Tom Forster's Floor Bar with Octagonal Ends

Tom Forster's gym, Aerials Gymnastics in Colorado Springs, has these floor bars that Tom made, with octagonal wheels on the ends- 4 sides longer than the other 4.

A common drill for swinging is to have gymnasts practice backward roll to push-up to reinforce the candlestick shape and scooping action that becomes critical for good barwork. With Tom's floor bar, the gymnast can actually grab a real bar to simulate a baby giant or extend the shoulders open and bring it up to a handstand to simulate the giant swing. The octagonal ends forces the gymnast to work on shifting the wrists in order to make it over.

Aerials Gymnastics in Colorado Springs

I took a vacation to get away from gymnastics and give my elbow a rest from spotting...and so what do I do? While visiting my parents in Colorado Springs, I stopped in to check out Tom Forster's Aerials Gymnastics (North Gym). Since I heard he doesn't coach on a regular basis anymore, and has more than one facility, I wasn't sure I'd catch him in the gym. I was told he'd probably be in later in the week, so I made two visits to the facility.



What a gymnast's paradise! Great training equpment, clean and spacious facility. The staff are professional, friendly, and courteous.


Many gyms delegate coaching positions and responsibilities in such a way that instructors with little personal gymnastics experience and technical expertise themselves end up teaching rec and preschool and not team. Somewhat understandable, if there's a lack of technical knowledge. But really, you want your best, most knowledgeable coaches nurturing the kids (especially future team girls) from day one. That's why Tom has gone the extra mile to insure that his whole coaching staff are his "top, best, most knowledgeable" instructors. He does this by training them so that they have at least the same technical and coaching expertise that he has. So the team coaches are also out there teaching preschool, and are as enthused about it as they are with teaching levels 4-10. (Tom said what he enjoys teaching the most right now, is rec). Here he is teaching a back flip to a raw beginner:




Tom's interested in seeing or putting more out there for rec gymnastics. He says there's now a lot of training drills available on dvd and the internet for team, but would like to see more for rec coaches.

Aerials Gymnastics has such a fun, positive atmosphere. I get the sense that not only do the produce great gymnastics and great athletes, but also cultivate and nurture great human beings.

Aerials has lots and lots of bar stations. As one of the women's national USAG bar coaches, bars is Tom's "thing". Here, Tom talks about where the idea for a channel/trench bar came from (and as a consequence, the sliding Forster Spotting Platforms, now sold by Gibson).




Here's a nice video Tom put up, offering some tips on the straddle tap for taller gymnasts in the giant swing:

Hope to see more such videos put up by Tom, someday (he showed me some other great drills and video clips on his laptop). I have his two Gym Smarts videos, and they are excellent!


Gymnastike was there a year ago for Workout Wednesday with the Colorado Aerials Elite:



Thanks, Tom, for your time and generosity in showing and sharing!

Short Gymnasts Got, No Reason...

Good luck, Doug, Leah, and Kai!

After some 10 yrs working at BGS, Leah is leaving the gym. She and Doug have decided to raise Kai back in Canada.

Leah's going away party was yesterday. They'll be missed, but Leah willl still be coming back out here to choreograph routines.

So Rachel thinks she can dance?

Great job, Rachel!

The Gymnastics Minute Parody

A parody of a popular, weekly upload of gymnastics coaching/training tips on YouTube, produced by Gym Smarts.


Lauren's birthday is today, and for some reason, this video idea popped into my head. I'm sure others could do better, with scripted scenes and pseudo-training ideas/parodies.

Footage here is drawn from 2004 and 2005.

Happy birthday, Lauren! And remember Thea's advice in the video: Don't worry, "the pain will go away when it stops hurting."

Welcome Gymnastics Coaching.com readers!