Shakedown

This warm-up is especially useful for raising the group's energy. It usually takes place after initial loosening up, but before concentration games.

How it works

Everyone stands in a circle and vigorously shakes out the right hand, left hand, right foot, and left foot one after another. The group counts out loud in sync. On days with very low energy, you can also shake out the whole body at the end of each round.

The counting pattern

The exercise follows a fixed rhythm that gets shorter and shorter:

• Round 1: Each body part is shaken to a count of 8 (e.g. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8").
• Round 2: Everything is repeated to a count of 7.
• Round 3: Everything to 6.

This continues without interruption through 5, 4, 3, and 2, until the group finally reaches the last round:

The Finale

Each body part is shaken just once with full commitment:
"ONE! ONE! ONE! ONE! (ONE!)"