I like to move it, move it ....

Motion is Life ....

I spent some time yesterday talking fitness with a group of fresh students.  I think it was day 2 of their Cert 3 & Cert 4 course.  Newbies - LOVE THEM!!!

My greatest observation of the day was that we have to move to think.  I tried asking them questions when I first arrived ... they were sitting down, a bit disinterested, and their body was probably telling them to get up but they weren't able to in that environment.

So, bring out the balls!!!

I moved one student, fairly aggressively, with a round of tennis catch with a get down get up thrown in for good measure, and that got all the other students to react to the moving student.  Then I moved all the students and this got them to react to themselves as well.

The learning that took place was incredible and their ability to verbalise their experience and observations, and their ability to share it went through the roof.  Plus, we had a bit of a laugh along the way.

The benefits of what we did are enormous ... but my bet is most of them will be saying they really enjoyed it, but not truly understanding why.  So, let me make it a bit clearer, and for those of you that are like me and don't like big words, I'm going to keep it really simple.

1. The body enjoys acting against gravity and being challenged - standing up is good
2. The brain enjoys challenge, input and feedback - making it work is good
3. The heart enjoys warmth, created by increase in blood flow which can be stimulated by movement, interaction and challenge.

It's a pretty simple way to look at things but for me it distills it down into a way of understanding why movement is good for us.

Hippocrates said "Motion is Life".  Consider it for a moment and compare the action of children at play in a playground to the action of old people at rest in a nursing home.  We are all alive, but possibly we are not all living.

More than once this past week I have seen or heard the quote, and I don't know who said it first, but I heard it first from my good friend Rod - "We don't stop playing because we get old, we get old because we stop playing".

Today, find a playground, having a swing or do a slide and whilst you do close your eyes and feel whatever you feel.  Could it be .... "ALIVE"?