Sunday Funnies

Merry Christmas!

How we all got into gymnastics

Prior to start of practice, 6 year old mini-shot Ashley came out onto the floor where I was hanging out with another coach.  Carrying on a conversation with her, I ask her:  "How did you get into gymnastics?"

Ashley points off into the distance, behind her.

Confused, as I don't know who she's pointing to and why, I ask the question again.

Ashley:  "I got in through that door, over there." [points again, toward the gate that leads out onto the gym floor]

Beware of Foam Pit on Your Six O'Clock!

Situational Awareness= "The ability to take in the information surrounding you; analysis,and interpret that information and act accordingly to the current situation for the sake of your own safety. It involves being aware of what is happening in the immediate vicinity, all around you."


Here I demonstrate a great example of what happens when you lack sufficient situational awareness.

Never use the "C" word

Hat tip:  Gymnastics World

Related:

 Dominique Moceanu on Confronting Her Parents About Her Long-Lost Sister

 Olympic gymnast discovers secret sister

Sunday Funnies

Marc Jacobs

3 Reasons on a Gradual Return to Gymnastics Following Injury

The Hybrid Perspective:

Research supports that a big possible risk factor to ongoing overuse injuries or re-injuries in gymnastics is a premature return to sport. From personal experience over my years in gymnastics, and as many readers may agree,  I think this is pretty accurate. I think many parents/coaches/gymnasts get concerned when this phase of the injury comes into play, especially if it was a more serious injury.  I wanted to offer my spin on this idea from a pain science, adaptation, and psychological point of view. Here are 3 concepts for people to think about.

Read the article

Sunday Funnies

Source

This Day in History....

Blair: "Do little kids always think you're Santa?"
Me: "Are you calling me fat?!"
Blair: "You're not fat!"
Me: "I'm fatter now than I was 20 years ago."
Blair: "You were alive 20 years ago?!"
-December 13, 2010

Saturday Morning Cartoon

Wonder Twins Unite!

This was pure coaching joy. 

These two mini-shots are sisters- twins, to be precise.  And they are in constant competition with one another...bickering....fighting....rooting for the other's defeat.

So last Saturday, I had it in mind for them to cheer for and not against their significant sisterly other.

 I told them they were both on the same team; and the challenge was that between the two of them, they had to make 10 back hip circles, combined, in 2 minutes without form breaks.

Now, as you can see from watching the video, I was not totally honest in regards to skill execution quality.  For me, it didn't matter.  They're 6 years old; and knowing their psychology, it would have served more harm than good to be Spartan-knitpicky.  They need the feeling of success.  Without telling them, I judged them each according to individual standards of ability in performing the skill (one is further along than the other).  Yes, I manipulated the battle space and inconsistently called out points and misses; and brought it all to a dramatic end- a race against the clock.  I was manipulative in the same spirit as we talk up the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and Santa Claus to little kids.

The focus here was more on teamwork and team spirit; on nurturing their bond and cultivating a sense of self and other accomplishment.

Sadly, I shut off the camera too soon and missed capturing their sisterly hug at the end.

TBT: Olympic basket swing and mill circle

 Back when the level 3 basket swing and mill circle could make its way into an Olympic-caliber routine:

Round-off snap up shaping and positioning drill

Figuratively speaking, maybe I did

After arriving late to work due to car issues today, 8 yr old Mischa:

"Did you have a good day today Coach Michael?"

Me: "No."

Mischa looks hurt/offended.

Me: "No, no...it's better now that I'm here with you guys. I like working with you. I just had a bad day before I got here."

Mischa: "Why? Did you poop in your pants?"

Sunday Funnies

Source

The lass with the sass

Yesterday, Coach Stella had the level 3s on Tumble Trak; and she did a round-off backhandspring. Mischa asked her to do it again. Coach Stella told her that was the only one she was doing. So the 8 year old lass with the sass tells her: "C'mon Coach Stella, don't you want to relive your childhood dream?"

How do you coach your gymnast at home?

Spoiler alert:  You don't:

Your gymnast does gymnastics at home. All the time. In every room. And you’ve watched enough gymnastics to know that certain things she’s doing are incorrect. So how do you make these corrections at home? You don’t. Let me repeat that. Do. Not. Coach. Your. Child. At. Home. Nothing will make your child’s coach cringe internally more than hearing that you worked on x, y, or z at home. You are not her coach. Don’t do it. Don’t even tell her to point her toes.

The bottom line is that gymnastics is your daughter’s (or son’s) sport. She puts in the work at practice, she feels the pressure at every competition, and all those little mistakes you see that you’re sure you could fix if they’re so obvious even you see them? Yeah, her coach is trying to fix them. I promise. Being a gym mom or dad does not qualify you as a coach at home.

I would know because my own parents were, in fact, elite gymnastics coaches at the same time I was making my way through the optionals program at our gym. In fact, if you followed gymnastics in the 90s, you’ve probably heard of my parents, Tom and Lori Forster.

Read Asha Forster Grebenik's blogpost.

Hat tip:  "Dunno"

TBT Compulsory Bars

Team Future Camp in Australia

One size does not fit all

Good piece at the Hybrid Perspective:

If we give 20 girls the same assignment for strength, we are assuming that they are all at the same level of strength/capability/technical level, etc. The reality of the situation is that that this is rarely the case across all your strength and conditioning exercises. You create a situation where the more developed or stronger athlete’s won’t get any benefit, and at the same time we may be promoting compensation/lack of benefit for under developed athletes. I feel we need to use regressions or progressions in order to get people in their “Goldilocks” window for strength and conditioning.  If we are just blanketing an general strength program of 3 sets of 10 handstand push ups or 40 leg lifts on a huge group with differences between them, I think it’s a recipe for disaster both in terms of safety and missing out on athletic performance development.

~~~

I’m not sure why so many gymnastics programs still demand uniformity with their strength where everyone does the same exercise despite the large gaps in ability. The one argument I can see for this uniform type is to monitor the gymnasts and keep an eye on quality.

Read the whole article.

Our team is relatively small at the gym I'm at.  So it's been easy for me to individualize a skills & conditioning program for my level 3s, who I am primarily with on most rotations.  I have 7 girls.  An example of how I've tried catering toward individual needs is:  A couple of them struggle at making 2-3 chin-ups without breaking form; one is at 11-in-a-row.  The rest are somewhere around 5-6.  Once they get to 10 with good form, I figure they have enough general strength and presence of mind on form that I start having them do it in a tuck with a foam block in the lap.  The last rep does not count if they drop it on the eccentric phase.  They have goals to increase their rep max and/or difficulty level each week; or improvement on quality.  I figure that when it comes to chin-ups and leg-ups, 20 is about the maximum they need to do.  Beyond that, I just don't think it's all that important.  I think time is better spent in development on other areas, and I will be happy with them maintaining quality at peak 20 reps.

Sometimes I do have a general "everyone does this" routine, such as an ab circuit.  Here, I don't give them a set number but time each exercise for 20 seconds with a 5 second break in-between.  If a kid cannot maintain shape on a hollow body rock, she modifies it so it's manageable for that 20 seconds, with correct shaping. 

Geddert on form and execution/quality over quantity:

Sunday Funnies

Teaching Quality Glides

Jason Mortimer's latest video reminded me that I had filmed a few of the level 3's doing correct-incorrect glide shapes, recently:

Also like doing hanging hollow holds and swinging hollow holds.

The crunch hollow holds at 37 seconds in Jason's video is the exact way my primary teacher used to have us do them for warm-up- palms resting face up on the knees.  Periodically through the 2 minutes, he'd demand us to crunch up another inch higher.  Having hands face up on the thighs/knees helped us have a visual of how high we were crunching and maintaining position.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Source

I posted the following last Thanksgiving.

Here is another telling of the "turkey person" story:

Bill Courtney has a book out, "Against the Grain". 

Sunday Funnies

Source

Measuring Dorsi-flexion

Trust the Process

So much work to do!  About 8 weeks left before their first meet.  They are making progress...

That's not my name

Coach David has been the primary coach for the level 4s since May or June.  He's with them for most rotations.  These days I get called "Coach David" by many of the girls before they catch themselves.  Last week, I also got called "Coach Stella".  And also last week, one of the level 3s accidentally called me "Mommy". 

Sunday Funnies

Lvl 4 vault rotation HS idle station

At GW, the boys pommel horse area is right by the end of the vault runway.  So I sometimes take advantage of the equipment for side stations.

Finding straight:

Can never get in enough handstand practice.

TGIF Conditioning Fun with the 3s

Building Momentum

by Nido R. Qubein

The law of inertia holds that a body at rest tends to remain at rest, and a body in motion tends to remain in motion, at the same speed and in the same direction, unless acted upon by an outside force.

With one major difference, that law applies very well to the pattern of our lives. 

People who are successful tend to remain successful. People who are happy tend to remain happy. People who are respected tend to remain respected. People who reach their goals tend to go on reaching their goals.
 
So what’s the major difference?

In physics, inertia is controlled by outside forces; but the real changes in the directions of our lives come from inside us. 

As William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that a person can alter his life by altering his attitude of mind.”

Hat tip:  John Geddert

Happy Veterans Day!

Source

Your wish is granted

If you haven't seen it yet, first, go watch the Jubilee Project video and look for my gymnast, Scarlet.

That video was posted on Oct 29, 2014. When I linked to it here on Nov 4th, it had almost a million views. It is now up to over 4 million!

Scarlet: "If I could have teleportation in my body."

Today, I granted Scarlet her wish:

I want to be like her when I grow up

My small-talk conversation with an 8 yr old level 3 gymnast before practice today:

Me: "Zoe, what are you going to be when you grow up?"

Zoe: "I don't know. What are you going to be?"

Building up a consistent, powerful run

At my old gym, counting steps was so ingrained in them, that they seemed to have to count their steps in EVERYTHING.  It can be a helpful tool, however, in building a consistent run and hurdle that does not slow down or balk.  Although I had never been taught to count steps myself, I remember being able to always build up my run to a crescendo and adjust my strides accordingly as I neared the springboard without slowing down (and on rare occasions, hurdle off of my bad leg if need be from being way off).  I heard that young kids, however, have not fully developed their depth perception (I'd love to know if anyone can verify this).

As coach "dunno" writes:

the basics. start the run with the same leg that they hurdle off of. and keep the number to 9/11/13 etc; running steps. yes, there are exceptions as i'm sure someone will point out. but these are the basics and they work consistently across the board with most kids and both boys and girls.

Teaching from odd number stepping to a hurdle makes sense when considering future vaults down the road- a hurdle will eventually lead into a yurchenko (step with the bad leg and skip up with the good).  So odd number of steps as opposed to even number (unless your intention really is to train your gymnasts to hurdle off of their dominant leg as the last step before the hurdle). 

Due to compulsory State Championships this weekend, we canceled team practices yesterday.  I offered a makeup practice today and one level 3 and two mini-shots came in.  Here's something I experimented with:

This idea came to me while driving to work; so I tested it out at the gym today.

My spacing was a bit off on the number placements; but it definitely helped encourage a longer stride (the lvl 3 gymnast shown is in between deer runs and sprinting) and getting consistent number of steps down (had the girls go up to 9 running steps, stepping first with the "bad" leg- i.e., the non-dominant leg that is used to push from one a hurdle into round off or front handspring).

The original idea was to take a permanent marker to some foam blocks (but I didn't think the gym would fully appreciate that) and set them up as markers; but then I remembered that we had these placement mats for preschool.

Something else I used to do (and should still do) at my old gym with the optionals was to have them front flip over the table.  Wade encouraged me to do this as opposed to having the girls do "run bys".  Why?  Because the tendency of a lot of kids is to slow down as they get closer to the hurdle line and veer off the runway.  With the front tuck (or layout) to avoid hitting the table, the vaulter maintains the acceleration all the way to the hurdle and punch.  No need to hurdle off course into the "gutter".  With a powerful punch, the gymnast should be able to clear the table at her table-height setting.

 

Sunday Funnies

Post by Makita Tomomasa.

Hat tip:  Ganba Gymnastics

Team Work Makes the Dream Work- Region 5 Training Camps

Best Gymnastics Halloween Costume

Via Gymnasticscoaching.com:

It reminded me of this, linked in a previous post:

Compulsory beam handstand circuit

10-29-2014

I've used similar handstand circuits like the one below:

TBTh: Back Extension Drlll

Remi was always naturally good at this drill- no wiggle-movement at all in her chest and lower back.  I had always wanted to film a clip of her when she could bring it closer to handstand and candle roll back; but I never got around to it. 

What would you change about your body?

This was linked by Gym Gab Blog:

One of my adorable level 3 gymnasts (who misses a LOT of practice because of acting auditions and gigs) appears in this.  No one does her better than she does her; and is perfect the way she is (although I will keep stretching those tight shoulders for her...).

Almost a million views after only a few days!

Video description:

These days it is so easy to feel insecure about our appearance. Whether it is because of the mean comment that comes our way or the photoshopped image we see in magazines, it can be so easy to feel self conscious about our body. When was the last time you felt comfortable in your own skin? We are so excited to share with you our newest 50 people 1 question short - Comfortable. We hope that this video will inspire you to be more comfortable and confident in yourself. Beauty is not about what you don't have, but about being comfortable in your own skin. Thank you to iNatureSkinCare (http://www.inatureskincare.com) for sponsoring this video!

Saving Handstands Drill

For more thoughts on saving handstands....

The Power of Belief and Being Part of a Team

Via Proactive Coaching:

A man became lost while driving through the country. As he tried to read a map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. Seeing a farmhouse just down the road, the man walked over to ask for help.

“Clyde can get you out of the ditch,” the farmer said, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the haggard mule, and then looked back at the farmer, who just stood there nodding. “Yep, old Clyde can do the job.”

The man figured he had nothing to lose, so the two men and Clyde made their way back to the ditch.
After the farmer hitched the old mule to the car, he snapped the reins and shouted, “Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Clyde!” With very little effort, the lone mule pulled the car from the ditch.
The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all those other names before you called Clyde?”

The farmer smiled and said, “Old Clyde is almost completely blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he always gives his best.”

Dave Ross on Different Coaching Philosophies

My teacher Mark Mikita used to tell us that he should be able to come to us and relearn the art through the filter of our own unique perspectives and colored with our own research and experiences. 

A good teacher is just a finger pointing to the moon...

Hat tip:  Rick McCharles

Sunday Funnies

International Gymnast Feb 1992

Gymnastie's 10 phrases that mean something different to gymnasts

This is a petty good list. Can you think of others?

The Haunted Gym on Nordhoff St.

Happy Halloween!

Offered them toothbrushes for their Halloween treat; but they didn't go for that. So gave them origami flapping bats instead.

Workout Wednesday with Colorado Aerials

Stop thinking of the smartphone as a phone with the traditional stigma attached

Technology has really changed how we communicate and interact today.  From social media (Facebook, instagram, YouTube, etc.) to Ipads & smartphones.  It's a different world today than it was even 10 years ago.

Remember a time when you could sit in a restaurant and not be bothered by cell phone ringtones and cell phone conversations?  That there was a designated area, right by the restrooms, where you could make a call you deemed important enough to get up from the dinner table and go pay for?

 I Posted before on cell phone use in the gym.  That was a lighthearted look at how NOT to use cell phones in the gym. 

What I'd like to do in this post is to advocate the reasons why cell phones are a useful tool in the gym.

I don't know what the cellphone policy is like in other gyms.  However, the one I'm at and the one I was at before do not approve of cell phones.  More specifically, they do not allow for taking calls, answering text messages, sending calls, or checking emails.  That is reasonable.  Not only is it a safety issue for a distracted coach, but it also looks very unprofessional and can turn away clients. 

Speaking for myself, and possibly other coaches, my smartphone is used for so many things other than as a phone.   I believe that, depending on how the technology is being implemented, that the perception of smartphones as primarily phones is an archaic concept. 

As a team coach, I do "get away" with having my smartphone out on the floor.  I've never taken a phone call; nor do I have the ringtone on to alert me to calls.  There are only rare instances where I've texted:

1. Acknowledging a text  message from a team parent letting me know that her athlete was running late to the gym.
2. Acknowledge a text message from a fellow coach that he was running late
3. Answering a message sent from the front office staff, that required a timely response.
4. Sending a message to the front office staff.

  At my previous gym, they used to have walkie talkies for birthday parties so that the staffers could communicate from across the gym.  Today's smartphones are superior to achieving the same purpose.  There are times when something needs to be addressed right away; and rather than sending an athlete or another coach to fetch the front office worker, it's easier just to send a text. 

In the event of an emergency, it's quicker to reach into your pocket and dial 911 yourself than it is to run across the gym and pick up the landline; or shout to the front office.

 Better communication makes for greater efficiency.

 When I have my cellphone in my hand, I understand that some parents may think I am checking personal mail.  I am not.  I know that from a business standpoint, it may look bad; however, I think it's a matter of educating the client base; and people adapting their perception to how technology is actually being used today. 

My team parents know what I am doing:  Checking lesson plan notes; a conditioning list; using the stopwatch that's built into the phone.  Why use a traditional stopwatch when I already have one on me?  Why burden myself with a notebook and pen?  Why carry around an expensive camera that gymnasts might get chalk all over when I can just use a cameraphone?  The quality is really good today, with many even taking slow motion videos for technique analysis. 

Sometimes I might run a Google search on something I need to look up, related to the gymnastics practice at hand.  On occasion, there might be a YouTube video clip that I might want to show my gymnasts so they can see an example of something I am trying to verbalize. 

The smartphone is a tool, like any other, that can be used or abused.  Stop thinking of them as a traditional phone.  Rather than banning them from the gym coach's arsenal of training tools, take advantage of the virtues of today's technology.  Provide common sense guidelines for how the privilege can be made appropriate and inappropriate. 

With recreational coaches, I don't think there is a "need" for smartphones to be out on the floor; however, I think it is definitely a useful coaching tool when utilized properly.

Forearm Forklifts

These are forearm forklifts I purchased from Home Depot after watching Mel Eades of Splitz Gymnastics Academy put them to good effect.

8-21-2014

Alternately....

Standing Right-Side Up

October 3, 2014

Swing Big! has a tip this morning on handstand training, while right-side up.


Here are some alignment spot-checking I did with our new level 3s earlier this month:

Sunday Funnies

Rainbow Loom II

4-14-2014

In the video description:

This GYMNAST - GABBY DOUGLAS uses
30 BLACK Rubber LOOM Bands
46 BROWN Rubber LOOM Bands
26 RED Rubber LOOM Bands
11 BLUE Rubber LOOM Bands
14 WHITE Rubber LOOM Bands
Or you can you any colors of your choice.

Previous post here.

Squirrel!

See Saw Teeter Totters

Xpodz Kickstarter Campaign

Some long-time readers of Gymnast Crossing may remember videos from Santa Monica Gymnastics Center of a old school gymnast named Rodger who the club owner, Al Luber, was friends with.  Both former UCLA gymnasts themselves, Al let Rodger come in to workout and relieve stress.  His daughters also took gymnastics, with the eldest on team.

Rodger Thomason is also a brilliant product design engineer. If any of you remember Mitch Gaylord's fitness product- I think it was called the Gaylord III that, if memory serves, was like one of those strength towers with a set of rings on it- Rodger was the guy who designed the prototype.

He was also the go-to-guy who made the prototype for the Perfect Push-up. He suggested ways to improve the design; but the clients were not interested. So Rodger came up with his own invention. Ergonomically easy on the wrists, Rodger's product is accessible to a wide range of people who need to stay in shape- from wounded vets, the elderly, those in physical rehab, to the hardcore athletes and fitness buffs. Check it out and support the Kickstarter campaign by making a contribution and/or by spreading the word:

Rodger also designed the prototype for the Strongboard Balance, invented by his friend, Mike Curry.

Sunday Funnies

Tom and Jerry

Video description:

Uploaded on Mar 29, 2010

NOT the cat and mouse. These are two acrobats named Tom and Jerry. Who are Tom and Jerry? Where did they come from? Where did they go? I'd like to know. If you can help me, please contact me through YouTube or my website at www.polarblairsden.com.
This excellent clip comes from their appearance on the public domain episode of "The Colgate Comedy Hour", aired on December 14, 1952. It was the thirteenth episode of the third season, and was hosted by Abbott & Costello.
I think these guys are incredible athletes. You will, too!

Hat tip:  GymnasticsCoaching.com

Sunday Funnies

Marc Jacobs

Leg Cut/Weight Transfer Drills

A couple of videos I apparently didn't create a blogpost for- from early August; but which did see the light of day from Swing Big!

Another one it doesn't look like I got around to uploading:

Related posts:
Level 3 weight transfer exercise
Hey look...ONE HAND!

Wade into this?

I just happened across this discussion of the BHS clinic Wade gave a few years ago at BGS.  My videos.

It's an old thread.  Not sure whether I should bother to take the time to wade into it.

Exploring Body Line

A tough shoulder exercise is to have gymnasts stand (or sit) up against a wall and touch the back of their hands against it while maintaining straight elbows, pushed out tall, and lower back pressed into the wall.


 Here are some photos of my level 3s and where their body lines are currently at:

The World's Toughest Sport

USA GymClub:

The World's Toughest Sport By Michael S. Yessis - Men's Fitness
[3(f+s) + 2b] (v+c+i) * � 3p = TOTAL SCORE Deciding which sport is the world's toughest is difficult. It requires knowledge and research. Time and patience. Science and the kind of math skills rarely seen outside a ninth-grade algebra class. Well, we have all of that, and we did our homework. We logged hours playing in the field. We interviewed elite athletes from former Soviet-bloc nations. We spent countless hours watching ESPN2. Eventually, we developed an exclusive formula - the formula - to determine the planet's toughest sport.
Now, on to the chalkboard. First, we ranked 40 sports in seven categories on a scale of one to 10 (10 is the highest possible score, with the "contact" category ranked from one to five). The categories are:

FITNESS (f). - The level of physical fitness you must have to participate.
SKILLS (s). - The complexity of the athletic skills necessary to compete.
BRAINS (b). - The mental toughness and intelligence needed, as well as the complexity of the sport.
PAIN (p). - Injury rate, plus or minus the potential for death.
CONTACT (c). - The chances of getting smacked by other participants (takes into account padding worn, too).
VENUE (v). - Where you play it. Climbing up a sheer rock face is tougher than playing table tennis in a rec room.
INTANGIBLES (i). - The little things. For instance, bull riders have no idea what the bull's temperament is that day. Or, the measure of how scared your significant other gets when you say you're going to play a particular sport.

Finally, we plugged the numbers into our special formula (see above), which gives each category its own level of importance. From there, we dusted off our slide rule. In a matter of hours, the results were in. Here they are:
1. GYMNASTICS (567.6 OUT OF 1,095.4)
Why? Male gymnasts may wear tights, but they score perfect 10's for fitness and athletic skills, and near-perfect marks for injury potential, mental toughness and difficult conditions. Let's see you spin in circles on the high bar, release, do a few flips and grab the bar again. Extra toughness points were awarded for the guy who survived a full-speed, chest-first plunge into the horse and for the Japanese Olympic medalist who dismounted from the rings with a broken leg.

Hat tip:  Turn Gymnastics Apparel

Team Developmental Chin-ups

One of my Tiny Shots.  From a dead hang, she can do 10 chin ups (I've always called overgrip "chin-ups" and undergrip "pull ups") with form.

To avoid the temptation of gymnasts wanting to rest their chins over the bar, my colleague would have them touch their nose to the bar instead.  The 2nd half of the video shows what this evolved into. 

I think this strengthens the muscles at different RoM positions.

Sunday Funnies

Marc Jacobs

5 Steps to Keeping Your Gymnast Safe and Injury Free

Super Six

Quick and cute little video of my former Hot Shots:

It took less than half an hour to edit, using random footage off of my iPhone and one of the movie trailers in the free iMovie app.

Today's technology.....

Sunday Funnies

Hurdle Drills

Hand Placement Drill for Round-offs

 Different coaches have different ideas about round-off hand placement.

As far as I know, standard/orthodox is the upside down "T".

Illustration source

Some coaches teach both hands turned inward.

On a straight line.

Or hands straddling the line:

Power tumblers might "hop 1/2-turn":

 The common "no-no" is hands turned out.


I saw this drill the other day:

Post by GymDrills.NET.

Description:

This exercise teaches gymnasts the correct hand placement during round off and encourages to perform the movement in a straight line. This drill has a positive influence on apparatus such as Floor Exercise and Balance Beam.

Since the single floor rail only allows the fingers to face sideways, I decided to use piroullettes to play around with this drill:

What I like about the floor bar(s) over symbols on the ground or drawing an upside down "T" and other markers, is that the gymnast has to turn the hands to face the desired direction in order to grab the push-up blocks (piroullettes).

Cultivating the Growth Mindset from Age 1

Via Gym Gab Blog:

The way I praised her effort took a little effort on my part. If I hadn't known better, I might have just said, "Clever girl!" (Or even "Here, let me help you with that.") What's so bad about that? Read on.
Stanford researcher Carol Dweck has been studying motivation and perseverance since the 1960s. And she found that children fall into one of two categories:

• Those with a fixed mindset, who believe their successes are a result of their innate talent or smarts
• Those with a growth mindset, who believe their successes are a result of their hard work

Fixed mindset: 'If you have to work hard, you don't have ability.'
Kids with a fixed mindset believe that you are stuck with however much intelligence you're born with. They would agree with this statement: "If you have to work hard, you don't have ability. If you have ability, things come naturally to you." When they fail, these kids feel trapped. They start thinking they must not be as talented or smart as everyone's been telling them. They avoid challenges, fearful that they won't look smart.
Growth mindset: 'The more you challenge yourself, the smarter you become'

Kids with a growth mindset believe that intelligence can be cultivated: the more learning you do, the smarter you become. These kids understand that even geniuses must work hard. When they suffer a setback, they believe they can improve by putting in more time and effort. They value learning over looking smart. They persevere through difficult tasks.
What creates these beliefs in our kids? The type of praise we give them -- even starting at age 1.

Read more on the research.

The Hybrid Wrist Guards

I was just thinking the same thing yesterday about wrist supports, as comparable to grips on bars. 

A number of good coaches seem to frown upon the (over)use of wrist guards, due to the belief that the wrists run the risk of becoming over-reliant upon them; and not be given enough adequate stress to strengthen and adapt to the forces placed upon them.

However, I've started coming around to the belief that some things in gymnastics- like yurchenko vaults, pommel horse, and excessive tumbling- places so much "unnaturally" excessive force (vaulting) or overusage (i.e., 100 circles in a row on horse) upon the wrists, that it's just inviting injury.

Like Retrosi and Geddert, why not protect the wrists before they become injured?  Not after.  So what if the gymnast is dependent upon wrist supports the rest of their competitive career?  Where else in life are they going to subject their wrists to the amount of force that they do during a yurchenko?  One bad angle, and those wrists are placed in great hyper-extension with a tremendous amount of force generated behind them.

Like vault landings on hard surfaces, coaches might take into consideration on limiting the amount of repetition.  Like saving wear and tear on the knees and ankles, we should be preserving our wrists as much as possible, for longevity in workouts.  Landings are done on softer surfaces to increase amount of repetition; why not the same for donning on wrist supports, after a certain number of reps?

Hybrid Perspective:

Wrist pain is one of the most common issues gymnasts and coaches deal with within the sport. The majority of the wrist problems that athletes complain about are wrist extension based (back of the hand moving upward), and are usually localized to the dorsal aspect (back of the palm/wrist) of the wrist joint. For this week, I wanted to offer some insight into the topic and offer advice on how to manage/prevent wrist pain with yourself or your athletes. 

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This is an important topic to understand because of its high frequency in gymnastics, and potential for progressive injury when not addressed properly. Due to a variety of unique aspects to the sport (which I will go into below) and the structure of the wrist joint, many athletes develop nagging pains in their wrist. The pain is most commonly experienced during weight-bearing skills like handstands, tumbling, vaulting, and many other skills. There is some biomechanical research models to suggest that forces up to 2.5x an athletes body weight can be loaded through the wrist during some gymanstics skills, and up to 5x during heavy tumbling/vaulting. This number most likely dramatically increases when shallow tumbling angles or uneven weight bearing occurs on some skills. Coaches and athletes must be aware of the fact that if left unaddressed, overuse may progress to a variety of problems like tendonitis, bone bruising, ligamentous damage, possible growth plate irritation, scar tissue build up, and possible stress fractures. A very large number of athletes simply “push through the pain” not knowing that they may be causing some big problems down the road. I will explain some basic anatomy concepts for understanding, outline some reasons why a gymnast may develop wrist pain, and offer some techniques athletes can utilize to possibly manage/combat their problems.

Read the rest.

One of my concerns as a coach is in avoiding doing things that can damage the growth plates of young athletes.

I knew I had written a bit of my thoughts on this topic before and found the following unpublished post (I thought I had published, but it remained in draft form).

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*Following drafted 6/9/2014, mistakenly unpublished*

Tiger Paws seem to be the most popular amongst gymnasts.  Less well-known and advertised seem to be the Ezy ProBrace.  Wade mentioned he favors those over Tiger Paws (Tiger paws prevent the wrists to go into hyperextension by acting as brace; the Ezy ProBrace elevates the palm but still allows freedom for hyperextension, to occur, and therefore the wrists still have an opportunity to strengthen by dealing with the stresses).

Back in the late 80s former Bruin gymnast and medical student Luc Teurlings brought in the prototypes for the Ezy ProBrace, which he designed.  Everyone on the team was given a pair to test out and offer feedback.  After all these years, I still have mine.

On the left:  Ezy ProBrace prototype.  Right:  My favorite wrist support acquired at USGTC in Irvine

A number of coaches discourage their gymnasts from using Tiger Paws, for fear of developing over-reliance and "brittle" wrists.

Coaches like John Geddert suggest wearing wrist supports during Yurchenko training as a prevention safeguard before wrists potentially incur injury.

I have been leaning toward not being overly concerned about gymnast reliance on wrist supports.  The risk of developing overuse injury in the sport of artistic gymnastics seems to be pretty high. 

Also blogging:

GymnasticsCoaching.com

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As the Gym Turns Premiere Episode

Long 75 second intro bumper, but interesting "show"- like something you'd see on MTV (or I guess YouTube), only aimed at a gymnastics target audience:

Show description:

"As the Gym Turns" hosted by Aaron Gallegos is an internet show all about GYMNASTICS! This episode features Donnell Whittenburg and Simone Biles!

¡puɐʇspuɐɥ ʎddɐɥ ɐ ǝʌɐɥ

Holiday Doodles:

September 20, 2014: It’s a one-two punch for punch today, since it’s both National Punch Day and National Rum Punch Day. I guess they’re covering all of the bases for all of the ages. I’m not a fan of punch from a punchbowl, primarily because of the chance of contamination / double-dipping / backwash. It’s also why I don’t ever touch a chocolate fountain. Today is also National Gymnastics Day, so get out there and do some leaping and tumbling! (But maybe not after having a few glasses of rum punch.)

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It seems the other thing wrong with this is the cartoonist's use of "headstand" when "handstand" would have been more apropo.

Army Cadet vs. Young Gymnast

Video description:

We think of our armed forces as the fittest men and women in the world but they can still be surprised by an undiscovered talent! At a fundraiser for the Active Heroes Foundation in North Carolina on September 6, young cadets went up against onlookers in fitness challenges. Kimberly Munley, the US army sergeant who confronted the Fort Hood gunman in November 2009, met a girl who she called her new hero. This little girl was more than a match for one of the cadets at push ups, and she received plenty of cheers for her effort.

According to mom on FB:

This is my 10 year old daughter Kaylyn. Thank you all for your kind remakes. She trains at Port City Gymnastics and is testing to be on the US Jr. Olympic Nation Team in October. She is truly amazing on the inside and out!

Remembering...

It has been said, "time heals all wounds." I do not agree.
The wounds remain. In time,
the mind, (protecting its sanity), covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But, it is never gone.
-Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy

Ron, Dan,.......David.

“Just five more minutes, Daddy…”
-David

Back Pain Presentation

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Hurdles

Conditioning the Cartwheel

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Marc Jacobs