Jim and Hannah Holt, the co-coaches of the Bellevue High School gymnastics team, have fashioned careers as freelance international gymnastics coaches. They have coached in Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt, Bolivia and Chile, to name a few countries.

Steve Kelley in the Seattle Times posted a glowing article on gymnastics coaches Jim and Hannah Holt. Great buzz for our sport: Changing the world, one gymnast at a time

I’ve posted about Jim, a friend of mine, in conjunction with the release of his gymnastics book, Chasing Impossible Dreams.

When I think of Jim, I often recall the competition when we first met. He was a gymnast competing all-around with only one leg. (Jim was born missing a tibia, fibula and patella.) One of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen!

Try dismounting Rings on to one leg. Never mind Vault!

On Pommels, a judge who shall go nameless (Francis Tally) deducted Jim for NO SCISSORS. Yes, we were outraged for him that day many years ago. And I’m still irked today.

Judging is about good judgment. Not every special case can be included in any set of regulations.

He’s one of the preeminent strength gurus in our sport.

Now you can get all that expertise for $44.00. … UPDATE: Check the shipping charges. A Canadian coach was billed $26 USD shipping. His cost delivered to a remote island in the Atlantic, C$80. In the U.S. shipping is only about $12.15.

… Extremely comprehensive and detailed, with nearly 200 exercises (many of which have never been seen before by the general public) and well over 500 photographs, it is a complete developmental template for building the essential foundation of strength required for all gymnastics success. Whether you are a competitive athlete looking for an edge, a fitness enthusiast or just beginning a healthier lifestyle, Building the Gymnastic Body is the answer …

details

Highly recommended for all acrobatic coaches.

Official website GymnasticBodies.com.

It is an extraordinary saga of inspiring and (often) hilarious efforts to change the world through sport. Jim has transcended venality, corruption, and oft non-sensical institutional and bureaucratic resistance in a manner which ultimately affects the lives of those with whom he comes in contact. In short, it is a manifesto for self-determination, individual achievement, and a refusal to capitulate to the tides of conformity which threaten us all….

… He has coached (to date) in 11 World Championships, including 1991- Bolivia; 1993- Bolivia & Ecuador, 1994-Bolivia, 1996-Iran, 1997 Barbados; 1999-Namibia; 2001-Bolivia; 2002- Bolivia; 2003- Bolivia; 2006-Yemen; 2007- Yemen. He was the National Coach for Zimbabwe at the 1995 All-African Games where he also served as Gymnastics Competition Director, and was Assistant Coach for Nigeria at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. …

read more

It’s titled “Chasing Impossible Dreams”; check out the website:

www.chasingimpossibledreams.com

It’s available from the author, Money Order or Cheque for US$18.95 inclusive of mailing. Cheap.

Or … order through the website via Paypal.

It’s coming to Amazon.com soon, but possibly not soon enough for Christmas.

Read the intro to “Concepts in Women’s Gymnastics” by Dr. Jerry George, illustrated by Jim Stephenson. It will be a must read for all coaches and gymnasts.

Dr. Gerald S. George, author of the excellent “Biomechanics of Women’s Gymnastics” (1979), is finally publishing another. Gymnastics coaching books are rare, as you know.

Here’s confirmation:

… have just completed a new textbook entitled “Concepts of Women’s Gymnastics” which will be available to the public in January 2010. …

All Experts

She recommends these books:

Enter The Zone – by Barry Sears
Mastering the Zone – by Barry Sears
Toxic Fat – by Barry Sears
The Paleo Diet – by Loren Cordain
The Paleo Diet for Athletes – by Loren Cordain

Barry Sears is Ph.D. biochemist who has popularized the Zone diet:

The diet centers on a “40:30:30″ ratio of calories obtained daily from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, respectively.

Sears describes a Zone meal as follows: “Eat as much protein as the palm of your hand, as much nonstarchy raw vegetables as you can stand for the vitamins, enough carbohydrates to maintain mental clarity because the brain runs on glucose, and enough monounsaturated oils to keep feelings of hunger away.”

Amazon – The Zone

I’ve long felt that there’s more crap written, than eaten.

We grow fatigued of gymnastics Moms jumping on and off the latest nutrition fad.

But my favourite Nutrition author — Michael Pollan — has a book I can recommend.

Amazon – In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

… Pollan proposes a new (and very old) answer to the question of what we should eat that comes down to seven simple but liberating words: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. By urging us to once again eat food, he challenges the prevailing nutrient-by-nutrient approach — what he calls nutritionism — and proposes an alternative way of eating that is informed by the traditions and ecology of real, well-grown, unprocessed food. Our personal health, he argues, cannot be divorced from the health of the food chains of which we are part.

In Defense of Food shows us how, despite the daunting dietary landscape Americans confront in the modern supermarket, we can escape the Western diet and, by doing so, most of the chronic diseases that diet causes. We can relearn which foods are healthy, develop simple ways to moderate our appetites, and return eating to its proper context — out of the car and back to the table. Michael Pollan’s bracing and eloquent manifesto shows us how we can start making thoughtful food choices that will enrich our lives, enlarge our sense of what it means to be healthy, and bring pleasure back to eating.

Pollan’s last book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, launched a national conversation about the American way of eating; now In Defense of Food shows us how to change it, one meal at a time. …

michaelpollan.com

I do like vitamin C time release supplements. And Vitamin E. They may or may not be absorbed. But it’s worth the gamble, I feel.

I do fear that female gymnasts do not get enough iron and calcium. But those supplements, so far as I know, are not well absorbed.

Eat right. If you can.

related – Straight to the Bar – Nutrition Tips for Jocks, Gym Rats, and Health Freaks

It’s for a school project.

I can’t think of children’s book of that description.

She’d be happy with one with both a girl and a boy on the cover.

Leave a comment if you can think of one.

Or if you plan to write one.

On the eve of the 2009 European Championships in Milan, a new book is exploring the personal stories of Italy’s most famous gymnasts.

Ilaria Leccardi’s “Polvere di Magnesio” (“Chalk”) hits Italian bookstores on Wednesday. The 240-page book also will sell at the MediolanumForum in Milan, event site of the European Championships, April 2-5. …

… “I discovered that a lot of Italian gymnasts have to train in bad conditions,” said Leccardi, 26. “But I discovered even more problems of this sport, and my research became larger and deeper.”

Leccardi began traveling around Italy to meet with Italian champions including Igor Cassina, Vanessa Ferrari, Carlotta Giovannini and Alberto Busnari, listening to what she called the “hidden stories” of gymnastics. …

International Gymnast – Italian Gymnasts Uncovered in ‘Chalk’

The book will be available only in Italian.

No doubt translations of interesting excerpts will be posted online.

www.GymnasticsTrainingTips.com/calendar

Thanks Rik.