Entries Tagged 'books & manuals' ↓

Dr. Gerald S. George is out and about, doing seminars in support of his new book Championship Gymnastics.

International Gymnastics Camp
Coaches Education Program
Bartonsville, PA
June 21-23, 2010

U.S.A.I.G.C. Congress
Coaches Education Program
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
June 27-29, 2010

USAG National Congress and Trade Show
Four (4) Lecture Presentations
Hartford, CT
August 12-14, 2010

Winning Gymnastics – Seminars

Dwight Normile loves it:

Thirty years after the publication of his popular Biomechanics of Women’s Gymnastics, Dr. Gerald George has done it again, only better. Championship Gymnastics, which was released earlier this month, is more than just a textbook for women’s gymnastics technique, as the subtitle suggests. Its unique voice engages the reader through a seamless blend of instruction and inspiration. …

read the review – International Gymnast – Dr. Gerald George’s new book scores high marks

Order it instantly from the official website – Winning Gymnastics. Or phone 888-796-5229.

The doctor needs your $79.

Building the Gymnastic Body ($44) is the name of a must read book by respected Arizona MAG coach Christopher Sommer.

I first met Chris at a competition in 2004, and have been a big fan of his coaching ever since.

If you’ve not met him, you’ve likely seen his very popular videos. One sample: Click PLAY or watch Bowers on YouTube.

This book is geared towards MAG though it’s useful too for CrossFit and other strength sports, for both male and females.

… Building the Gymnastic Body allows you to go deep within the world of gymnastics strength training. 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 you have been searching for.

CHAPTER ONE – Gymnastics as Conditioning

CHAPTER TWO – General Information, Tools of the Trade – 9, Basic Gymnastics Terminology – 11, The Selection of These Exercises – 15, Handstands & Press Handstands – 16

CHAPTER THREE – Basic Strength – 21

CHAPTER FOUR – Fundamental Static Positions; L-sit – 26, Straddle L – 30, Manna – 35, Back Lever – 41, Front Lever, Planche – 49

CHAPTER FIVE – Upper Body Pressing; Fundamental Bodyweight Exercises, Push-up Variations – 61, Dip Variations – 68, HSPU Variations – 76, Multi-plane Pressing Variations – 83

CHAPTER SIX – Upper Body Pulling; Row Variations – 91, Pull-up Variations – 96, Curl Variations – 103, Multi-plane Pulling Variations – 106

CHAPTER SEVEN – Combined Pull/Press; Muscle-up Variations – 113, Other CPP Variations – 118

CHAPTER EIGHT – Core; V-up Variations – 123, HLL Variations – 127, Lower Back Variations – 132, Oblique Variations – 138, Straight Body Variations – 144

CHAPTER NINE – Legs; Deck Squat Variations – 156, Single Leg Squat Variations – 159, Hamstring Variations – 165

CHAPTER TEN – Program Design Options; Static Strength Training – 171, Basic Strength Training – 175, Integrated Training – 178, Managing Intensity – 179, Group Training – 182

APPENDIX A – Tips for Increasing Pull-ups – 185

APPENDIX B – Static Strength Only Training Results – 186

APPENDIX C – 120 Muscle-ups in 15 minutes – 187

Here’s a review of the Book and companion DVDs from Robb Wolf.

Everything is available through GymnasticBodies.com.. Click through the link on the top right of every page for more information. Every gym should have a copy.

Greg Marsden has been talking up George’s first new book in decades. It’s finally here.

Hardcover Textbook, 11 1/4″ x 8 5/8″
280 pages, Copyright April 2010

You can pre-order online … or call 888-796-5229.

George is the author of Biomechanics of Women’s Gymnastics (1980), one of most important coaching texts of all time. This is the follow-up.

Championship Gymnastics represents an entirely new approach to the study and understanding of gymnastics movement. …

Rather than laboring on complex physics formulas, fundamental principles of biomechanics are clearly explained and presented in layman’s terms. Easy to read and expertly illustrated, readers are guided effortlessly through a “conceptualization process” for developing ideal movement patterns. The book includes 140 technical illustrations by noted artist and gymnastics coach Jim Stephenson. Gymnastics skills are described clearly and illustrated progressively to demonstrate that “similarities” in gymnastics movement patterns far outweigh “differences.” As a result, seemingly complex gymnastics skills are reduced to simple, easy-to-understand patterns of motion. …

See the table of contents.

Looks great. Especially the illustrations.

On the other hand, George seems to have been spending more time as “expert witness” in gymnastics court cases than in the gym. Has he still got it?

Leave a comment if you determine the price. It’s buried somewhere. $79. OUCH. No wonder the damage was hidden. ($60 if you order more than ten.) Thanks JAO.

A classic textbook of acrobatics was first published in 1931 by Professor Paulinetti.

Robert L. Jones made additions in a 1945 edition.

It might have been lost to us except that Logan Christopher edited a new edition in 2007.

Not inexpensive at $49 plus shipping and handling, I must admit, this is one of the very best of the old manuals from the 1930s.

Logan will be pleased, but not surprised, that I give this text a very strong endorsement. It’s both entertaining and educational. I’ve emailed a recommendation for it to Keith Russell and Hardy Fink of the F.I.G.

Professor Paulinetti’s story is fascinating. He toured as an acrobat from 1892 until 1923. Paulinetti did this headstand atop one of the prominent buildings in Calcutta in 1920.

Paulinetti’s student, Robert Jones, went on to perform feats of strength and balance beyond his mentor, including (reportedly) handstand supported only on two thumbs.

In later years photographs of feats of hand balancing began to be collected. The photos are, perhaps, the highlight of the book.

You mght recall that I once quibbled with the name of one of Christopher’s sites: The Lost Art of Handbalancing.

Fact is there are more great hand balancers today than ever before in history. The Cirque performer, coached by Andre Simard, who showed 1-arm handstand on a swinging trapeze, for one example.

That Lost Art site is for the general public. Acrobatic coaches would be more interested in one of Logan’s other projects, his Legendary Strength blog.

Bottom line, … I beg Logan to next research the history of hand balancing in the Chinese and Russian circus schools. What hand balancing was done by clowns in ancient Egypt?

We need that sequel.

Click through for book details: The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

(Warning: this page is filled with more hyperbole and salesmanship than any other I’ve seen for years.)

by site editor Rick McCharles

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.

We’re often linking to strength videos posted by men’s coach Christopher Sommer from Arizona.

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.

My old friend Jim Holt has written a memoir about his two decades striving for the international development of gymnastics. I’m certain it will be a great read.

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.

Greg Marsden tweeted this news:

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

bloomfield and george posted photos of a couple of old acrobatics books on flickr.

Coach Katrina Burton commented that much “garbage” nutrition information is circulated. Check her comment on this post, too.

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

There’s no NUTRITION category on this blog.

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

MasterPuppeteer, “Proud Parent” of a 7-year-old male gymnast, is looking for a book about boys gymnastics.

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.