Great West Gym Fest FINALS

Dave Adlard’s BIG SHOW in Idaho is more of a “show” than an apparatus finals. Bright lights, LIVE band, lotsa noise — something similar to NCAA excitement for Levels 7, 8, 9 and 10. Gymnasts compete one-at-a-time, LIVE on the big screen. That’s pressure.

Olympians include Terin Humphrey, Mohini Bhardwaj, Daniela Silivas, Joyce Tanac-Schroeder and Kyle Shewfelt.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

See more like this linked from the 2012 GWGF Video page.

Great West Gym Fest 2013 goes Feb. 22-24th.

Rebecca Tunney – Olympian?

Another gymnast with a very good chance to qualify for London.

… The Couch Gymnast has posted a great profile on british gymnast Rebecca Tunney (Right) prior to her debut at the American Cup. Tunney is the 2011 junior british champion and seen by many as the new senior with the most realistic chance of making the olympic team.

GB are giving her plenty of competition and media exposure sending her to the olympic test event in January and and the American Cup in March. In terms of results these aren’t important per se, but both are in huge arenas (the O2 and Madison Square Garden) and in the glare of the television cameras, just as the olympics will be. …

This year’s American Cup is turning into a showcase for young gymnastics talent, with Tunney joining Romania’s Larisa Iordache and Olympic test event floor champ Victoria Moors taking on the USA’s best on home turf. …

read more on Going for Gold – Rebecca Tunney- The next Hannah Whelan?

Horton, Legendre training

… Jonathan Horton attempting, for the first time, a tucked Kovacs into an immediate Gaylord 2 …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… Steven Legendre performing a 2 and a 1/2 twisting double somersault into a front somersault during podium training of Evolution …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Those are from Nick Blanton’s new YouTube channel. Subscribe.

Rhythmic body composition stats

Of all athletes, Rhythmic girls have some of the most extreme body types. The general public assumes disordered eating.

Here’s a recently published study.

BODY COMPOSITION PROFILE OF ELITE GROUP RHYTHMIC GYMNASTS
Carvalho L.A., Klentrou P., da Luz Palomero M., Lebre E.

84 RG group gymnasts from the 2009 and 2010 World Cup were evaluated. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated using standard procedures. Relative body fat (%BF), fat mass and lean body mass were estimated from skinfold thickness …

An increase on the age of the gymnasts participating in high level competitions seems to affect the new body appearance profile. Gymnasts are taller and with higher body mass than in the past. …

A few of the interesting statistics from that study:

• collected during the 2009 and 2010 RG World Cups in Portimão, Portugal.

• Chronological age = 18.59yrs-old (15.27-25.04)

• Body mass (Kg) = 53.05kg or 117lbs (41.10-63.10kg)

• Height (cm) = average 168.13 or 5ft 5in

• Body Fat = 16.74% average

• menarche = 15.92yrs-old average

• started Rhythmic training age-6.46

• training = 40.50hrs / week average

The more successful gymnasts began earlier …, had more years of practice, train more hours a day and had more weekly training volume. The Elite group RG gymnasts had a later onset of menarche than normal population. …

Read the entire paper (PDF) from Vol. 4 Issue 1: Science of Gymnastics Journal.

I don’t know enough about Rhythmic to offer much comment. But do RG girls really need to train more hours / week than Artistic?

That’s surprising.

Delayed menarche seems to be related to low percentage body fat, though the study does not weigh in on that.

The photo is Amina Zaripova who was considered thin even by RG standards.

Hannah Wolf – Vault

Double Olympic silver medalist Terin Humphrey chats with Hannah after BIG SHOW Level 10 Finals at her home meet, the Great West Gym Fest.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

GWGF 2013 is scheduled Feb 22-24th, 2013. It’s the most FUN invite anywhere, so far as I’m concerned. If you’ve never been, add it to your calendar for next season. 🙂

Sounds of the Olympics

This is cool.

This is why I love the Olympics.

… Coca-cola, Mother London and DJ Mark Ronson teamed up to make an Olympic anthem, made up of sounds that athletes make while performing their sports.

Compiled over five months, it involved working with five ‘hero athletes’ as well as a chorus of teenage athletes, and was eventually performed live in front of three thousand London kids in the shadow of the Olympic stadium. Production company Somesuch&Co filmed the entire process as a documentary …

Creativity Online

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on Vimeo.

Stalder / Endo progressions

Gymnastics Planet:

… learn the skill from underneath and build the height of the stalder/endo swing as the gymnast develops more strength.

One thing we look at is making sure the gymnast fully understands keeping their shoulders as extended as possible whilst behind the bar, therefore easily being able to gain height on the swings and develop the swing upwards towards handstand.

Closing the shoulders on top of the bar (Straddle lever) shortens the bodies radius about the bar making the stalder circle “close” and undesirable as the handstand position that we want the skill to finish in becomes very difficult to achieve.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Florida #1 this week

GymInfo – Top 25 Teams

27 February 2012 – by Regional Qualifying Average

1 Florida 197.195
2 Oklahoma 197.145
3 UCLA 197.025
4 Georgia 196.830
5 Alabama 196.730
6 Nebraska 196.585
7 Utah 196.555
8 Arkansas 196.545
9 Oregon State 196.250
10 L.S.U. 196.245
11 Penn State 195.950
12 Stanford 195.895

See the full list.

Photo Gallery: Georgia vs. Florida