In simple terms, coordination is the ability of different muscles to work in concert. This property of the body greatly facilitates our lives. If it is well developed, we confidently master cycling, dancing, snowboarding, don’t fall when ice is icy, we keep balance in public transport and so on. All coordination is developed to varying degrees. Someone is “like an elephant in a china shop”, and someone is grace itself. Many argue that it is impossible to improve this ability, as it is innate, but it is not. There are special coordination exercises that allow you to develop these skills. To begin with, we will figure out how coordination originates in a natural way.
Childhood
Coordination begins to develop at a very young age, when the child learns to hold his head, roll over, and carry out any directed movements. In the future, if you properly train the baby, introduce him to sport or dance, this ability will improve. As an adult, a person no longer thinks of coordination and, as a rule, is less engaged in physical exercises. Nevertheless, he will never look awkward, performing this or that task, since “muscle memory” will do its job. Therefore, it is important that the child is active and engaged in sports since childhood, while an amateur level is quite enough. However, we note that the development of coordination is possible at any age. Before you learn coordination exercises, you need to evaluate how much this ability is developed in your body.
Coordination score
Assessing yourself is not at all difficult, it will take literally half a minute. We will analyze the simplest test that every man, most likely, performed during the medical examination at the military registration and enlistment office. You need to stand straight and stretch straight arms forward. Then you need to close your eyes and try to reach the tip of the nose with your index finger, after which the same operation is done with the second hand.
Another simple test is as follows: standing on one leg, you need to take the other back and take it with your hand, and extend your free hand forward. After standing in this position for 30 seconds, you need to change legs.
Do not be upset if you didn’t succeed, special exercises for coordination of movements will help you quickly master this ability. There are many trainings, but we will consider the most productive and universal.
Set of coordination exercises
The main goal is to achieve independence of body movements from visual sensations and the brain. You can do coordination exercises using special simulators as well as sitting at your desk. Therefore, even the busiest person can work on managing the work of individual muscle groups.
The simplest exercises to develop coordination
1. Standing on one leg and spreading your arms to the sides, you need to maintain balance for a minute. Then the exercise needs to be done with the other leg. To complicate the workout, you can add head turns from side to side. At the same time, you do not need to fix your gaze. As the skill grows, you can try to close your eyes.
2. Jumping with a change of legs. It takes a few minutes to complete.
3. In transport, try to maintain balance without holding onto the handrail. At the same time, do not go far from the handrail and be ready at any time to help yourself with your hands. Otherwise, the exercise can lead to injuries and criticism from other passengers.
4. Starting position - one palm is placed near the head, and the second near the abdomen. The distance from the palms to the body is about 10 centimeters. The exercise is as follows: the first hand touches the crown of the head, and the second at the same time describes the circles parallel to the plane of the abdomen. After a minute, the hands need to be changed.
More difficult exercises
If the first complex is easy for you, then you should not focus on it, go to more difficult trainings.
1. Having stood on one foot near the wall, you need to throw the ball into the wall, and when it bounces back, try to catch it without visual control. Then the same thing needs to be done on the other leg.
2. The next exercise is juggling. You need to start with a simple one ball in each hand. In turn, the balls must be thrown and caught with the same hand. Now you can complicate the exercise. To get started, try throwing the ball with one hand and catching with the other. When this skill is developed, try to throw balls at the same time, but catch with a change of hands.
3. Most people remember some coordination exercises from school physical education lessons. One of them is the rotation of the arms in opposite directions. For example, the right hand rotates clockwise, and the left - against. Having done the movement 10-15 times, you need to change direction. It sounds simple, but not every adult can perform this exercise the first time.
4. Stretching one arm forward, you need to rotate it in one direction, and with the brush of the same hand - in the other. The movements should be smooth. After 10-15 repetitions, you need to do the exercise with the other hand.
5. Two arms extend forward. One hand in the air seems to draw some kind of geometric figure, and the second makes arbitrary movements. After doing the exercise for several minutes, you can change hands.
Other exercises
To develop the strength of the back and arms, as well as coordination, walking on arms helps perfectly. But this exercise is not given immediately and only to those who are in good physical shape. Such an exercise helps to develop accuracy, reaction and the eye: two partners stand near the wall and throw the ball into it so that it bounces from one to the other. A more difficult version of this exercise is a game of table tennis. Those who want to work on coordination, speed and dexterity will be able to jump on the spot with the ball stuffing on the floor. If you want to complicate this movement, just rotate the body with each new jump by 90 degrees or use two balls for each of the hands at once. Simple jumps through the gymnastics bench are also a very effective way to work on coordination. But you need to jump not in one direction, but in four (forward, backward, right, left). Gymnasts often do this exercise: toss a ball (or some other object), make a somersault, catch a thrown object. Try it and you, it is very useful for coordination.
Coordination and Sports
Team sports: football, basketball, hockey, volleyball and others help to develop agility, coordination, speed, and also to train muscles well. Running on rough terrain also helps: due to the constant change of terrain and the need to jump or go around obstacles, the nervous system is constantly in tension, and the body is in full readiness. Speaking about exercises for the development of coordination of movements, one cannot but mention those types of physical activity that are associated with maintaining equilibrium. It can be either slackline (walking on a special sling), or simple walking on a curb, rail, log and other long and narrow surfaces. If you have already mastered the exercises on balance, try simultaneously toss the ball from hand to hand or twist it around the body.
Conclusion
As you can see, coordination develops during training in almost any sport. Therefore, those who lead an active lifestyle usually have no problems with this natural ability. Physical exercises for coordination are needed for those who have little exercise in life. And they will be needed by professional athletes who intend to conquer new heights and cannot be content with the normal level of coordination, dexterity and speed. The main conclusion that should be drawn from this conversation: an innate ability can be developed at any age, so anyone who is willing to work hard will be able to improve their physical fitness no matter what.