One size never fits all

Good piece at the Hybrid Perspective:

If we give 20 girls the same assignment for strength, we are assuming that they are all at the same level of strength/capability/technical level, etc. The reality of the situation is that that this is rarely the case across all your strength and conditioning exercises. You create a situation where the more developed or stronger athlete’s won’t get any benefit, and at the same time we may be promoting compensation/lack of benefit for under developed athletes. I feel we need to use regressions or progressions in order to get people in their “Goldilocks” window for strength and conditioning.  If we are just blanketing an general strength program of 3 sets of 10 handstand push ups or 40 leg lifts on a huge group with differences between them, I think it’s a recipe for disaster both in terms of safety and missing out on athletic performance development.

~~~

I’m not sure why so many gymnastics programs still demand uniformity with their strength where everyone does the same exercise despite the large gaps in ability. The one argument I can see for this uniform type is to monitor the gymnasts and keep an eye on quality.

Read the whole article.

Geddert on form and execution/quality over quantity:

Sunday Funnies

Teaching quality glides

Jason Mortimer's latest video reminded me that I had filmed a few of the level 3's doing correct-incorrect glide shapes, recently:

Also like doing hanging hollow holds and swinging hollow holds.

The crunch hollow holds at 37 seconds in Jason's video is the exact way my primary teacher used to have us do them for warm-up- palms resting face up on the knees.  Periodically through the 2 minutes, he'd demand us to crunch up another inch higher.  Having hands face up on the thighs/knees helped us have a visual of how high we were crunching and maintaining position.

Happy Thanksgiving

Source

I posted the following last Thanksgiving.

Here is another telling of the "turkey person" story:

Bill Courtney has a book out, "Against the Grain".

Leave the Coaching to the Coaches

Former Olympian, Wendy Bruce Martin:

I made sure that she wasn’t fooling around during practice and that she listened to her coach. So when I saw her fooling around I would yell across the pool “stop fooling around and listen to your coach”. (Yelling at my daughter from across the pool did NOT make her listen to her coach, it made her turn her attention to me and wonder what the heck I was trying to tell her). She of course couldn’t hear me, so I moved my chair close to the diving boards. One month later my daughter was improving at an accelerated rate. She moved her dives up to a higher diving board. My daughter walked right up to the 10 ft. diving board and got in position. She did an amazing front dive. I could feel myself fill up with pride. That was MY daughter. Every dive she did seemed perfect to me and she kept proving to me that she had a chance of making an Olympic team. I was in a cloud. She made me feel like I was a better mom. I wasn’t just a mom; I was a mom of a child prodigy. I created that, I was a supermom. I checked into more diving classes, I talked to her coach about future plans, and I bought her new swimsuits without ruffles. It was time to get serious.

Read the post.

*UPDATE* 12/1/2014

Comment #65 at ChalkBucket Forum:

Since we stopped talking about gymnastics her enjoyment of the sport has multiplied 10 fold! I previously wanted to know everything and actually thought I was helping. The breaking point for me was at the end of a practice when I caught myself "coaching" my daughter on beam insisting that she do several more reps. I would take the 30 minutes of practice I saw twice a week and decide I knew what she needed. Her "real" coach was much nicer than she should have been to me. I backed off 100 %. And when I did she started loving the sport again.

Sunday Funnies

Source

Get the Point

I don't remember if I posted this Mary Lee Tracy video before:

Good exercises in this one:

Therabands can work well for the towel exercise.  Also, toe-curling walks across the floor.

We definitely live in an age of information inundation:

Previously related post:
Toe point conditioning

Measuring Dorsi-flexion

More slider conditioning drills

Man wipes

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's never understood the wiping action that some male gymnasts do in the corners.  Just, why?

Trust the Process

So much work to do!  About 8 weeks left before their first meet.  They are making progress...

That's not my name

Coach David has been the primary coach for the level 4s since May or June.  He's with them for most rotations.  These days I get called "Coach David" by many of the girls before they catch themselves.  Last week, I also got called "Coach Stella".  And also last week, one of the level 3s accidentally called me "Mommy". 

Sunday Funnies

Pole Vaulting on Masquerade Show

Show description:

"Masquerade" is one of the most popular TV shows produced by NTV Japan. People from all walks of life participate in the contest to present their unique performances. In addition to preparing their own costumes and props, contestants exert themselves physically and creatively to bring forth their best possible performance. We hope you enjoy their brilliant works.

Related post

Lvl4 vault rotation HS idle station

At GW, the boys pommel horse area is right by the end of the vault runway.  So I sometimes take advantage of the equipment for side stations.

Finding straight:

Can never get in enough handstand practice.

TGIF Conditioning Fun with the 3s

Gym College

More See-Saws

Good drills:

Posted these on my other blog last month:

Operation Mend

Rodger, former UCLA gymnast and inventor of the Xpodz, along with Logan, were filmed by ABC 7 news in Los Angeles during their last Operation Mend visit, October 30th.  Their news segment aired today, Veterans Day:

WESTWOOD LOS ANGELES (KABC) --

Veterans returning from war need all types of support. One program includes a very special therapist: a golden retriever named "Logan." Logan is helping vets and their families heal.

Logan Thomason is preparing to honor America's veterans in the best way he knows how: by showing them lots of love.

Instantly he brings a smile to the face of retired Army Specialist Paul Hoy and his family, especially Hoy's 8-year-old daughter.

Hoy was injured in an IED attack in Afghanistan. He's now part of UCLA Operation Mend, receiving medical care from doctors, and from dogs.

"They're fun, they're very calming, they soothe you," said Hoy.

Logan has his own name tag at the hospital. He's a registered therapy dog and he's helped hundreds of patients over four years.

Logan's owner says dogs can be instrumental in the healing process, especially when it comes to veterans.

"If I were to walk in by myself, they'd probably look at me and look back. He walks in and he races up to them, puts his head in their lap and they immediately start to pet his head and they're relaxed," said Sgt. Rodger Thomason, UCLA People-Animal Connection. "I'll just sit there and say nothing for a few minutes there, and they look at me and, 'Oh, is this your dog?' So the conversation begins that way."

Thomason says vets that start out shy then open up.

"For me it's very rewarding to see somebody light up and just start talking about animals and everything else," said Thomason.

Hoy has advice for other vets.

"If you come back and you find it's difficult to cope, just reach out to people and don't let the problems overwhelm you," said Hoy.

Happy Veterans Day!

Source

Your wish is my command

If you haven't seen it yet, first, go watch the Jubilee Project video and look for my gymnast, Scarlet.

That video was posted on Oct 29, 2014. When I linked to it here on Nov 4th, it had almost a million views. It is now up to over 4 million!

Scarlet: "If I could have teleportation in my body."

Today, I granted Scarlet her wish:

I want to be like her when I grow up

My small-talk conversation with an 8 yr old level 3 gymnast before practice today:

Me: "Zoe, what are you going to be when you grow up?"

Zoe: "I don't know. What are you going to be?"

XPodz Reviewed in LATimes

Rodger Thomason's fitness product received a positive review in the Los Angeles Times:

Workout in a bag

Rocket Innovations Xpodz: Two dome-shaped hand pods, accessories and a slider mat that provide an endless supply of Pilates- and yoga-like exercises.

Likes: Simple, effective and compact design that gives you a legitimate living-room strength and aerobic workout by accentuating the challenge of standard yoga and other exercise positions like downward dog and push-ups. The spherical shape also eliminates carpal tunnel, the original goal of Rodger Thomason, who had push-up-induced wrist problems. Snap-on instability cones ramp up the difficulty. Hand and foot slider pads make the number of potential exercises endless — reverse-plank pull-ins, ab roll-outs, mountain climbers, V-ups, one-foot-side slides, etc. An excellent 30-minute workout DVD starts off with a good warm-up and covers a wide range of exercises. A plastic pouch holds the Xpodz, sliders and instability pods.

Dislikes: None

Price: $39.95 (for the base Podz). $139.95 (entire system, including mat). http://www.xpodz.com

Only 3 more days!

Previous post.

Building up a powerful, consistent run

At my old gym, counting steps was so ingrained in them, that they seemed to have to count their steps in EVERYTHING.  It can be a helpful tool, however, in building a consistent run and hurdle that does not slow down or balk.  Although I had never been taught to count steps myself, I remember being able to always build up my run to a crescendo and adjust my strides accordingly as I neared the springboard without slowing down (and on rare occasions, hurdle off of my bad leg if need be from being way off).  I heard that young kids, however, have not fully developed their depth perception (I'd love to know if anyone can verify this).

As coach "dunno" writes:

the basics. start the run with the same leg that they hurdle off of. and keep the number to 9/11/13 etc; running steps. yes, there are exceptions as i'm sure someone will point out. but these are the basics and they work consistently across the board with most kids and both boys and girls.

Teaching from odd number stepping to a hurdle makes sense when considering future vaults down the road- a hurdle will eventually lead into a yurchenko (step with the bad leg and skip up with the good).  So odd number of steps as opposed to even number (unless your intention really is to train your gymnasts to hurdle off of their dominant leg as the last step before the hurdle). 

Due to compulsory State Championships this weekend, we canceled team practices yesterday.  I offered a makeup practice today and one level 3 and two mini-shots came in.  Here's something I experimented with:

This idea came to me while driving to work; so I tested it out at the gym today.

My spacing was a bit off on the number placements; but it definitely helped encourage a longer stride (the lvl 3 gymnast shown is in between deer runs and sprinting) and getting consistent number of steps down (had the girls go up to 9 running steps, stepping first with the "bad" leg- i.e., the non-dominant leg that is used to push from one a hurdle into round off or front handspring).

The original idea was to take a permanent marker to some foam blocks (but I didn't think the gym would fully appreciate that) and set them up as markers; but then I remembered that we had these placement mats for preschool.

Something else I used to do (and should still do) at my old gym with the optionals was to have them front flip over the table.  Wade encouraged me to do this as opposed to having the girls do "run bys".  Why?  Because the tendency of a lot of kids is to slow down as they get closer to the hurdle line and veer off the runway.  With the front tuck (or layout) to avoid hitting the table, the vaulter maintains the acceleration all the way to the hurdle and punch.  No need to hurdle off course into the "gutter".  With a powerful punch, the gymnast should be able to clear the table at her table-height setting.

 

Sunday Funnies

Post by Makita Tomomasa.

Hat tip:  Ganba Gymnastics

Best Gymnastics Halloween Costume

Via Gymnasticscoaching.com:

It reminded me of this, linked in a previous post:

Compulsory beam handstand circuit

10-29-2014

I've used similar handstand circuits like the one below:

Overuse injuries in young athletes

Preview of a 60 Minutes segment that apparently aired on Showtime tonight, 10pm EST:

What would you change about your body?

This was linked by Gym Gab Blog:

One of my adorable level 3 gymnasts (who misses a LOT of practice because of acting auditions and gigs) appears in this.  No one does her better than she does her; she's perfect the way she is (although I will keep stretching her tight shoulders, for her...).

Almost a million views after only a few days!

Video description:

These days it is so easy to feel insecure about our appearance. Whether it is because of the mean comment that comes our way or the photoshopped image we see in magazines, it can be so easy to feel self conscious about our body. When was the last time you felt comfortable in your own skin? We are so excited to share with you our newest 50 people 1 question short - Comfortable. We hope that this video will inspire you to be more comfortable and confident in yourself. Beauty is not about what you don't have, but about being comfortable in your own skin. Thank you to iNatureSkinCare (http://www.inatureskincare.com) for sponsoring this video!

The Power of Belief and Being Part of a Team

Via Proactive Coaching:

A man became lost while driving through the country. As he tried to read a map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. Seeing a farmhouse just down the road, the man walked over to ask for help.

“Clyde can get you out of the ditch,” the farmer said, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the haggard mule, and then looked back at the farmer, who just stood there nodding. “Yep, old Clyde can do the job.”

The man figured he had nothing to lose, so the two men and Clyde made their way back to the ditch.
After the farmer hitched the old mule to the car, he snapped the reins and shouted, “Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Clyde!” With very little effort, the lone mule pulled the car from the ditch.
The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all those other names before you called Clyde?”

The farmer smiled and said, “Old Clyde is almost completely blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he always gives his best.”

Sunday Funnies

Source

Gymnastike's 10 phrases that mean something different to gymnasts

This list is pretty good.