SecondSport.com, or Me & My Medicine Ball

Robert called me Tuesday morning to workout and I met him down at the school. We have not exercised together for some time because lately Robert's group meets on T & TH and I generally meet on MWF. Robert swims on MWF and I play golf T&TH; our primary sports. But, after 4 years of sharing our SecondSport of medicine ball's Daily Dozen it's always nice to get together. One thing I noticed Robert doing as we got into our routine was that he tended to focus on the medicine ball and not his movement. It is interesting that in any sport where an implement of some sort is used it's only when one no longer thinks of the projectile that they are about to propel and are conscious of their position in relation to the chosen trajectory does an optimal flight occur. In Robert's case, at the start of his set, he would withdraw the medicine ball throw it and then start his locomotion. Rhythm is an intricate part of the exercise. Without rhythm you may as well just be heaving sand bags and letting them crash to the ground. But here, we are attempting to cooperatively exchange the medicine ball between us while in locomotion using our greatest effort. This creates a demand for us to establish a rhythm between us to predictably throw & catch the medicine ball at a high velocity while in locomotion. So, I had Robert start again but this time established the importance of his "footwork". This idea brings to mind the quote from our book where we look for effortless movement or the integration of the General Physical Skills. "Integration of the general physical skills refers to the PROPER use, in the PROPER amount, in the PROPER sequence at precisely the PROPER time in creating the most efficient flow of directed movement possible." Robert got IT.