Children move with their environment every day wherever they are without thinking about it (unless restricted from doing so by adults). Many popular adult exercise programs allow them to get out of their comfort zone, be child-like with a fun exercise, and allow their bodies to move the way they were intended to move. Any adult or youth fitness exercise program can integrate a great workout with Railyard Active Play.
There are six fundamental components to a Railyard Active Play movement experience:
1. Climbing up and down or over
2. Crawling under something
3. Moving around something
4. Reducing your limitations
5. Take skills into multiple environments
6. Have some fun!
These fundamentals give you a lot of options – here are a few under each component
1. Climbing up and down or over
Climbing is a function of the human body and can be done in various ways – scale a wall, climb a tree, climb a rocky or slippery hill, or jump up on the kitchen counter to reach a high cabinet! Remember as a child you never thought twice about moving over an obstacle, but we were conditioned to avoid it as adults. Railyard inspires us to do these things – we can vault our bodies up an over a platform, we can jump onto a higher platform and jump back down.
2. Crawling under something
We all spend plenty of time down on the ground looking for something, cleaning, picking something up, or playing with children. Doing this, we have to duck under obstacles to get from one side to another. Railyard Active Play helps us do this safely and with greater vigor and variety.
3. Moving around something
If we always just went forward and backward we would always be waiting in lines! Move side to side and around things is a part of common, everyday functions. So, we need to be agile and be able to switch directions—forward, backward, sideways—with ease. Railyard Active Play makes us do these things.
4. Reducing your limitations
Limitations may show up as hesitations or a demonstrated, real, physical inability to perform certain movements. As a Railyard Active Play instructor/participant, observing these limits is your first priority. The group environment helps to provide motivation and support.
5. Take skills into multiple environments
The Railyard Active Play Course fits perfectly into school gymnasiums, athletic training centers, recreation centers, private fitness studios, and even health clubs, where people want to participate in a fun, functional fitness program.
6. Have some fun!
A belief in our own possibilities as physical and emotional beings is what drives the message of Railyard adult and youth fitness and exercise programs. Fun is a universal feeling that allows us to be free of rules and structure, free of judgment, and free of the work associated with being healthy. Our students are “co-teachers” when it comes to having fun and all that is really required of us is that we begin. So, GO PLAY!
