Personally I agree with Olympic great Ken Reed:

… The intent of Canada’s Own The Podium program has become lost – or perhaps obscured – with the focus on the medal count. Yes, it was always about trying to win more medals than anyone in 2010. But from the get-go, it was clearly stated that this was a stretch goal – an ambitious target intended to galvanize our nation, inspire our athletes, focus our funding and build a foundation of partnership. …

… OTP is an overwhelming success. We have delivered funding, coaching resources, technology, preparation and team unity to build an environment for success. Regardless of the medal count, this is a fact. Canada’s team was prepared. …

OTP’s about more than medal count

On the other hand, decisions have already been made to change leadership, perhaps shift the focus of Own the Podium, and possibly even changing the much mocked name.

details – Baumann to take over Own the Podium

related – Should Own the Podium have been branded differently?

UPDATE: The U.S.A. owned the podium at this Olympics. Germany was fantastic, too. Congratulations. But Canadians are not disappointed with our results, overall. And once we defeat the States today in Men’s Hockey, we’ll have the most Gold medals for any host nation in Olympic history.

… Most of my friends are convinced that the upstart Americans will win Hockey. But I’m not worried.

Birmingham, England Apr. 30th – May 1st, 2010

It’s multi-sport, but has very strong gymnastics representation.

“This is unique opportunity for coaches working with young performers”, said Hardy Fink, Canada, Director of Education and Academy Programme of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG).

Prof Keith Russell (CAN), Prof Adam Baxter Jones (CAN), Prof Joachim Mester (GER), Prof Joan Duda (USA), Prof Nicola Maffulli (GBR), Prof Neil Armstrong (GBR), and David Hemery CBE.

Chairs: Professor Craig Sharp, Professor Colin Boreham, Professor Fred Yeadon, Professor Lew Hardy, Dr. John Atkinson, Mr. John Aldridge and Professor Greg Whyte.

Kelly's wedding with best man Kyle Shewfelt

Kelly Manjak (CAN) will be presenting on Coaching Issues.

Manjak coached Kyle Shewfelt to the Olympic gold medal … in Athens as well as a fourth place finish on the vault. Manjak and Shewfelt worked together for 16 years …

Coaching Association of Canada

British Gymnastics – Congress home page

The new issue starts with an article by German authors Thomas Heinen, Pia Vinken, and Konstantinos Velentzas addressing a very interesting dilemma of twist directions.

The second article is the contribution by Trevor Dowdell from Australia who is exploring characteristics of coaching.

The third article is about the reliability of judging in men’s artistic gymnastics at the University Games in Belgrade 2009, written by a group of authors from Slovenia and Hungary: Bojan Leskošek, Ivan Cuk, Istvan Karacsony, Jernej Pajek and Maja Bu?ar.

The fourth article comes from Slovenian author Matjaž Ferkolj who has researched kinematic characteristics of Roche vault on vaulting table.

The second issue of our journal concludes with an article from Portugal in which José Ferreirinha, Joana Carvalho, Cristina Côrte-Real and António Silva analyze the evolution of flight element on uneven bars from 1989 to 2004.

It’s all free. Click through to the home page for links (PDF) to each article.

Science of Gymnastics Journal

A word of caution from Dr. Ross Tucker and Dr. Jonathan Dugas:

… I guarantee that the media are going to be all over this and they are going to tell you that you should be running barefoot or in Vibrams. You will hear how science has proven that being barefoot will prevent injuries, and that those of you who are injured should blame your shoes as you lob them into the garbage bin. …

If you wish to guarantee yourself an injury, then go out for a 2km run barefoot on a hard surface, and you will be asking your calf muscles and Achilles tendons to do work that for perhaps 30 years, they haven’t had to do. …

read more – Science of Sport blog.

That article led me to some cutting edge research …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Click PLAY or compare a runner wearing shoes on YouTube.

More caution:

Disadvantages of Forefoot Striking Barefoot or in Minimal Footwear

* Thick-soled shoes are much more forgiving when running over glass, sharp objects, ice and so on.

* If you have been a heel striker, it takes some time and much work to train your body to forefoot or midfoot strike, especially because you need stronger feet and calf muscles. Runners may be at greater risk of developing Achilles tendonitis when they switch from heel striking to forefoot or midfoot striking …

Running Barefoot, Forefoot Striking & Training Tips

This comes from a new blog by Dr. Daniel E. Lieberman of Harvard University: Running Barefoot or In Minimal Footwear

That’s likely the best site of all for those who want to research this topic.

(via Full Twist – Running Barefoot – The Debate)

Excellent.

Man became the dominant species on this planet because we could run long distances efficiently, barefoot.

Yet companies like Nike over the past 3 decades have convinced us that we need buy $150 shoes to run. And convinced us to completely change running technique in those shoes.

There’s a growing body of research indicating that expensive running shoes are causing more injury than they are preventing. Other researchers are concluding that bare foot running is more efficient.

If interested, click through to this post – are running shoes ruining your feet? – and follow the links.

Or see the technique difference explained in videos:

• BBC – Shoes may have changed how we run

• Scientific American – Running barefoot is better, researchers find (video)

If this new research eventually proves that barefoot running prevents injury, it may turn out that gymnasts have been doing the right thing all along by working out barefoot.

I hope so.

But I’ve long suspected that coaches over-emphasize it, at the expense of other physical qualities.

For example, this gymnast is not arched due to lack of abdominal strength.

Giant doesn’t require much abdominal strength.

There’s a bit of trend in sport science, right now, to reduce the amount of core body conditioning we are doing, especially the traditional “sit-up”.

Stuart McGill, professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, is cited in this recent article:

MacLeans – The man who wants to kill crunches
A Canadian professor of spine biomechanics rails about the dangers of the ubiquitous sit-up

Of course that’s not sport specific.

A better article for coaches is …

The Myth of Core Stability by Professor Eyal Lederman, of CPDO, the Centre for Professional Development in Osteopathy and Manual Therapy.

I checked on this “trend” to avoid over-conditioning the core with Keith Russell.

He tended to agree:

… don’t isolate, use large body movements where ever possible and DON”T overemphasize the abdominals …”

Food for thought. Leave a comment if you’ve modified your core body strength training. Using more isometric training, for example.

related – Gymnastics Revolution – The Giant

But one theme is important. How does a dedicated athlete handle serious injury. Especially if they cannot return to the sport.

While the fictional Payson was falling on Shoot Half on Bars at National Championships, fracturing her back, a real life gymnast in Florida suffered a catastrophic injury on Bars.

… High School senior Dounia Bendris was practicing at Broadway Gymnastics in Oviedo when she slipped off the uneven bars, broke two ribs, collapsed a lung and severed her spinal cord.

Doctors told the 17-year-old that she was paralyzed from the waist down four days after Christmas. …

read more – Paralyzed Gymnast Adjusts To Life After Fall

video interview with Dounia

Donations can be mailed to CHASE care of Dounia Alyssa Bendris, 3924 Town Center Blvd. Suite 103-104, Orlando, FL. 32837. Donations can also be made via PayPal to DBendris@att.net or by clicking HERE.

2007 U.S. All-Around gymnastics champion David Durante posted it on Facebook today.

… and Dave thought he was getting away from injury, retiring.

Get well soon.

When is the best time during the workout to train strength?

“It depends.”

Exactly the answer you did not want to hear.

Coach Chris has a Masters in Kinesiology. He elaborates:

… I would put the strength/conditioning at the beginning of the workout during the off-season as you should be focused on building strength in order to both enhance and enable skill development. To maximize strength development, it’s important for the gymnasts to not be fatigued.

During the season, I would put it at the end of practice. By this time, your training emphasis will have shifted more to technical preparation and trying to make the routines as good as possible for competition. …

Where To Place Your Strength Training During Practice…

Even better with young developing gymnasts, where competition readiness is far less important than training, is …

• specific strength training at the beginning
• general strength training and flexibility improvement, at the end of workout.

That post is from a great new blog called COACHING GYMNASTICS IN THE NEW MILLENIUM

… dedicated to the discussion of training strategies, development, and growth of the sport of artistic gymnastics.

Yup. It’s high level serious content. Coach Chris and Coach Troy Wright answer questions emailed to them via the About page.

Check it out. COACHING GYMNASTICS IN THE NEW MILLENIUM

(via Full Twist)

… The technology provides a training aid that will allow coaches and gymnasts to review performances immediately following their routine or skills. The video training system will make its debut during the national team camp in late January. …

Eight cameras have been stationed around the training gym, and the coverage can be viewed on six, 42-inch plasma screen TVs. The cameras were placed to show different angles of each of the four events. …

details on USAG

I’m surprised it took this long.