best acrobatic tutorials on the internet?

I criticized one online video tutorial.

Here’s an excellent one. How to Do a Split by Amy Van Deusen on About.com Gymnastics. Photos by Paula Tribble.

It’s a series of drills with explanation. Two examples:

oversplitsPaulaTribble.jpg

ringsplitsPaulaTribble.jpg

Check the entire How to Do a Split tutorial on About.com Gymnastics. And the rest of the excellent content in Amy’s Training Advice section.

Related: How to Do a Center Split – About.com

strength training – front lever pulls

One of the top gymnastics conditioning coaches in the world is Chris Sommers from Arizona.

He’s posted some great video tutorials. As a sample, one of my favourite exercises: Front Lever Pulls.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

A men’s Artistic coach, Chris shares his knowledge on a number of sites. But the best starting point is: GymnasticBodies.com

Front lever pulls are ideal too for the non-gymnast. They can be done on rings or any bar, even in the playground.

Check out the variations — called the Ice Cream Maker — on Ringtraining.com. (Click through to watch the video.)

Related posts:

  • front lever – superb strength training skill
  • rings – front lever
  • Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Maribor ends

    Great meet for the Canadian women!

    VaculikBB01.jpg
    Gymn.ca – Kristina Vaculik – 2007 Gymnix

    Women’s Beam
    1. VACULIK, Kristina (CAN) (16.3) = 14,975
    2. WEVERS, Sanne (NED) (16.1) = 14,275
    3. CARDENAS, N.Sanchez (COL) (16.3) = 14,275

    Women’s Floor
    1. HARMES, Suzane (NED) (15.9) = 14,525
    2. ZIMMERMANN, Jasmin (SUI) (15.7) = 13,950
    3. DAMIANOVA, Nansy (CAN) (15.3) = 13,900

    Parallel Bars
    1. CUCHERAT, Yann (FRA) (16.7) = 15,900
    2. FOKIN, Anton (UZB) (16.6) = 15,750
    3. PETKOVSEK, Mitja (SLO) (16.5) = 15,650

    Men’s Vault
    1. GWANG, Ri Se (PRK)
    – (17.0) – 16,400
    – (17.0) – 16,400 = 16,400
    2. WIGNANITZ, Raphael (FRA)
    – (17.0) – 16,250
    – (17.0) – 15,775 = 16,012
    3. CARANOBE, Benoit (FRA)
    – (17.0) – 15,575
    – (17.0) – 15,200 = 15,387

    Click PLAY or watch GWANG, Ri Se on vault at the last World Championships on YouTube. Looks like he is still doing the same vaults.

    Vault is the most impressive of men’s apparatus these days.

    High Bar
    1. PEGAN, Aljaz (SLO) (16.4) = 15,350
    2. DIMIC, Alen (SLO) (16.3) = 14,950
    3. SCHAERER, Christoph (SUI) (16.4) = 14,875

    Great to see the Slovenians doing well in their own backyard.

    full results men – GymnasticsResults.com
    full results women – GymnasticsResults.com

    competition home page

    Related post: top gymnasts NOT going to Beijing (Pegan)

    married gymnastics coaching teams

    Sarah and David Patterson were in Athens, GA getting ready to coach their Alabama team at NCAA Championships last week when they got a phone call that their 16-year old daughter got in a minor fender-bender back in Tuscaloosa.

    Both Mom and Dad were “busy”.

    Most female gymnasts have both at least one male and one female principle coach. But how many have married couples as coaches?

    More than I would have guessed:

    … Spouses coaching on the same staff appears to be a winning formula considering that five of the 12 teams that reached the NCAA championships (2008) work with the person with who they are joined with in holy matrimony.

    The others are Utah with coach Greg Marsden and assistant Megan Marsden, Arkansas with co-coaches Mark and Rene’ Cook, Oklahoma with coach K.J. Kindler and assistant Lou Ball and Oregon State with coach Tanya Chaplin and assistant Michael Chaplin.

    Minnesota, New Hampshire and Towson are among other programs that have a wife and husband coaching team …

    All in the family for many top programs – Online Athens

    The Pattersons make a great case study.


    “Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.”

    -Vince Lombardi

    Pattersons.jpg

    … If anyone has mastered the habit of winning that Lombardi was talking about all those years ago, it’s Sarah and David Patterson. During their 29-year career coaching the Alabama gymnastics program, they have created a legacy of success in the gym and the classroom that is unequaled in collegiate athletics. …

    Under their direction, Alabama gymnastics has gone to 24 consecutive NCAA Championships, winning four and finishing in the top six 23 times. The Tide has also finished in the ‘final four’ an NCAA-best 21 times.

    Coaches: The Pattersons – Gym Tide

    photos from NCAA Championships

    Inside Gymnastics has some of the best I’ve seen yet.

    Inside-Gymnastics.jpg

    Inside Gymnastics – Gallery: Women’s NCAA Championships

    There is only one photo / page. No slideshow function. Slow to load — unless you open each photo in a new tab or window.

    Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Maribor

    Not a strong field on the women’s side, but some interesting performances from the men.

    Gymnasts from five different nations won titles Saturday at the 41st Salamunov Memorial, a World Cup event in Maribor, Slovenia.

    Canada was the most successful with three medals, including a 1-2 finish on uneven bars from Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs and Kristina Vaculik. …

    IG – Amanda Turner (full results linked)

    rings.jpg

    Women’s Vault
    1. Hong Un Jong PRK 14.300
    2. Marissa King GBR 14.075
    3. Nansy Damianova CAN 13.387

    Uneven Bars
    1. Elyse Hopfner-Hibbs CAN 14.875
    2. Kristina Vaculik CAN 14.850
    3. Marta Pihan POL 14.500

    Men’s Floor Exercise
    1. Yevgeny Bogonsyuk UKR 15.400
    2. Ri Se Gwang PRK 15.375
    3. Arthur Zanetti BRA 15.000

    Pommel Horse
    1. Zhang Hongtao CHN 15.925
    2. Robert Seligman CRO 15.300
    3. Donna-Donny Truyens BEL 15.000

    Still Rings
    1. Yuri van Gelder NED 16.675 (video)
    2. Yan Mingyong CHN 16.575
    3. Danny Rodrigues FRA 16.325

    full results men – GymnasticsResults.com
    full results women – GymnasticsResults.com

    competition home page

    Related post: top gymnasts NOT going to Beijing (van Gelder)

    funny – weight room machines are dangerous

    This is why gymnast prefer avoiding strength training “machines”.

    bet you can’t guess what happens!

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

    Cassina 2 – double twisting Kovacs

    Igor Cassina from Italy was 2004 Olympic Horizontal Bar champion in the final that was delayed 15min by audience disapproval of Alexei Nemov’s score.

    He’s known for the Cassina, full twisting layout Kovacs.

    Click PLAY or watch his routine in the Olympic Final on YouTube.

    Now check out the Cassina 2. Outrageous.

    Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. (lousy quality)

    Obviously he actually only caught one. And the video clip was looped.

    Here’s an even worse video clip of the skill.

    Related:

  • Andrade, a one-and-a-half twisting Kovacs
  • Peter Kovacs High Bar 1979 – YouTube
  • NCAA Gymnastics Floor Final – McCool

    ncaa-logo1.pngCourtney McCool won Floor. And deserved it.

    Her wild techno music and wonderful choreography is a crowd pleaser. And there is no one else in the NCAA with better leg form on tumbling.

    I’m very happy for Courtney, winning this event in Athens, GA. She’s had some tough times making the the transition from the “best gymnast in the world” in Athens, Greece in 2004 (my opinion) to they grown student athlete she is today.

    1. Courtney McCool, Georgia
    2. Tasha Schwikert, UCLA
    3. Nicola Wills, Florida

    full results and photos

    Click PLAY to see Courtney’s routine earlier this season on YouTube.

    NCAA Gymnastics Beam Final

    ncaa-logo1.pngBeam is almost always the best apparatus in NCAA competition. Tonight was no exception.

    Performances are amazingly stable.

    The maturity and confidence shown is wonderful — especially after watching little girls in FIG competitions chuck as many difficult skills in sequence as they can, regardless of wobbles or falls.

    Grace.jpg1. Grace Taylor, Georgia
    2T. Ashley Postell, Utah
    2T. Emily Parsons, Nebraska


    full results
    and photos

    I love Grace Taylor, by the way. She was “inspired” by the all the “fun” McCool was having over on Floor. The home town crowd was going nuts for McCool. Grace competed immediately after.

    Click PLAY or watch her routine from earlier in the season on YouTube.