She has the Strength of 12 Ordinary Mortal Men

Happy 12^th Birthday, Thea! A day late for you; a day early to say it to Robyn.

I didn't really have a video planned at all, but decided today, to scrap one together.

Thea's family made the decision for a change in gym environments, this summer. Overall, she's at peace with the difficult decision of leaving her coach(s) and teammates for the sake of her own growth, opening a new chapter in her gymnastics journey.



I decided to narrow the focus of this video on body-shaping for bars; and also the special role Al has played in training her.

He invested time in "further down the road" skills, planting seeds of L-grip giants, Germans, pirouettes, front giants, and stalders, among others. She's already done inverted giants in the strap bar as far back as 2 years ago, just from starting out with swings, back and forth.

Although I am no longer her coach, I've been sneaking in extra time with her, after practice, to maintain some of the drills she's been doing with Al, including lots of one-arm balances for bar pirouettes, including pirouettes and blind changes and different grip changes.

I'm also trying to help her maintain and improve her strength at doing presses- which seems on the decline (strength for handstand presses aren't stressed over at Broadway).

Knobby knees, bent arms, and posture continue to pose a challenge to her.

Right now, Thea is learning new things and is happy.