Warm-ups prepare the mind and body for exercise, and set the tone for your class
As a gymnastics coach or instructor, you know the importance of warming up; it not only prepares the body, but allows everyone in the gym to begin to focus their minds and energies on what lies ahead. It is a great way to gets children in the right head space — listening, excited — for a session, as well.
Too often, though, programs with children — especially little ones — don’t use this time effectively. The key is to remember to make warm-ups efficient and effective, as well as fun.
A question you have to ask when putting together any youth gymnastics program is: how do I start this class? And the answer is you can either do something that’s going to grab your students’ attention and get them going and motivated, or you can do something that’s just by rote. Whatever you choose, that is what sets the tone for the rest of the class.
Why games don’t work
While they may seem like the natural way to get children moving and energized, games are rarely a good option for an effective warm-up. They can alienate your gymnasts and frustrate parents.
Imagine this: you have a gym filling up with six year-olds. Parents are dropping their children off, but many will hang around for a while watching the first few minutes of class. You decide to introduce a game like tag. And all of a sudden, they’re off! Children are running and playing and before you know it, several of them are “out” and back on the sidelines.
Their bodies didn’t get a chance to get ready for class, and now they have to start off class already feeling like they lost or failed at something.
Imagine further, one of your students comes five minutes late. He walks in and sees everyone else running around. They all know what they’re playing, the rules and everything, but he feels instantly left out. And he doesn’t want to join in; perhaps, he’ll get something wrong or he doesn’t even know where to jump in if he does understand.
Moreover, his parents see him off on the sidelines — and all they know is their child isn’t having a positive experience in that moment.
Ideas to try
The best warm-ups are functional to whatever you are teaching in class that day. Incorporate the key gymnastics skills — like body position and flexibility — but try to make them part of what you’re doing and not “do this, hold it, now do this, hold it…” which can lose children’s attention before you even get it.
- A great way to make things fun and keep them moving is to set up stations. These let you go through a wide range of movement and make it easy for latecomers to jump in because all they have to do is follow along. And moving from station to station gets everyone warmed up — maybe even sweating a little — without being overly strenuous.
- If you can set your warm-up to music, especially changing tempos, it is a great way to guide the energy in the room and make it more dynamic.
- For smaller children, try highlighting the skill of the week throughout the different activities.
No matter what you choose to do, the underlying rule is this: if warm-ups are fun, people will do them. And I mean people of all ages. Set your warm-ups up with the activity in mind and you will never feel like you’re wasting valuable time or energy. Make them creative, make them effective and the children will take care of the rest.
From Darlene “The Bean”
