Partner Front Hip Circle Challenge

Olympia Gymnastics did it better! Been wanting to try this out for the longest time and we finally got around to it last Friday.

 This was my challenge to the girls after lunch break, to buddy up and see which pair could get it first. They were totally into it and it became a good team/partner building activity. It only works with cooperation and both partners staying tight and straight enough. Given more time, I think more could have gotten it; but we we had to get back to work and REAL practice!

Relay Marathon Warm-up

Hungry Gymnasts

And in the gym:

Saturday Morning Leg Conditioning

Encouraging the Tap

Tic Tac Toe Conditioning Relay Sprints

This still remains one of our current fun conditioning games:






Since we don't give them endless blocks to fill up the hoops, it creates a bit of a different strategy after you've made 3 placements than your traditional tic tac toe. Makes them do more running! :-)

Tic Tac April Fools

Tic Tac Toe Relay

Credit Thomas Bauer (who credits Idea by Patrekur Johannesson, Coach of the Austrian Men's Handball National Team)

Hollow Push-up Beam Crawls while Piggybacking Foam Block

Since we did not have all the beams, I thought I'd kill some time on the two high beams we did have with a little conditioning and concentration game. The Hot Shots loved it so much, we spent 2/3rds of our beam time on it. I figured they were getting stronger working their core and support strength. Since they were enthused about it, why not?

At first, they had trouble; then they started figuring out a certain "cheat"- foam block on the upperback and behind the head. I might have to create a rule on no resting the foam behind the neck; but if it helped them keep their round turtle back, I couldn't really complain.

Fun Friday: 3-Person Team Cheesy Mat Race

Sound Buttons for Conditioning, Contests, Games

I wanted to find recordable sound buttons, but from what I had read, the volume on the speakers weren't that great.  Similarly, the Staples Easy Button also was low volume and would be all but inaudible in a noisy gym.

I acquired these buttons at Lakeshore Learning Center and they are pretty fun. Here are just a few uses I played around with.

You can definitely make it into a conditioning game. For example: Timed push-ups (say, 30 seconds).

- 1 point for touching the button at the bottom
- 1 point for touching the button at the top of the push-up
- Minus 2 points for any wriggling of the body

For the planching push-up challenge, award progressively higher points for each button, with the one furthest out (forcing a stronger lean) being valued with the most points.

"Coach is Coming!"

We had a makeup practice New Year's Eve (for those still in town over this holiday weekend).  When the 3s and 3/4s arrived, we ended preteam practice with a couple of games.

Most of the girls were new to this game (or at least this version of it):

 This is my version of "Ships & Sailors"/"Captain's Coming". I substituted and added in a number of commands that are specific to our sport. I wish I could have gotten through all the commands as example, but I was really rusty, as we don't get to play this that often and it's been a while.  I can't remember when I thought this up.


I must have hit the stop button by mistake on my camera at 6 minutes in; fortunately Lindsey's mom was filming from the peanut gallery. Poor level 3/4 Mischa was cracking me up at the end. I suppose this was like a 9 minute workout.

Another means of elimination-- Get super picky. So if "Coach is coming = standing at attention like a proper gymnast", eliminate 'em if their heels are apart, not standing with good posture, not looking straight ahead, etc.- if they so much as have an eyebrow out of place.





If it's "grandma in a rocking chair", announce that you're going to knock off the gymnast with the least correct form and shape.

Here's a list of commands I wrote out 2 years ago (needs updating):

Sendback Saturday!

One year ago to the day:

Regular Fall session starts up again on Monday.

Lateral Ladder walking in handstand

You Just Got Served!

Partner Relay Slider Race

Horizontal rope climb & slider relay

Partner Sprint Block Pushes with XPodz Sliders

Broke out our new XPodz sliders and had the girls test them out with partner block push sprints. Once they get the hang of these, we will turn them into a relay race competition.

Partner doing the pushing gets to exercise leg power. Partner being pushed has to keep core and body tension/shape to make it work.

For the XPodz sliders: http://xpodz.com/

More expensive than standard furniture movers but you get what you pay for and what we got is a quality product with a unique, patented surface bottom that I think glides better. The foam is also thicker.

Sharks & Minnows Game with Sliders

Capture the Strap Conditioning Tag Game

The girls love this.  You can come up with tons of variations and rules and create teams.  Now that it's summer, we're incorporating more conditioning games and team-building challenges.