Author: Rick Mc

Have you seen this yet?

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

This coach will be there, blogging the action.

Canada qualified the full Men’s Artistic team to Beijing. But the Women only qualified individuals. I’m looking forward to seeing how the athletes look with the big meet only months away.

Schedule / Horaire – Elite Canada 2007

In conjunction with that competition is a 6-day-long Level 4 coaching course led by Keith Russell for Gymnastics Canada.

I’ll be presenting on the “Internet for Elite Coaches”. And working individually with coaches on their own use of computers vis-a-vis gymnastics.

Others presenting include Edouard Iarov, Anne Muscat, Dave Hill, Kamena Petkova, Svetlana Lashina, Lynn Smith and Jeff Thomson.

Level 4 is by invitation only, a 2-year, 4-week-total program for coaches seeking to develop athletes for international competition.

Looks like a fantastic trip. I will be posting the good stuff here.

Posts which are on topic for their niche.

Posts which are original.

Posts which present a different opinion. …

Posts that provide how-to’s or tutorials.

Posts that break news.

Posts that generally people want to read and are relevant and the thoughts contained aren’t duplicates of other posts.

Signal To Noise Ratio – Making Your Blog Better …

How are we doing? What could be improved?

Leave a comment below.

Realis was the stage name of World Acrobatic Gymnastics champions Arthur Davis and Shenea Booth who reached the finals NBC’s America’s Got Talent, Season 1 in 2006.

Click PLAY or watch the Realis finale performance on YouTube.

An 11 year old singer, Bianca Ryan, eventually took home the $1 million dollar first place prize.

The Magnificent 7 are on the Today show Saturday morning, Nov. 17th, including cute little Dominique Moceanu.

Except now she is 26-years-old and expecting.

An excellent interview:

Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu was only 14 years-old when she captured the world’s heart (and the gold medal!) at the 1996 Atlanta Games in the field of gymnastics. Today, Dominique, 26, is all grown up, married and expecting her first baby, a girl, on January 3rd.

We flew to Cleveland, Ohio to catch up with Dominique at the Gymnastics World Gym. She chatted with us about the pressures of being a young athlete, how she’s having a healthy pregnancy, and of course, winning Olympic Gold.

Click … for all the photos and interview highlights.

Photography: Gabbeli Photography

Celebrity Baby Blog: CBB Exclusive: Going for (baby) gold with Olympic gold medalist Dominique Moceanu

Nadia Shatila (MySpace) is a coach, personal fitness trainer and CrossFit trainer.

A former Nationally ranked gymnast, she has recently started teaching and training CrossFit at a gymnastics club.

More of us need to start doing the same. It’s lucrative supplementary income.

Unfortunately, in this interview (video) Nadia speaks of the problems she’s had trying to do so.

Worth a look if you are considering adding CrossFit to your program.

Photo source – Living Well: Strong abs not only look good, they help you feel better – Seattlepi.com

Thanks to Blair Lowe for the link. He does Crossnastic Gymnastics himself in California. In Blair’s experience, the cardio component of CrossFit is too much for many ex-gymnasts. It is intense!

Trudy McIntosh arrives in Orlando, Florida today to join Cirque at La Nouba.

That reminded me of Yvonne Tousek, one of the best gymnasts of her generation, double Olympian and 3 time NCAA Team champion with UCLA.

Last time I saw Yvonne she had just begun training with Cirque.

Time for an update.

Here’s a good (but older) article from the Denver Post, backstage at the Cirque du Soleil show, Corteo:

Keeping “Corteo’s” athletes and acrobats strong and healthy is an act in itself. By Suzanne S. Brown

…

Yvonne Tousek, who performs in five acts in the show, is an example of what it takes to be a professional athlete at this level. A Canadian who represented her country as a member of the Olympics team in 1996 and 2000, Tousek studied psychology at UCLA and led its gymnastics team to three NCAA championships. That many years of competition taught her to watch her diet and training schedule.

I try to eat mostly lean proteins and avoid fried foods,” she said. “I tend to eat five or six small meals per day. My biggest meal is after the show, which isn’t the best timing, but that’s how the schedule is. I’ll eat chicken or turkey, with no sauce or glaze, and some light carbs, such as a little rice. I’m not real big on vegetables, but I’m trying to eat them more.”

During the day, she snacks on yogurt, granola bars and fresh fruit. …

Tousek is one of six performers who bounce on trampolines styled as beds, engaged in a pillow fight that has them doing jumps and flips requiring impeccable timing and accuracy to prevent midair collisions. “It takes a high amount of focus,” she said. Then, toward the end of the production, she’s one of only a few women who do giant swings on the high bar. In between, she takes comedic turns as a human golf ball and one-half of a horse, so the show involves lots of running and costume changes, as well as a demanding physical performance.

Bouncing Beds

Staying strong:

At 5 feet 3 inches tall, Tousek, 27, is a petite powerhouse who supplements rehearsals with the troupe by working out a couple of times a week at the fitness center where she’s living. She builds cardiovascular strength with workouts on the elliptical machine or treadmill. She also takes Pilates and yoga classes with the other artists.

The schedule sounds exhausting, but Tousek says that being able to perform as part of the cast of “Corteo” is liberating. She’s allowed artistic expression that isn’t possible in competitive gymnastics, where every movement must be done with precision. “Compared to college, where you had to do things exactly, this is much more personal. You’re able to engage the audience,” she said.

The degree of concentration needed to perform in sync with others was something she had to learn, however. “I still get nervous,” she admitted.

One of Tousek’s partners in both the trampoline and high-bar scenes is Damian Istria, a 24-year-old Australian gymnast who also competed in the 2000 Olympic Games.

Istria, who has been with Cirque one year, said he aspired to be in the company because it requires athleticism and acting, and that the standards are high. “It’s one of the things I’ve always wanted to do,” he says. “The atmosphere is amazing.”

The most demanding schedule comes on the weekends, when he performs twice a day. He does an hour of strength training and conditioning before the first show. Between shows, he eats dinner, stretches and prepares for the evening performance.

Mental preparation is important too. “You stay on edge when you work with five guys that are swinging around you,” Istria says.

The Denver Post – Workouts with Cirque

Tournik – horizontal bar act

images from forodvdmania

Corteo – video preview

Did you see the IMAX film Everest?

Ed Viesturs, one of the best high altitude climbers (who lived to tell the tale), reveals in his autobiography No Shortcuts to the Top that he “was wasting his time” in off-season conditioning. For years.

No one had ever questioned Ed’s self-designed program.

Finally he got some coaching, a personal fitness trainer completely revising his strength training program. Ed now advocates “functional training”: specificity.

From Ed’s website:

Running: Typically 7-8 miles a day on hilly roads (approximately 1 Hour) – 4 days on, 1 day off.

Weight Training: I try to train with weights two to three times a week. I work all parts of my body and try to focus on my core as well. The exercises I do simulate the movements that I make while climbing, lifting a pack, shoveling snow, and climbing steep and varied terrain. Many exercises are done while balancing on inflated half balls or while standing on one leg. I do a low number of sets with a high number of repetitions keeping the weight moderate for strength and endurance. This upper body work helps me when carrying a pack, shoveling a tent platform, and provides me general strength to make it through a long day in the mountains.

Every athlete needs a coach. Even Tiger Woods. Even Ed Viesturs.

About Ed Viesturs – official website

I highly recommend the book. It’s written for the general public, not the mountaineering elite.

No Shortcuts to the Top: Climbing the World’s 14 Highest Peaks

I like this one.

“No Problem” Gymnastics Shirt – GymShorts.com

The list is final.

I should have guessed my favourite American gymnast would be #1. She has had some injury problems, though. Is Shayla durable enough for the NCAA?

She could turn pro.

TOP-5 ELITES : :

… Number 1 – Shayla Worley
… Number 2 – Bianca Flohr
… Number 3 – Christa Tanella
… Number 4 – Randy Stageberg
… Number 5 – Darlene Hill

Shayla Worley is on everybody’s wish list and it’s because she has superb skills on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise – and will easily augment a college team’s vault line-up with a very nice Yurchenko 1/1, or even a 1.5.

more details – GymGemz.com’s Top 5 Elite College Prospects

original – flickr – Chalkbowl

Chalkbowl.com