Jakob Westin
10
What can your center of gravity help you with?
Gravity is this invisible force that pulls objects toward one another. And one of the things that gravity does is pull us toward the earth. So it’s important to know that’s what gravity is. And then center of gravity is sort of this middle point where all of a body’s weight or an object’s weight is.
In people it’s in a lot of different places, but in general it’s right about the middle of your body, a little bit above your belly button. That’s your center of gravity.
Really the two big things it can do is one, it can make you more stable in situations where you want to be stable. And two, it can help you to move quickly if you’re in a situation where you want to move quickly.
For example in a sports situation, in football, sometimes a blocker is trying to stay balanced so that they can make space for a runner to run for a touchdown. If they’re not using their center of gravity, they would easily be pushed out of the way by a defender.
Now if the blocker was able to use her center of gravity more effectively, she would lower it and be in a more balanced position. Now when the blocker’s trying to get to the person with the ball, he can’t. She can stay in the way and make space for the runner.
In everyday life sometimes we want to be balanced too. For doing everyday things like tying your shoes, you also need to use your center of gravity. If you try to tie your shoes without bending over or without lowering your center of gravity, you might tip over.
But if you do lower your center of gravity you should be more balanced and be able to tie your shoes without any trouble.
The best thing we can do in terms of our center of gravity is be aware of where it is and then to use it to our advantage.