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Introduction to Exercise Science for Fitness Professionals: Center of Gravity

Introduction to Exercise Science for Fitness Professionals
Center of Gravity
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table of contents
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Table Of Contents
  5. Attribution and OER Revision Statement
  6. Chapter 1: Body Systems Review
    1. The Cardiovascular System
    2. The Nervous System
    3. Reflexes
    4. The Skeletal System
    5. Divisions of the Skeletal System
    6. Skeletal Muscle
    7. Divisions of the Skeletal Muscles
    8. Describing Motion and Movements
    9. Identify Anatomical Locations
  7. Chapter 2: Biomechanics and Human Movement
    1. The Basics of Biomechanics
    2. Inertia and Momentum
    3. Force
    4. Doing Work
    5. Body Levers
    6. Nervous System Control of Muscle Tension
    7. Muscle Tissue and Motion
  8. Chapter 3: Exercise Metabolism
    1. Introduction to Bioenergetics and Metabolism
    2. Overview of Metabolic Reactions
    3. Metabolic States of the Body
    4. The Cardiorespiratory System and Energy Production
    5. ATP in Living Systems
    6. Types of Muscle Fibers
    7. Exercise and Muscle Performance
    8. Nutrition, Performance, and Recovery
    9. Carbohydrate Metabolism
    10. Protein Metabolism
    11. Lipid Metabolism
  9. Chapter 4: Fitness Principles
    1. What are Physical Activity and Exercise?
    2. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
    3. Components of Health-Related Fitness
    4. Principles of Adaptation and Stress
    5. FITT Principle
    6. Rest, Recovery, and Periodization
    7. Reversibility
    8. Training Volume
    9. Individual Differences
    10. Creating a Successful Fitness Plan
    11. Additional Safety Concerns
    12. Test Your Knowledge
  10. Chapter 5: Flexibility Training Principles
    1. What is Flexibility?
    2. Benefits of Flexibility and Stretching
    3. Improving Range of Motion
    4. Improving Flexibility
    5. Creating an Effective Stretching Program
    6. Assessing Your Flexibility
    7. Test Your Knowledge
  11. Chapter 6: Cardiorespiratory Training Principles
    1. What are the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems?
    2. Introduction: The Cardiovascular System
    3. Introduction: The Respiratory System
    4. The Process of Breathing and Respiratory Function
    5. Modifications to Breathing
    6. Changes in the CR System
    7. Measuring Heart Rate
    8. Measuring Intensity
    9. Cardiorespiratory Fitness Assessment
    10. Test Your Knowledge
  12. Chapter 7: Core and Balance Training Principles
    1. Lumbar Spine
    2. Abdomen
    3. The Pelvic Girdle
    4. Creating Movement at the Hip
    5. Balance
    6. Center of Gravity
    7. Supporting the Body
    8. Friction in Joints
    9. Human Stability
    10. Guidelines for Core and Balance Training
  13. Chapter 8: Plyometrics, Speed, Agility, and Quickness Training Principles
    1. Plyometric Exercises
    2. Variables of Plyometric Training
    3. Progressing a Plyometric Program
    4. Speed, Agility, and Quickness
    5. Speed
    6. Agility
    7. Quickness
  14. Chapter 9: Resistance Training Principles
    1. Resistance Exercise Programming
    2. Exercise Order
    3. Types of Resistance Training
    4. Basics of Form during Resistance Training
    5. Resistance Training Systems
    6. Resistance Training Conclusion
    7. Test Your Knowledge
  15. References
  16. Glossary
  17. MARC Record

62

Center of Gravity

Lawrence Davis

Finding the Center of Gravity

You may have heard the term  center of gravity in reference to balance and you might intuitively know that a toddler’s big head raises their center of gravity, which makes them less stable than adults. We already know that the force of gravity is what gives an object weight, but what is the center of gravity? Think about which body part you feel gravity  pulling on. Do you feel it pulling on just your leg, or your arm, or what? Actually, the force of gravity acts on all of your mass in the same way, according to Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation down to every single molecule and atom.  If we break up your body into many many small chunks of equal mass we could calculate the tiny force of gravity on each one. If we add up all those tiny forces we get your total weight. If we average the locations of all those equal tiny forces, the resulting location would be the center of gravity. If we averaged the location of all the equal chunks of mass that would be the center of mass. Everyday objects, like humans, are small enough that gravity acts uniformly on all parts of the object and the center of gravity and the center of mass are essentially the same location. Check out the following video to learn how to experimentally find the center of gravity (mass) of an irregular object.

One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://mhcc.pressbooks.pub/hpe172/?p=596#oembed-1

Reinforcement Exercises

An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://mhcc.pressbooks.pub/hpe172/?p=596#h5p-7

Balance

Being out of balance means that your center of gravity is no longer above your support base (usually the space between your feet). When that happens you either fall down or take a step to widen your support base (regain your balance). Let’s examine why those are the only two options you have.

Computer generated graphic of a human skeleton captured from a computer simulation of a person moving. The person is bending at the waist with arms hanging down toward the floor. The center of mass is indicated by a dot slightly outside and in front of the body at waist level.
The center of gravity of an object (blue dot) is the average location of all gravitational forces. This average location does not necessarily have to be on the object. Image Credit: D. Gordon E. Robertson via wikimedia commons

[1]

Freely rotating objects tend to rotate around their center of mass. The following video shows a neat demonstration of that phenomenon:

https://youtu.be/DY3LYQv22qY


Davis, Lawrence. Body Physics: Motion to Metabolism. Open Oregon Educational Resources. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/bodyphysics


  1. "COM" by D. Gordon E. Robertson, Wikimedia Commons is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 ↵

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Copyright © 2021

                                by Amanda Shelton

            Introduction to Exercise Science for Fitness Professionals by Amanda Shelton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
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