Motor coordination is an extremely important skill. It allows you to maintain balance, is responsible for dexterity and agility, and also minimizes the risk of injury. Motor coordination is trained through exercise and should be done at an early age. Find out what is responsible for motor coordination, check examples of exercises and learn the definition of motor coordination.

Motor coordination is responsible, among others, for motion control, learning and motor adaptation. Therefore, it is also important not to give up on constantly increasing your coordination skills, as this is at least half your success in sports. If, at school age, we did not develop motor coordination, nothing is lost! In adulthood, we may have a slightly smaller potential to shape it, but if we implement appropriate exercises gradually and systematically, we have a great chance of catching up.

Motor coordination - what is it?

Professionally motor coordination is the ability to perform specific movements, fixed in time and space, or entire chains of movements. Motor coordination is also the ability to deal with new, often surprising motor situations.

The labyrinth, located in the middle of the inner ear, is responsible for human motor coordination. The labyrinth is also responsible for the sense of hearing. It is thanks to the efficient labyrinth that we can maintain balance and run or walk on uneven terrain.

Additionally, motor coordination is optimized not only by the locomotor system, but most of all by the not usually important nervous system. With the help of sensory organs and movement analyzers, i.e. eyesight, hearing, deep feeling (proprioreception), it receives signals, processes them and transmits them to the motor system, which, as an executive tool, performs what has been processed in the brain.

Motor coordination - skills

As we already know, motor coordination is responsible for the sense of balance, but the definition of motor coordination does not end there. It includes skills such as:

  • dexterity
  • agility
  • motor memory
  • reaction speed
  • deep muscle feeling
  • sense of rhythm
  • coupling ability
  • orientation in space

It turns out that onmotor coordination consists of the most important motor skills. Without developing them, we may have poor chances in any sport, which is why exercises for motor coordination are so important.

Motor coordination - why is it so important?

Motor coordination develops most in children aged 8 to 12. That is why it is so important for the child to actively participate in physical education classes and attend additional sks or practice some sports discipline.

If a child does not coordinate at an early age, he or she may have problems with physical activity later on. Of course, working on coordination is possible at any age, and those who do not have it well-developed do not have to give up sports.

However, motor coordination is important in the context of protecting our body from injuries and teaching it the proper motor instinct, which is especially useful in unexpected situations, e.g. during a fall or instability of the ground. With good motor coordination, we will know how to fall to the ground so as not to hurt ourselves or we will be able to cope with a difficult physical situation.

People who are movement uncoordinated very often suffer from physical injuries and injuries. A good example is playing soccer. A person with well-developed motor coordination knows how to twist the body to the side of the ball without hurting himself. On the other hand, a person who is not physically coordinated has a greater chance of tearing ligaments or breaking a leg.

Well-trained coordination guarantees a minimum risk of injury, even in extremely surprising and unexpected movement situations, and makes us physically more efficient. Well-formed motor coordination in children gives them more physical opportunities in adulthood and is their ally in practicing any sports discipline.

Motor coordination in children

Motor coordination is developed at school age. Its most important parameters develop already in primary school. In later, adult life, we can work on the efficiency of our coordination, but it must be remembered that it will only be correcting, and not the most effective building and development of motor coordination from scratch.

Motor coordination exercises for children are not complicated and most of them take place in physical education classes, so it is important for the child to actively participate in them. Motor coordination develops with every motor activity, especially during play,team games or dancing. We must encourage our children to move, and then we will be sure that they will be fit and develop efficient motor coordination from the youngest age.

Can coordination be improved at any age?

Motor coordination can be trained at any age. Adults who do not have sufficiently developed coordination can and should practice it successfully. However, it must be remembered that the most important components of coordination develop best and most effectively in early school age.

However, nothing prevents you from taking matters into your own hands in adulthood! You just have to be patient and remember to be systematic - without it, your motor coordination training may fail.

Motor coordination - exercise suggestions

You don't need much to practice coordination. This can be done by practicing constant, specific physical activities such as:

  • team games: basketball, volleyball, soccer, handball
  • dance
  • swimming
  • fitness and functional training
  • martial arts
  • ball games
  • acrobatics and gymnastics.

Coordination can also be trained through specific physical exercises that will help not only children but also adults.

Suggestions for exercises for motor coordination:

1. Swallow

The swallow is an exercise performed with one leg. It involves stretching your arms out in front of you while standing on one leg. Perfectly shapes strength endurance, develops stabilization of the whole body and trains dexterity and efficiency.

2. Skipy

Skipy are exercises that are used to build strength in running. Skips perfectly develop motor coordination, because when performing them, we use the strength of our legs and arms, and for this we have to move dynamically.

3. Sprint over obstacle courses / play in the playground

Running through an obstacle course is a great idea for the comprehensive development of mobility! We can go to the obstacle course for adults with friends or create an obstacle course by ourselves by setting up selected objects and exercise equipment at home or in the garden. On the other hand, children can combine business with pleasure and just go to the playground! Running through an obstacle course is not only an effective physical effort that shapes motor coordination, but also increases muscle strength, joint mobility and the overall efficiency of the body.

4. Jumping rope

Skipping rope shape perfectlymotor coordination not only in children. Plus, it's an exercise that increases your aerobic and anaerobic fitness. When jumping rope, you can constantly increase the intensity of this exercise and use various interesting tricks and difficulties, such as single-leg jumping or jumping rope.

5. Exercises on one leg

Exercising on one leg will be perfect for those who have problems with balance. These can be one leg squats, one leg deadlift, one leg stand, tree pose or yoga ballerina pose, or the aforementioned swallow.

6. Walking on the balance beam

This is one of the basic gymnastic exercises and is perfect for shaping physical fitness. Walking on the balance beam primarily develops the ability to maintain balance and trains the stabilizing muscles.

7. Forward and backward flips

Popular flips are an excellent exercise shaping motor coordination from an early age, which is why it is so often performed during physical education lessons. Forward and backward flips not only exercise coordination, but also improve joint mobility.

8. Rise, get down (burpees)

Popular burpees are an exercise without which effective motor coordination training cannot take place! Stand up, fall down, it also develops muscle strength and significantly improves the body's efficiency, because it is an aerobic exercise.

Benefits of exercise coordination

The benefits of exercising coordination include improving and expanding its parameters, including dexterity, agility, muscle memory, balance, reaction speed and muscle feeling.

Another benefit is certainly the development of muscle strength, building efficient muscles, improving joint mobility and increasing physical efficiency. Most of the motor coordination exercises not only practice coordination but also other exercises

Work on motor coordination also allows you to minimize the risk of an injury or serious he alth injury. In addition, it makes our body more resistant, more efficient, and we can afford to play sports safely.

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