Fitness on the wire: Arms, Legs and Breathe
By Jerry Vance
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Every now and then I get bored with exercise routine and I begin to experiment. After watching several of my exercise students struggling with coordination, I decided to do a little testing without their knowledge. I had no idea what a challenge this would be! I see all ages in my classes so I testing them all.
Here is a short dissertation regarding the implementation and outcome of my scientific study in coordination. I chose a three step method. You move the feet to a beat, add arms, and then alternate and do opposites. I worked up on this testing slowly because I hate exercise moves that are so complicated that you lose the benefit. I began the testing with my Senior exercise students. I started them with foot movements while sitting in a chair. Then I added opposite arm movements up and to the side. Now they were doing alternates and opposites in time to a musical beat. This sounds easy, right? Well it isn't. Ask my Senior classes. Oh yes, as an added challenge, they had to breathe and exhale in the right places. With a little practice, they got it.
Next I tested the younger set. Kids can handle a single leg up and out just fine. Arm work is extra and they have trouble hitting the beat. As the age level progressed, the leg work matched the beat but was still off center. 5th and 6th grade kids were a piece of cake, especially the girls. Somewhere between 6th grade and 9th grade coordination got lost. As you can imagine, finding the beat of the music was no problem as long as it was LOUD.
Finally I tested my aerobic exercise classes. If you think age has an advantage over coordination talent boy are you wrong! Those who had been in some type of sports training were up for the challenge, but there were quite a few people who spent the whole class time leaning against the back wall laughing. I'll admit that 20 adults alternating, practicing opposites and exhaling look pretty silly. However; I will do anything for science. I thank all my students for taking on the challenge. It was a real laugh and I needed one.
— Carson City fitness expert Jerry Vance is a regular contributor to Carson Now.