PE 4 – Physical Activities Toward Health and Fitness II

Learning Material

Topics:
PREFINALS -
 Dry Land Preparatory Skills
o Breathing
o Flutter Kicking
o Flutter Kicking and Breathing
o Bobbing
o Bobbing and Breathing
o Prone Float and Recovery to a Stand

Expected Learning Outcomes:

Dry Land Preparatory Skills
1. Demonstrate how to do each dry land preparatory skill.
2. Give extra tips to achieve the skills effectively.
3. Practice at home on doing the proper procedure of dry land preparatory skills.
4. Send a video demonstrating properly the dry land preparatory skills.
 DRY LAND PREPARATORY SKILLS
This lesson begins by teaching you how to overcome what, for many people – regardless of their
swimming ability – is the biggest stumbling block of all; incorrect breathing.

Breathing
Begin by sitting up straight. Inhale, expanding your lungs fully. Then exhale.
Remember how it feels to have your lungs really full – they should feel the way every
time you take a breath in the water. As you do the following exercises, try to think about nothing
except your mouth and nose, isolating them from the rest of your body.

 HOW TO DO IT
The Mouth: Pinch your nostrils shut. Purse your lips and Inhale strongly through your
mouth – pretend you’re drinking through a straw. Then, keeping your lips pursed, exhale
just as strongly through your mouth, as though you’re cooling off a cup of hot coffee.
Hold a hand in front of your mouth to feel the expelled air. Repeat this ten times,
breathing as deeply as you can.

The Nose: Cover your mouth and inhale deeply through your nose, as though you
were smelling your favorite food cooking. Then exhale once again, expelling the air hard
– as if there’s too much pepper in the dish and you now need to sneeze. Repeat this ten
times, each time breathing as deeply as you can.

Now inhale deeply through both your nose and your mouth. Although you may be
inhaling more through your mouth, use your nasal passage as well. Exhale strongly. Begin by
pretending that you’re cooling off that coffee with your mouth first and then continue to sneeze
from the pepper at the same time. Repeat this ten times.
All this deep breathing may make you a little lightheaded. That’s because you’re getting
more oxygen than you really need (in other words, you’re hyperventilating). Don’t worry, though
you won’t get that same dizziness in the water, because your body will be using the extra
oxygen.
 EXTRA TIPS
Make your inhale/exhale cycle as strong, even, and continuous as possible; try to get to the
point where you can maintain an even stream of air for fifteen seconds. But build up to it
gradually, you may find it harder than it sounds.
All new swimmers worry that the water will go into their mouths and noses. But remember
this: the air flow you create when you blow out through both your nose and your mouth makes it
physically impossible for the water to go up your breathing passages. As long as you’re
breathing air out, no water can get in.
Breathing
The next step is to get your face wet up to your hairline – and put that air flow to work.

 HOW TO DO IT
Fill a large container with water. You can use anything – a big bowl, a large pot, your kitchen or
bathroom sink, or even a bathtub.
Lean forward and just barely touch your chin to the surface of the water. Inhale, taking a
deep breath, using both your nose and your mouth. Exhale through both your nose and your
mouth, and watch the water. Ripples should form on the surface. If the water remains still, exhale
harder next time. Repeat this ten times, making sure that the water moves each time. If you’re
breathing correctly.
Next, inhale through your nose and mouth together. Then put just your nose and mouth in
the water, and exhale through both your nose and mouth, strongly, just as you did to make the
ripples. Bubbles will form, indicating that you are forming the air flow mentioned earlier. You
should be able to see, hear, and feel them. As soon as you run out of air to exhale, lift your nose
and mouth out of the water and inhale deeply. Do this ten times without stopping.
Finally, put your whole face in the water. You can keep your eyes open or close for now.
Repeat the inhale/exhale exercise ten times, inhaling deeply and exhaling as strongly as you can.
 EXTRA TIPS
To get rid of the excess water between dunking, wipe your face with your hand, sweeping the
water from the top your forehead down to your chin. At this point, you might want to have a
towel handy, just in case, before you start the water breathing exercises.
During your breathing cycle, especially during exhalation, try to release any tensions you
may have and try to induce the feeling of total relaxation. Let your muscles relax and go limp.
This basic inhale/exhale sequence is exactly what you will be doing in the pool. That’s all
there is to it. As you have seen, it’s fundamentally a matter of breathing the way you normally do
– you’re just taking more conscious control and doing it more forcefully.

Flutter Kicking
There are several other beginning exercises you can do at home. One of the most important is the
flutter kick, which is the basic leg motion for the crawl stroke and the backstroke.

HOW TO DO IT

Sit on the edge of a chair or couch, letting your heels rest on the floor. Stretch your legs straight
out in front of you, parallel to the floor, toes pointed downward, yet keeping your ankles relaxed
and floppy. Lean back and support yourself with your arms on the back of the chair or couch.
Now move your legs alternately up and down as though you were a wooden soldier. Keep your
legs straight but your ankles loose and relaxed. The important thing is to kick with the entire leg,
with the power from the hip and thigh, keeping the knees relatively straight. Repeat this twenty
times, counting once for each leg change.
 EXTRA TIPS
You may find this difficult to do, especially if you have not been exercising regularly. If you
experience a little muscle soreness in your abdomen and upper legs following this exercise, the
important thing is to keep practicing, since this will actually help to alleviate any soreness or
tightness in the water. Flutter ick while you’re waiting for your hair to dry, the butter to melt, the
phone to ring.
Gradually work up from twenty kicks, building up to a set of one hundred or more kicks, and
repeat. You’ll be amazed at how soon your condition will improve.
 BENEFITS
As with the breathing exercises, this is substantially what you’ll be doing in the water. Practice
on dry land familiarizes you with the kick and starts strengthening the muscles you need to do it.

Flutter Kicking and Breathing

Once you’re satisfied with your progress doing the breathing and kicking exercises separately,
you’re ready to combine them. Of course, you were breathing before while you were kicking –
now it’s just a matter combining them consciously.

HOW TO DO IT

Sitting on the edge of a chair, flutter kick with your legs straight, as before. Inhale and exhale
strongly through your nose and mouth together, as you did with your face in the water. Try to
think only about the kicking and the breathing. Don’t worry about how many kicks per breath
you’re taking. As long as both are continuous and together, you’re doing fine. Do this for thirty
seconds.
 EXTRA TIPS
When combining the breathing and kicking skills, keep the legs straight and breathe
rhythmically.
 BENEFITS
You will be combining these skills in the water, and the more you practice on land, the easier the
transition will be. You are also building up your leg and abdominal muscles, as well as the
breathing capacity you’ll need once you start to swim.

Bobbing
The next skill is bobbing, which is similar to knee bend.

HOW TO DO IT

Stand up and put both hands on a piece of furniture about waist high in front of you. Bend at the
knees ten times, keeping your upper body straight. Then hold on, with your right hand only, to
bob another five times. Repeat five more times while holding on with only your left hand.
Finally, bob ten more times while not holding on at all.
 EXTRA TIPS
Take care to keep your back straight and your weight distributed evenly on both feet. Increase
the depth of your bobs from a half to a full knee bend (if your knees are sensitive, keep your
bends shallow). Keep your back straight, with shoulder blades back.
 BENEFITS
This helps tone the quadriceps muscles in the front of the thigh, as well as the gastronemous, or
calf muscle. Later, you’ll be bobbing in the pool to help acclimate your body to the water
temperature, and to practice your breathing. Depending upon your physical condition, it may also
begin to increase your cardiovascular efficiency.

Bobbing and Breathing

Now it’s time to combine bobbing and breathing

HOW TO DO IT
Hold on the same piece of furniture with both hands, as before. Inhale deeply through both your
nose and mouth as you’re standing tall. Exhale strongly when you bend your knees. Repeat this
ten times.

 EXTRA TIPS
Go slowly so that you can concentrate on inhaling as you’re standing and exhaling as you’re
bending. If you have a partner, join hands and alternate your inhaling (up) and exhaling (down),
in a seesaw motion, so that you can check each other.

 BENEFITS
This exercise helps to increase your lung capacity and it shows you that you don’t have to
breathe as often as you thought and that your lungs can take in more air than you suspected.
Later on, slow down your breathing. It will help you get a “second wind”. It’ll also help you to
relax you, since this type of regular, slow, deep breathing is a lot like yogic breathing.

Prone Float and Recovery to a Stand

The next step in learning the crawl stroke is really a safety measure. Before you learn how to
float on your stomach, you should be able to return from the prone position to a standing one.

HOW TO DO IT
To practice this motion on land, stand with feet together and arms stretched out straight in front
of you at shoulder level. Bend your knees as if you were doing a bob and at the same time press
your arms down in front of you and to the sides, tilt your face upward as you straighten your
knees to a standing position. Repeat ten times.
  EXTRA TIPS
As you practice this skill, repeat these key words with each motion: “Bend, press, lift, and
stand.” To grasp the movement better, imagine sitting down at a table and then standing up again
by pressing down on the table top.
If you’re practicing with a buddy, you can help your partner to recover by placing your
hands, thumbs facing upward, at his or her armpits to gently support and lift the partner to a
standing position.

Try Me!
Now, it’s time for you to practice at home each dry land preparatory skill. When you
master each already, send a video of yourself demonstrating it. You can send it through my
messenger @Rhys Jayne Armenta or through my Gmail account,
[email protected].

Rubrics:

Dry Land Exceeding Meeting Expectations- Approaching Expectations- Below Expectations-

Preparatory Skills Expectations-4 pts. 3 pts. 2pts. 1 pt.
A lot of bubbles were Some bubbles were Few bubbles were formed, No bubbles were
formed, indicating that formed, indicating indicating that you are formed, indicating
Breathing you are forming the that you are forming almost forming the correct that you are not
correct air flow. the correct air flow. air flow. forming the correct
air flow.
Kicked with the entire Kicked with the leg, Kicked with the leg, with Kicked with the
leg, with the power with the power from the power from the hip and entire leg, with no
from the hip and the hip and thigh, thigh, keeping the knees power from the hip
Flutter Kicking
thigh, keeping the keeping the knees slightly bent. and thigh, not
knees relatively almost straight. keeping the knees
straight. relatively straight.
Bobbed fifteen times Bobbed ten times Bobbed ten times with either Bobbed ten times
without holding onto without holding onto the right or left hand holding with both hands
Bobbing
something. something. onto something. holding onto
something.
Prone Float and The procedure was The procedure was The procedure was done but The procedure
Recovery to a done perfectly. almost done correctly. observed with some wasn’t followed
Stand mistakes. correctly at all.