your right leg if what you're seeing on the screen is someone balancing on their left leg.

" Thank you, Sam.

Okay, that just gives us time to cool down from today's lesson.

So can you perform the following sequence of exercises starting with your feet together?

So raise up onto tiptoes and reach for the ceiling, then shift your weight and lift one knee up in front to hug into your chest whilst holding that balance.

Then step forward with that same foot and lower into a lunge position.

And finally, push back up and return to your start position with feet together.

And then repeat, alternating which leg you lift then lunge forward with.

Continue to do that as you continue to listen to me.

And whilst you complete that cool down of exercises, can you reflect on how well you perform the different balances, and if you found any of them more challenging?

And then my commitment, my challenge to you is could you practice some of these balances every day?

For example, whilst brushing your teeth or watching TV?

Let's summarize today's lesson then.

So we were looking at maintaining equal weight distribution above the base of support to ensure stability and balance.

We were thinking about holding your weight on your hands, which requires an engaged core to keep the body aligned and prevent strains.

And remember that holding your own weight on different body parts requires an analysis of safety and capability before attempting.

You should have found that repeated balances or repeated practice of those balances has built up your confidence in your ability to try more complex balances.

And remember, mirroring is when you repeat what you can see on screen, matching the timing, and that requires really good awareness.

Thanks so much for joining me for today's lesson.

Hope you've enjoyed yourself, and I hope you're motivated to continue to practice your balance when you can during a normal day.