Trust the Process

Eddie Umphrey also likes to use that phrase.  (He and Justin are buds).

Swing Blog has Justin Laury as guest blogger today.  Here's an excerpt:

1. TRUST THE PROCESS!
Like in life, gymnastics is a process. This is a lesson I learned during the latter part of my career, while training at Houston Gymnastics Academy, under the guidance and coaching of Kevin Mazeika. Everything we do has a process. It’s during the process that we are shaped and developed into the individual we are striving to become. I’m soliloquizing here, but often times as coaches and athletes we encounter unnecessary frustration and stress when we expect immediate results. Success takes time, often times years upon years! It’s a process!

2. 100% RESPONSIBILITY
Another lesson I learned, and now stress to our athletes, is that if you want to achieve something in life, the only person responsible for that is you. This was very foreign to me earlier in my career, but I later adopted this principle and now encourage and challenge our athletes to do the same. I think this is one of the most empowering philosophical ideologies because it reveals where the true power of success lies. When the athlete learns how to line up their thoughts, words, choices, and actions with what they truly want, coaching becomes more of directing and less of dictating.
3. NEVER GIVE UP…NEVER!

For young athletes this can be a hard lesson to learn because they are, by nature, accustomed to doing things that feel good. They often times haven’t yet developed the resiliency and toughness or even the understanding that doing things that are hard is a crucial part of the process. This however, is very important because it teaches commitment, integrity, and self value. It may be hard, it may not come easy, but I will not give up. It’s just where I am in the process. We like to encourage our kids to think this way! If it’s easy, it’s not worth it.

Read the rest.

Sunday Funnies

Marc Jacobs

Hollow-arch shape conditioning with resistance band

I saw this a while ago on a French tap swing/giants video; finally got around to trying it out when I saw the right kind of resistance band lying around in the gym.  This is the first time these two gymnasts have tried it out for me. 

It might make for a fun (until the novelty wears off) hollow-arch conditioning station if the girls understand the correct action and can safely get in and out of it on  their own.  Done right, I would think they should feel it in their arms, upper back muscles, and abs/core- especially if they can pause it in the back.  it might also help stretch the hip flexors and with leg tightening.

Here's where I got the idea, a minute twenty-one seconds in:

A lot of good content in there.  Also in some other videos on the channel.

Technique Tuesday: Vault Card Game

Arizona Sunrays coach and owner Dan Witenstein:

Club Champion Promo

Zak Johnson's Club Champion in Pasadena puts out some good video promos for their gym. Here's the latest:

Hot Shots Recruitment Video

Coach says, "Everytime a bell rings, a gymnast gets her tap swings."

Everytime a gymnast swings, an angel gets its wings....or is it "Coach says, 'Everytime a bell rings, a gymnast gets her tap swings.'"?

Allowed the Hot Shots to play around with tap swings. Coach David suggested we add a rope as a target visual aid; I thought we could spice it up by adding a bell.

I don't quite like the placement of the bell (since I don't want the girls to actually hit it with their toes); so I plan to buy a smaller bell- place it either somewhere else on the rope or try to get it to hang above the foam block.

I'm wondering if I hang the foam lower, if they can kick it hard enough into bells hanging higher?

It's not something to set up all the time, but for fun and for the specific focus of giving them incentive to swing higher in the front.  Obviously shapes, form, and technique need to be covered.  Right now, it's okay to allow them to play with discovering natural swing.  I believe tap swings should be introduced early on.  There's no reason why it shouldn't be. 

Sunday Funnies

How to Line Up

Typically, we line up tall to small.


This ain't that:

Anatomical Positions & Terms

Polish the floor and you polish your soul

From the Bleacher Report:

A number of Japan fans flew all the way to Brazil for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and they reportedly made sure to not make a mess while at the games.

Even after losing 2-1 to the Ivory Coast on Saturday, June 14, a number of Japan fans were reportedly seen picking up trash. The pictures show the fans being quite thorough, making sure there was no trash in sight.

That's quite a classy move coming from fans of a losing team.

[Twitter, h/t BuzzFeed]

I recall talking to my gymnasts about this a couple of years ago. (How they behave at meets and how it reflects upon us; how when we host meets, is it any fun to clean up after other people's mess?).

One of the things I was most proud of with BGS was when I filled in to help at an off-site event and Laura, the program director, ordered us staffers to clean up trash in the area as we were leaving; that it was our responsibility to make the place look cleaner than how we found it when we arrived.

I thought that was a good reflection upon the reputation of the gym.

And I'm really not at all surprised at the Japanese. 


Something I wrote over a year ago on a "secret" blog and am now reprinting here:
Read more »

For the Gymnastics Dads!

Sunday Funnies

A couple of ways you could look at this...


Hat tip:  Ted Dimas

Your toes are like your fingers

Stutz...His Way

My coach in high school taught us stutz by riding the swing all the way to English handstand on one rail. 

Piked handstand one-arm weight transfer drill/exercise

5-17-2014

Why not against a wall in an actual handstand?  There is no viable wall space by the bars area.  So drills are built and adapted to what we have at our disposal.

The inclined boards are primarily used for beginner leg ups; but I also like them for handstanding, handstand push-ups, and planching drills- similar to using walls or blocks to put the feet against or on top of.

Plus, this kid is only a level 3/4 and the piked handstand is good for maintaining upper body alignment and reducing some of the weight-load, until she gets stronger.

Person on a Balance Beam

6-2-2014
Person on a Balance Beam
Designed by Jeremy Shafer
Folded by Michael Sanders
10" x 10" square of American foil paper

Diagrams: BARF Fall 2005 and OUSA Convention book 2006

Sunday Funnies

Marc Jacobs

Cultivate Good Habits in Gymnastics Life

“ Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters. ”

— Nathaniel Emmons

Put another way (the quote under the Header of this blog):


Every time you let yourself practice a movement incorrectly, you’re increasing your ability to do it wrong.
-Dan Millman, The Warrior Athlete

It is quite often the case, that form follows function.  In gymnastics, if you have good form, there is efficiency in motion.

The previous two posts involved the candlestick shape.  Candlestick straight jumps is one of those basic exercises that is easy for gymnasts to be tempted to cheat at and not be mindful of proper shape, form, and effort.  There should be one, streamlined shape and not a series of body segmentations.

Take your basic handstand, for instance.  If your body structure were a series of blocks, which shape looks more efficient in balancing.  Stacked directly on top?  Or multiple segmentation?

Which has more structural stability?  A, B, or C?

Desired handstand shape (check recent post on handstands)

You are what you practice.  If you give sloppy, lazy effort, you'll get sloppy, lazy results.  If you give 100% perfect effort in practice to relentlessly aim for perfect shapes and form, then you will have good shapes and form, even when you're not thinking about it.  It will have become a habit.  A good habit. So every time you practice a movement correctly, you will increase your ability to do it right.

You get what you give.

There is perfect justice in the universe

-Chic Johnson

Aside from the bent left elbow, note the uniform "scooped/dished" shape?  Head neutral?  There is no arching over the top on that giant.

One more thing to keep in mind:  Creating good habits isn't limited to just developing physical consistency in the quality of your gymnastics.  It applies just as well to creating good habits in life, period.  Physical endeavors should hone the mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being of the warrior-athlete.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?”

–John Wooden

*Reprinted from my "secret" blog, 5/21/2013

Killing Time

Last minute decision to arrange for some team bonding yesterday.  So while waiting for the movie and others to arrive, some cheap entertainment:

Sunday Funnies

Marc Jacobs