Category: Uncategorized

A good clip out of Australia highlighting some of the many advantages enjoyed by competitive gymnasts.

Like many clubs, the Waverley Advanced Gymnastics Club, in Victoria, Australia, treats gymnastics as much more than just a sport. The club aims to enhance each gymnast’s physical, mental and personal development through teamwork, performance in competitions, and by creating an environment that encourages personal friendships. Children can start as young as two by joining the kinder class, where they learn fine and gross motor skills, balance and movement.

http://services.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/271552783

Gymnastics – Mind Body Soul TV

Where do I get me a “vault box”?

Check the most recent AT&T blue room Behind the Scenes video. This is an on-going series of documentaries leading up to Beijing.

Interviews with the Sr. American girls on what it’s like to be the #1 team are interesting.

Needless to say, Bela features prominently. The media love him.

see the video – AT&T blue room Sports – Exclusive Interviews, Behind the Scenes Footage of Athletes, Team USA Diving, Team USA Gymnastics

There is no doubt that the American girls are the team to beat. But anything can happen during the team competition. Consistency will be at least as important as start score for team.

The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee met in December. Mostly they talked about banning Marion Jones.

But there was more:

Among the other key decisions taken by the EB this week are:

– … cities bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games: … Chicago (USA), Prague (Czech Republic), Tokyo (Japan), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Baku (Azerbaijan), Doha (Qatar) and Madrid (Spain)

…

– the provisional recognition – for two years – of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC).

Olympic.org

My prediction is that neither sport climbing nor cricket will ever get into the Olympics. If I’m wrong, the soonest you would see climbing in an Olympic Games would be 2020.

(via The Goat)

Related post:
new Olympic sports – BMX 2008, skateboarding in 2012

Almost all high level Artistic gymnasts suffer chronic wrist pain. It’s even ended competitive careers.

If you, like me, think that signing a contract promising to avoid injury won’t work, then consider other options.

Pommel horse is definitely the biggest culprit.

Brain-storming at a recent coaching course, we came up with a few suggestions:

take fewer turns of higher quality

every approach is “precious”

the coach should watch every turn

specific goal for each turn

3 attempts maximum for any specific sequence, then switch to something else

when skilled enough, spend more time on the pommels, less on mushroom

do not do more than 20 circles in a set

The best suggestion of all — and one we did often at Taiso over the years — is to split training into two blocks during the same training session. For example, do skills, sequences and routines near the beginning of training for 15-20min. Then basics, specific drills, single pommel work, etc. near the end of the training.

One new suggestion for me was to train a 30-40min handstand at the end of workout to “toughen-up” the wrists.

Sounds crazy. Firstly, I don’t have 30min at the end of work-out. It’s not specific to my needs in competition. And that drill is more likely to hurt the wrists than condition them.

Most coaches concurred that wrist supports should be avoided unless absolutely needed. Then worn every training session, if needed.

Colored Tiger Paws Per Pair

I see more Tiger Paws than any other brand of wrist support. (With girls I sometimes think they are more of a fashion accessory than essential equipment.)

At Taiso, if the wrists got too, too sore — we would give the gymnast a complete week (or two) off pommel horse. This definitely worked to relieve wrist pain. Unfortunately the pain tended to return once we started training again.

At a recent coaches course all but one coach agreed that their club website was lousy and rarely updated. We can do much better.

Dylan Glynn pointed us to a good one, East York Gymnastics in Canada.

Check it out:

The East York Gymnastics Club was formed over fifty years ago. Over the past 10 years, we have trained over 30 Provincial Champions, with full university athletic scholarships received by some.

Last year, we had 24 male and female athletes participating at the Provincial Championships in various levels and categories.

Our Pre-school, Recreational, Interclub, and Competitive programs are valued by over 3700 members.

All of our programs are instructed by nationally-certified coaches who have been carefully selected for their experience, enthusiasm, and knowledge of the sport. All instructors are supported in attaining the highest possible coaching standards.

We offer numerous programs to suit all ages, abilities, and interest levels for both boys and girls. We have the most modern equipment to enhance training at all levels in a safety-oriented setting. Our 28,000 sq. ft. air-conditioned facility ensures that our gymnasts can train comfortably with adequate space.

Strength, coordination, balance, and flexibility; these are just a few of the many benefits associated with gymnastics training. Gymnastics is an excellent sport for enhancing your child’s physical and mental development, and can contribute to greater success in other sports and fields of endeavour.

Our goal is to give each member the opportunity to reach their fullest potential in a supportive, productive, and fun atmosphere.

East York Gymnastics Club

It’s a good looking yet functional site. There’s no RSS feed but you can register for email updates. Nice.

They’ve had to put the floor on to a diagonal because the pillars are too close together:

If you are thinking of an update of your own club website, consider adding something like their unique “Program Wizard” which helps parents decide the right class for their child.

Look at the back arm in this photo:

larger original – flickr – by foto-plaul

That’s a pet peeve of mine. If a runner straightens the arm at the back, it tends to slow the sprint. (The legs can only turn over as fast as the arm swing.)

With kids I call that common error, “throwing money away”. She needs more drills for correct arm action.

I like the front arm position, happily.

The in-laws were super understanding, letting me abuse their furniture for “House Gymnastics” day …

larger size photo sequence – house gymnastics – flickr

by Rick McCharles

Keith Russell

Professor Keith Russell is a great teacher. Yet even he has problems teaching biomechanics at gymnastics coaching courses. The risk, of course, is that even talking biomechanics may result in “more heat than light”.

We can all name great coaches that do not understand biomechanics. Therefore, it’s not critical knowledge.

On the other hand, I find a fast, simple biomechanical analysis facilitates error detection, cause and correction. It’s a big plus for me as a coach.

Understanding biomechanics can make a good coach, better.

I’m teaching biomechanics today, in fact. My goal is not to confuse the coaches. To “at least, do no harm”.

A few of my group today will enjoy biomechanics. For most, I fear, it will be the least valuable section of the course.

I will report back here on how it goes.

It’s no secret that using gymnastics rings is one of the best, fastest ways to develop upper body strength.

But to buy adjustable rings from a gymnastics equipment distributor is expensive. They’ve always been over-priced, I think. Spieth in Canada does not even sell adjustable roof rings.

Here’s a great alternative from WeightVest.com for the gym. Or home.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Bodybuilding FORCE $149.95
Limited Time Offer $121.95 w/ Insurance
Shipping Included USA!

Fitness Straps Workout Demo

If $122 is too much for you, fitness guru Kat Ricker prefers an even cheaper option:

… handles hung on chains. These are more versatile than their more glamorous cousin – the rings – because they can easily be adjusted into every possibly degree of proximity to one another, and their level of suspension from the floor can easily be manipulated as well. They’re not just fixed into a ceiling beam for time immemorial. You can move them as often as you like, even during a work out. …

DIY Hanging Handles, psuedo “rings” – Straight to the Bar

Compare a video of Kat using the home made version on YouTube.

Seems to be working for Kat:

UPDATE:

Katrina from Westwinds Gymnastics notes that ringtraining.com has their cool Elite rings on sale for only $71.95.

You could hang them on adjustable chains or pulleys wherever you wish.

Gymnastics Canada – Gymnastique Canada