Movement analysis — AQA GCSE Physical Education
Teaching note checked against the official specification.
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Movement analysis explained
This row is course guidance, not an assessed answer target.
Read the full explanation
It directs you to learn the basic principles of movement analysis and to connect each principle to how it affects performance. The section covers levers (first, second and third class, with fulcrum, load and effort), planes of movement and axes of rotation, and types of joint action such as flexion, extension, abduction and rotation. A practical method is to take a skill you perform, such as a biceps curl or a tennis serve, and label the joint action, the lever class and the plane and axis involved. Then explain how understanding that principle helps a performer or coach improve the movement. Read the specification section with your notes so you can move from naming a principle to explaining its effect on performance.
Your focus
- Identify the basic principles of movement covered in the specification section.
- Apply a movement principle to a named sporting action.
- Explain how a movement principle affects performance in physical activity and sport.
Movement analysis exam tips
Examiner Tips
- 💡Use a labelled diagram of a sporting movement to practise identifying the lever, plane and axis together.
- 💡For each principle, write one sentence naming it and one sentence explaining its effect on performance.
- 💡Check your notes against the specification section so you cover levers, planes and axes, and joint actions rather than only one of them.
Common Mistakes
- Lists lever classes without linking them to a sporting example; attach each principle to a named movement so its effect on performance is visible.
- Mixes up planes of movement and axes of rotation; keep them as separate ideas and check which plane a movement occurs in before naming the axis.
- Describes a joint action without saying how it affects performance; add a sentence explaining the benefit or correction for the performer.