The Beaming Gymnast Sanctuary: March 2015

Thursday, March 26, 2015

People Try Gymnastics for the First Time

Go Broadway!

The Real You

This is a sorta throwback Thursday, as most of the footage gathered is a year old. I first started this project a year ago, when this group was training as new level 4s; then shelved it. I finally completed it recently, feeling the mood hit me.

Originally, I was looking for an inspirational motivation speech; but the ones I kept finding were very sport-specific- boxing and basketball, for instance.

I settled on this Alan Watts philosophizing just because it sorta sounded cool and profound....even if I don't know fully what the heck he's going on about.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

The Rice Bucket Challenge

The gym had finally gotten my request for a rice bucket, on my birthday, last month. We only have it for team use, so as to minimize any likelihood of rice spillage. It's a minute for each grain of rice found on the floor, that the last person who used the bucket has to go around and pick up trash in the gym. So whoever is having rice time needs to be responsible for the previous person as well as for himself, by making sure any grain outside of the bucket goes back in, after he's done.

The first day, the young ones were obsessed with knowing all about it. I told them to stay away, like it was Pandora's box. After a few days, I still hadn't covered the rice bucket with the lvl 3s. So come Monday after we got the bucket, throughout workout, every single one of the 3s at some point was gripping her wrist asking to do the bucket. This is a group of girls who have never complained of any wrist pain, of course!

Anyway, I finally did go over it with them, and how to be responsible for the rice. Since then, the novelty's worn off a bit, of course. But the young ones are my eyes. They've been policing and ratting out anyone who spills rice. Especially when it's the boys. Such tattle tales!

List of exercises on the bucket:

1. 10 rice grabs (warm-up): Grab and release rice on top
2. Grab & squeeze (20 sec): Fingers wide, jam hands deep into bucket
3. Flexion & extension (20 sec): Make fists, front to back wrist flexion & extension
4. Radioulnar deviation (20 sec): Make fists, movement in radial & ulnar deviation
5. ABCs (20-30 sec): Fingers together in fist or straight, trace abcs (Variety: capital, lower case, cursive); or write poem or paragraph.
6. Circle in (20 sec): Make fists, circle
7. Circle out (20 sec): Make fists and circle
8. Grab & rotate (20 sec): Make fists grabbing and releasing rice & supinate (rotate outward)
9. Grab & rotate (20 sec): Make fists grabbing & releasing rice while pronating (rotate inward)
10. Rice grabs (20 sec): Grab & release surface of the rice
11. Finger extensions (20 sec): Pinch fingers together then extend out wide
12. Straight finger pinch (20 sec): Keep fingers straight, open and pinch together on surface
13. Grab & squeeze (10 x 2 sec): grab rice in hand above bucket and squeeze tightly then release
14. Fast grabs (20 sec): On surface, grab rice and release as quickly as you can, like a sprint
15. Ruler resistance (20 sec): Grab ruler in bucket, rotate wrists

I've been doing this list, myself; and by the 7th exercise in succession, my forearms feel ballooned out like I just ate a can of spinach (my dad apparently, when he was a little boy, thought spinach gave you Popeye forearms).

I got at least half of the exercises from this video: