Hello, Year 5
Flexibility is very important in Gymnastics. Being flexible helps you to perform movements more easily.
Ask somebody at home to take a photo of you performing these stretches:
splits
Place one foot in front into a lunge, keeping your toes pointed forward and your knee above your ankle. The other leg will be straight behind you, with your kneecap and top of your foot pointed downward. Sit back on your back heel.
Come back up to your starting lunge.
straddle stretch
Sit with your legs extended straight out in front of you, place your hands behind you and allow your legs to open as far as they will go. From here, bring your hands to the empty space between your legs and begin to walk them out in front of you until you feel like you can’t reach further.
Once you hit this point, try to lower your head and chest closer to the ground.
pike stretch
Standing or sitting with your legs straight, bend at the waist and touch your toes. Keep the knees together. Exhale as you stretch forward, but move slowly. Hold your ankles.
How do you feel when you perform this? Pay attention to your breathing and your heart rate. I find that stretching often improves my mood too. Tell us in the comments!
Spend 5 minutes each day practising these stretches and then tell us how your flexibility has improved!
You do not need to send or upload these photos to us – they are for your own use, so you can see how your stretch looks and whether you can improve it! You must complete these stretches in a safe, flat space (on the floor) and with an adult supervising you.
CHALLENGE:
Explore different types of leaps and jumps.
This might help: jumps leaps and turns
Practise the jumps and leaps. Can you perform them all in a row without stopping? Which jumps or leaps can be performed quickly? Which need more time? Can you link together a sequence containing a variety of jumps and leaps to perform to your family? You can share the sequence with us in the comments 🙂
Enjoy!
Mrs Avdiu & Ms Robertson
Printable version of this blog:Week 3 Gymnastics
Hi everyone I think this exercise was really hard because I am not a gymnast and I am definitely not flexible. I wasn’t even close to doing the splits and my hands couldn’t even reach halfway on the pike stretch.
~Iggy
Well done for trying though Iggy. Maybe you could pick one stretch and do it every day for a month. I’m sure by the end of the month you’d be amazed at how much more flexible you are!
I definitely can’t do the splits either! But maybe as Miss Carruthers says ‘practise makes perfect’!
Hello! Today’s task was not hard and not easy, I sadly can’t do the splits but the other activities I found easy. The pike stretch was half good and half hard. I am not flexible but I now will stretch everyday to become flexible.
Well done for trying Ava. I can’t do the splits either but I do try to stretch and love doing Pilates to help me with this.
Hello everyone! I hope that you have had a great day so far. This task was really easy for me. I can’t share a picture as I cannot find the Homework Upholder.
I do have the picture and everything, I just need the Homework Upholder.
~ Nika ???
Well done Nika, I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Here is the Homework Uploader link. Try to save it somewhere so you can always find it whenever you want to send in photos 🙂
https://www.stvincentsprimary.org.uk/upload-homework/
Thank you Miss!
~ Nika ???
I think that I have sent them to Miss Carruthers now…
~ Nika ???
You have! I’m so impressed with your splits! I definitely can’t do that. I think I’ll do the same as Iggy and practise a bit every day until I am better at it!
Hi Everyone,
I found this lesson really hard because when I tried to do the splits, I looked like I was getting ready to do a sprint! For the straddle stretch, I had to keep my legs a little bit bent because then it would really hurt so I couldn’t do it. For the Pike Stretch, I couldn’t even go 1/3 of the way down.
Well done for trying though! Have another go later on today and see if you can stretch down further!
There is a YouTube channel that helps you learn the splits – that same channel I used to learn my splits.
~ Nika ???
Do you know what it is called? Thanks for sharing!
Hello everyone!
Stretching every day is very important – especially your hamstrings (the group of muscles behind the upper part of your legs). Whilst on lock-down and learning/working from home, we all are siting at the computer and a desk for long periods, this sitting position causes our hamstring muscles to shorten and become tight – over time this will lead to poor flexibility, limiting our range of movement, and impacting on sports performance, and every day activity.
So a little stretch a day, can go a long way, to help maintain your physical health. ?
Take care – have a lovely day!
Thanks Ms Robertson, I always appreciate your helpful advice. Being so tall, I need to stretch regularly!
No, I actually forgot. ?
But you can just search up HOW TO DO THE SPLITS on YouTube and find one that is suitable for you.
Thanks,
~ Nika ???
Wow Erin, that’s amazing! Can you challenge yourself to another impressive stretch?
Well done Regan, I’m so impressed that you are trying to do it as well!
ERIN!!’ HOW CAN YOU DO THAT!?!?
WOW!!! I WILL PRACTISE THAT!!
I like how Regan was so very close to the splits.
Erin, that is amazing! You must show us in person when we are back at school. I am impressed!
Hello everyone!
I found it quite hard as I’m not that flexible and not a gymnast!!
But I was VERY shocked and impressed by the photos I saw!
Have a nice evening everyone!!
Thank you Miss Coleman – I can hold it in that position for 13 seconds!
Erin, my jaw hit the floor when I saw the photo! I was convinced it was a magic trick until I saw there was nothing holding your feet. Unbelievable!
hello everyone even though i couldn’t do the splits i liked doing all the other activities i especially liked the pike stretch i hop everyone has a great day
? Yes, I also thought Erin was performing a magic trick – or some kind of edited photography is involved.
Wow – you go girl!