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Basic Motor Learning... The Basics of Movement!!!

Well I’ve never written a blog post before but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

Before I start I should probably introduce myself. My name is Joe Rinaldi and I’ve recently become part of the Flo Fitness staff. I am currently a senior at Rutgers University studying exercise science and applied kinesiology. My aspirations are to become a physical therapist and I am currently in the process of applying to graduate schools. Now that you know a little bit about me lets start.

This post will be a first of its kind here on the Flo Blog… Over the course of the next few months (and who knows, maybe even longer) I will be posting about a topic that I am currently learning about in school. Today’s blog will focus on motor skills and motor abilities.

A motor skill is defined as: a skill that requires voluntary body and/or limb movement to achieve its goal. An example of a motor skill would be running, jumping, climbing, etc.

Using a one-dimension classification system, motor skills can be defined according to three categories:

1.     The size of the muscle group involved

-           Gross motor skills: involve large muscles in the body and require little precision
o   An example would be walking

-           Fine motor skills: involve small muscles and require a high degree of precision
o   An example would be writing your name

2.     Where the movement begins and ends

-           Discrete motor skills: have a definitive beginning and end
o   An example would be flipping on a light switch

-           Sequential/Serial motor skills: are a series of discrete motor skills strung together
o   An example would be the track and field event, the triple jump

-           Continuous motor skills: have no definitive beginning or end
o   An example would be swimming

3.     The environmental context
-           Open motor skills: occur in an environment that is variable and unpredictable. Because the environment is changing, skills need to be continuously adapted and therefore these skills are said to be “externally paced.”
o   An example would be running the ball in a football game

-           Closed motor skills: occur in an environment that is stable and predictable. Because the environment is not changing and skills do not need to be adapted, these skills are said to be “internally paced.”
o   An example would be taking a free throw in a completely empty gym by yourself


A motor ability is defined as: a general trait or capacity of an individual that is determinant of a person’s achievement potential for the performance of a specific motor skill.

There are two different schools of thought as to how different motor abilities related to one another within an individual.

            The first theory is called the General Motor Ability Hypothesis, which states that the many different motor abilities that exist in an individual are highly related. This theory, while it may sound appealing, is supported by very little evidence and is generally disregarded today.

            The second theory is called the Specific Motor Ability Hypothesis, which states that an individual’s many different motor abilities are relatively independent of each other. This theory is supported by a good amount of research and is generally accepted in the motor learning community.

This means that just because someone has great balance, does NOT necessarily mean that they have great coordination. This means that just because someone has a lot of speed, does NOT automatically mean that they have impressive strength. This means… well you get the point.

BUT WAIT! Joe, I don’t think you’re right… I have a friend who is great at everything, he/she can play basketball like Michael Jordan and hit a baseball like Barry Bonds and catch a football like O’dell Beckham Jr and hit a tennis ball like Serena Williams and swim like…

            Let me stop you there. I don’t doubt that your friend is a great athlete, we all know that kid who seems to be good at everything, but his/her existence doesn’t disprove the Specific Motor Ability Hypothesis. There are a few possible explanations as to why your friend is “good at everything”:
1.     Maybe your friend has put in a ridiculous amount of time, energy, and practice into developing the specific motor abilities involved in those sports.
2.     Maybe your friend is good at all of those sports because the motor skills involved in those sports all required the same set of motor abilities (e.g. speed, coordination, balance, etc.).
3.     Least likely (but possible) maybe your friend really is a freak athlete and is very gifted in most, if not all, of his/her motor abilities…. It happens, but the Specific Motor Ability Hypothesis is just a theory and it applies to the large majority (99.999%) of people… there are exceptions to every rule.


I hope that this blog helped you gain a better understanding of how motor skills can be classified and how motor abilities are thought to exist within an individual.

If you made it this far, thanks for bearing with me. I hope you learned something and maybe you had a laugh or two along the way.

Until next time,


- Joe Rinaldi

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