tumbling, tramp, diving, acrobatics, circus, cheer, dance, martial arts, X sports … and more
A great challenge, though possibly damaging for the wrists:
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
As an alternative, he could walk forwards and backwards on parallel bars.
Click through to GymnasticBodies.com, edited by conditioning guru Coach Sommers from Arizona, for more very tough conditioning ideas. Thanks Coach!
(via Straight to the Bar)
I’ve never been a big fan of handstand trainers for bars and horizontal bar. Not that I have anything against the devices, but alternate drills work just as well, in my experience.
I do have friends who love them:
The Handstand Trainer will develop and strengthen, in your gymnasts, that tight “hollow body” shape so critical in our sport’s basic technique! It will also develop the ability of your gymnasts to “planche” and to “push” back from that planche …
robbie emailed to let us know of this version used in Belgium:
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Coaches, leave a comment if you like handstand trainers. Perhaps I can be convinced.
Clinton Portis was NFL Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Denver Broncos. Clearly he’s a better Running Back than gymnast:
Clinton Portis Washington Redskins – 16×20 Autographed Photograph
UPDATE: Word is … the photo was taken mid-cartwheel. (see the comments)
all of our handstand posts
original – flickr
One of the great Posters and Fun Photos set posted by the Wordsmith from Nantucket.
A shout out to Helen Reddy.
This gymnastics montage got to me. I’m not sure why.
Editor gymnasticsbabie tries to sum up Women’s Artistic Gymnastics in the time it takes to listen to a great hit song by The Fray.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Competitive gymnastics is tough.
UPDATE: gymnasticsbabie started a new blog: Addicted2Gym
In my city, Calgary, Canada, we’ve seen a steady increase in the number of programs.
The New York Sun reports the same thing happening in the Big Apple: Beams & Handsprings, Now for Adults
The world’s largest adult program is in NYC: Chelsea Piers. But the article reports on others including NYC Elite, Brooklyn Gymnastics Center and Aviator Sports.
I feel we’re still just at the beginning of offering trampoline and gymnastics training to non-gymnasts. It’s a huge market. Our closest competitors are the CrossFit clubs.
original – flickr – The Wordsmith from Nantucket (California)
There’s more discussion on this topic on the Gym Chat forum.
Shout out to my first assistant coach Greg Kolodziejzyk. In the early 1980s, he and I once taught every Rec class in a club of 300 kids.
Greg is still the best Recreation gymnastics coach I’ve ever known. An imaginative genius … who rarely stuck to the rotation schedule.
A guy this talented did not stay in coaching. He made a fortune in the early days of the internet selling fonts to Adobe. Went on to more successful business ventures.
But these days his passion is extreme adventure. He wants “To conquer the world by human power.”
He has several sites including these two:
Adventures of Greg Pedal the Ocean
Here’s a Discovery Channel interview describing Greg’s world record attempt to cross the Atlantic by pedal power.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
You’ll see he’s still in the testing phase of the home-made craft. Greg’s trip is scheduled to start in December this year, and is expected to take around 40 days.
UPDATE: Just talked to Greg. He is looking at other itineraries, perhaps even Canada to Hawaii. (Much better weather. I’m just saying …)
Good luck buddy!
(via Straight to the Bar)
One more thing about Greg Kolodziejzyk. He had the worst “hands” of any gymnast I’ve ever known. Good on horizontal bar, he could rarely train more than 2 or 3 turns in sequence. For competition he psyched up, hit a good routine invariably, and walked away with both hands streaming blood.
We tried everything to protect them. Or toughen them up. But nothing ever worked.
vrba from Slovenia has been following the controversy over how wild card slots are decided by F.I.G.
The big announcement named Artistic gymnasts from Vietnam and Yemen to the last available places. I thought the issue was resolved, at least for this cycle.
Now it seems there is one additional slot available for a man in gymnastics sports.
…
Confused? (I am confused.)
The full list of Olympic Qualifiers is here.
The announcement of the additional spot is here.
Seems I was wrong about one more spot being available. (Though that is the way the FIG page read to me.) And now both FIG pages are “down” for some reason. Will update this when the muddy waters clear.
gymnastics or family life fun
That’s the name of a thread on Chalk Bucket started by gimchick:
Are there any parents that feel like gymnastics take you and your child away from other family members financially and emotionally sometime? I mean you have to travel sometimes without your spouse or other children if any applies to you. Your time at the gym either watching, dropping off, or picking up the girls does not allow much time for homelife other than quick meals, homework, and bathing. I am at the point of calling it quits sometime because I am so tired, overwhelmed and I need a break, mentally, financially, and just time away from (gym) …
Many other parents replied, most mentioning the expense and waste of time driving.
larger original – flickr – wmliu
Click through to Chalk Bucket to see the replies. And to add your own, if you wish.
I love gymnastics. But it’s not worth driving 3hrs a day for most families.
Every coach knows this scenario:
Linked most recently from Gymnastics Crossing.
Related posts:
Gymnastics Coaching.com 