PhD, Associate Professor E.S. Inozemtseva¹
Master's student E.G. Khatskaleva^1
1National Research Tomsk State University, Tomsk

Keywords: physical culture, rhythmic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics practices.

Background. Today rhythmic gymnastics is ranked among the most appealing and harmonic sport disciplines designed to develop and improve, on an all-round basis, the trainees’ motor abilities and health and secure their creative longevity [3, 5]. It is commonly agreed that children should start training in this sport discipline in the preschool age to make good progress. However, many young women are keen to try their abilities in this feminine sport discipline, make their early dreams come true, shape up their bodies to become flexible and slender, and learn how to train with rhythmic gymnastics apparatuses. This is the reason why rhythmic gymnastics is increasingly popular today as a type of physical activity easily accessible and beneficial for women of different age groups.

Objective of the study was to develop practical basics for a rhythmic-gymnastics-based training model to contribute to the physical education of the 20-25 year old females.

Methods and structure of the study. An educational experiment under the study was performed in January through March 2017 on Experimental Group (EG) and Reference Group (RG, n=20) of young women engaged in stretching and rhythmic gymnastics groups in the Stretching Point Club in Tomsk. The subjects’ reasons and motivations for rhythmic gymnastics were tested by a questionnaire survey, with 15 women surveyed in total. The subjects’ special physical qualities were tested prior to and after the educational process experiment to rate coordination ability, shoulder joint flexibility, strength endurance and lower limb flexibility.

The EG was trained as required by the experimental rhythmic-gymnastics-based training model, with the following practices applied:

– Practices without apparatuses: balancing, wavelike, swing and jumping exercises;

– Practices with apparatuses: hoop, ball, clubs, skip rope, and ribbon exercises;

– Rhythmic exercises to train movement sequencing skills agreed with music illustration; and

– Basic gymnastic elements including body shaping, teamwork-developing and applied elementary exercises.

The special rhythmic gymnastics practices applied in regular training sessions were tested to notably improve flexibility, endurance, speed-strength, dexterity and movement coordination qualities and abilities of the trainees [2, 4]. Depending on the elementary compositions of the practices and the training process goals in the educational and body shaping aspects, the applied exercises may be provisionally classified into the following six categories:

1) Walking and running practices;

2) Skip jumping practices;

3) Arms and trunk developing (bending and lunging), flexibility developing and stretching elements and practices;

4) Practices with standard rhythmic gymnastics apparatuses: hoop, ball, clubs, skip rope, and ribbon;

5) Body conditioning and special physical training practices; and

6) Relaxation practices focused on lower/ upper limbs and trunk [1].

10-minute warm-ups in each training session included the above exercises #1 and 2; with the main 40-45-minute training session designed to include exercises #3, 4 and 5; and the session 5-minute warm-down period included exercise #6. The training sessions were always facilitated by musical illustrations. Music is believed to bring the following benefits for the modern rhythmic gymnastics:

– It was proved to facilitate the aesthetic education process as it develops artistic taste, movement beauty perceptions and relevant behavioural patterns; and

– Musical illustrations are known to contribute to the emotional background of any activity; ease burden of physical and mental stresses; improve working capacity; and speed up body rehabilitation processes;

It was further found that musical illustrations in the training sessions should be dominated by simple, appealing and expressive music pieces including mostly modern popular music (songs, jazz, folk) with expressed rhythmic structure; plus special calm music for body relaxation and rest [2, 3].

Study results and discussion. The questionnaire survey showed the subjects being highly (≈ 98%) motivated for the rhythmic gymnastics practices. The study sample was mostly made of university students (53%) followed by employees (40%) and housewives (7%). Moreover, we found 71% of the sample having a prior sporting experience including 18% who reported going in for rhythmic gymnastics groups in childhood albeit having no formal sport qualifications. Furthermore, 27% of the sample reported having no prior sporting experience; and 13% reported having some experience in yoga, fitness and dancing practices. The question on the subjects’ motivations for rhythmic gymnastics was responded as follows: 100% of the sample reported wanting to improve the joint suppleness and flexibility; 47% wanted to improve their movement coordination abilities and physical fitness; 40% wanted to make new friends; and 20% to correct their body weight. In addition, 77.3% mentioned movement freedom and harmony; and 75.3% movement beauty among their core motivations. Improved physical fitness and motor abilities were mentioned among the core motivations by 69.1% and 57.7% of the sample, respectively. We consider the above survey data highly important as it provides a set of reference points for the training process design. Responding to the question on their reasons for choosing the rhythmic gymnastics group, 100% of the sample said that it had been their own conscious decision; including 47% who had added that they wanted their puppy dream come true; and 33% who noted they liked the coach. 

Table 1. Special physical qualities test rates, Reference Group (RG) vs. Experimental Group (EG)  X̅±σ

*Statistically significant difference of the SG versus RG test rates, р <0.05.

Having compared the special physical qualities progress data for the EG versus the RG (see Table 1 above), we found the intergroup differences in the test rates being significant (р <0.05) in the following tests: skip jumping (backward and forward) test and 15-second crunches test rating the subjects’ coordination and strength qualities. Furthermore, both the EG and RG showed significant progress as verified by the flexibility (skip rope shoulder joint twist and splits) test rates after the educational experiment (р<0.05) versus those prior to the experiment. However, we did not find any significant intergroup data differences in the flexibility test rates after the experiment that may be indicative of the EG training process being in need of additional rhythmic gymnastics and special practices to develop this physical quality.

Conclusion. It was found that prudent selection and management of the rhythmic gymnastics practices in the physical education process with a special emphasis on their elementary compositions and training process goals facilitate progress of the special physical qualities including coordination abilities and strength endurance.

References

1. Belyaeva M.S. Khudozhestvennaya gimnastika dlya devushek 10 – 11-h klassov [Artistic gymnastics for 10th-11th grade schoolgirls]. Sport v shkole, 2003. June, 15 [] Available at: http://bmsi.ru/doc/5cfe3a02-2f82-4e2b-ac4d-8e289ddec174 (Accessed: 10.06. 2017)
2. Wiener-Usmanova I.A., Kryuchek E., Medvedeva E., Terehia R. Teoriya i metodika khudozhestvennoy gimnastiki. Artistichnost i puti ee formirovaniya [Theory and methodology of rhythmic gymnastics. Artistry and ways of its development]. St. Petersburg: Chelovek publ., 2014.
3. Lavrukhina G.M. Khudozhestvennaya gimnastika, kak osnova gratsii i privlekatelnosti [Artistic gymnastics as a basis of grace and attraction].  Sb. mater. Mezhdunar. nauch. konf., posvyaschennoy 75-letiyu khudozhestvennoy gimnastiki [Proc. Intern. Sci. Conf. dedicated to the 75th anniversary of rhythmic gymnastics]. November 6, 2009. Lesgaft NSU publ., St. Petersburg, 2010, pp. 36-44.
4. Shikhverdiev S.N. Motivatsionnaya korrektsiya sportivnoy deyatelnosti predstaviteley khudozhestvennykh vidov sporta na etape zaversheniya sportivnoy karery. Sb. mater. [Motivational correction of sports activity of artistic sports representatives at stage of finishing sports career. Col. works]. St. Petersburg: Herzen RSPU publ., 2008, pp. 167-170.
5. Inozemtseva E.S., Khatskaleva E.G. Spetsialno-dvigatelnye sposobnosti gimnastok vysokoy kvalifikatsii, neobkhodimye dlya uspeshnogo vypolneniya gruppovykh uprazhneniy khudozhestvennoy gimnastiki [Elite female gymnasts' special motor qualities required for group exercise performance success in rhythmic gymnastics]. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury, 2016, no. 10, pp. 88-90.

Corresponding author: vshilko@mail.ru

Abstract

Subject to the study was a rhythmic-gymnastics-based training model to contribute to the physical education of the 20-25 year old females. An educational experiment under the study was performed in January through March 2017 on Experimental Group (EG) and Reference Group (RG, n=20) of the young women engaged in stretching and rhythmic gymnastics groups in the Stretching Point Club in Tomsk. The subjects’ reasons and motivations for rhythmic gymnastics were tested by a questionnaire survey, with 15 women in total surveyed. The subjects’ special physical qualities prior to and after the educational experiment were tested to rate coordination ability, shoulder joint flexibility, strength endurance and lower limb flexibility. The EG was trained as required by the experimental rhythmic -gymnastics-based training model. It was found that prudent selection and management of the rhythmic gymnastics practices in the physical education process with a special emphasis on their elementary compositions and training process goals facilitate progress of the special physical qualities including the coordination abilities and strength endurance.