A cool place for friends and family members of Santa Monica Gymnastics Center to come hang out. So nuke the popcorn in the microwave; Snoopy dance...dance..dance around the room...then pull up a chair, and be prepared to laugh and cry; to feel embarrassed and inspired; and to just sit back, relax and enjoy these music videos.
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Where would we be without Velcro?
Wade Petersen was mentioning to me about how he was thinking for a way to show square hips with posts sticking out the sides. So I came up with this:
Also thought about maybe attaching flashlights or laser pointers to the sides (Al Luber used to talk to the kids about pretending like they had headlights).
And the bottom idea I had a couple of years ago and had bought the material but never executed the idea until this past week:
Want to move a 428 lb vault table and feel like you just gained superhuman strength?
Currently,
We have only one vault table, which we usually put on a roller to move from one end of the runway to the opposite end (plus crossing over the tumbletrak) in order to put it on another runway with the foam pit behind it.
A few weeks ago coach David and I carried it the whole distance (including over the tumbletrak which might not be too safe and not recommended), using two forearm forklifts for their intended purpose (I've had them for the last 2-3 years thanks to seeing a video by Mel Eades, improvising them for gymnastics drills and conditioning exercises).
These things really work! I can feel the weight of the table and how heavy it is (about 428 lbs); yet lifting it up is not difficult at all! Amazing invention!
Apparently there are fakes out there. Please don't go for cheaper, knock-off imitations; and with poor quality material and stitching. I saw a video of the inventor explaining the harm it's done to his business. Buy the real deal!
I admit this will wear its welcome out really fast if you let it play on and on. But for those first few moments? Charming and delightful. After those first moments....step away. Or turn it off. It gets older, quicker than compulsory season floor music.
It looks like Hasbro has obtained the rights to produce this for sale. I bought two off eBay for $70 and $30. But it looks like you can order them from Toys Я Us for $15.99 (or $19.99)!
At National Congress in San Jose, Trade Show.
I ordered two rolls of two different grade resistance on these Tumble Trak therabands. They're made segmented with loops. It resolves having to tie knots.
They ran out by the afternoon on the first day; so I ordered for delivery to the gym.
I think they are so new, they don't even have them listed on their catalog.
We'll see how well they work. I'm worried about the loops being manufactured too big.
I texted all our JO parents from the Trade Show and they are all in as far as reimbursing me for the bands and sticky toes (I managed to get a few coworkers to register and give me their buy-one-get-one-free coupons)- rather than convincing the gym to buy it, I convinced the parents to have their athletes own their own.
I also picked up a bar pad for $17 (all Tumble Trak products were also with a 15% discount) that fits between hands shoulder width apart on the bar. Otherwise I would have soon made one myself.
We have one kid who's been having so much trouble on giants, I am thinking of trying this drill with her:
That's from the Forster-Resnick Bar Boot Camp the first year they had it. Tom included it in one of his lectures at Congress this weekend.
Sound Buttons for Gymnastics 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.
Oh, well. I think the concept is still good- just not the execution of it I've also thought of experimenting with some sort of modified neck brace.
How about a strip of velcro attached from a mouthpiece to the front top of a leotard? I kid. (Actually, as I type this, I think I have a clip somewhere of kids putting the front of their leotard in their mouths to back extension roll and feel their head position).
I'm always looking to improvise products toward usage in gymnastics drills.
Today while at Rite Aid, I happened to notice a product called "Hover Ball".
I could not take it out of the package, but it appeared to be a foamy half sphere glued onto a furniture slider.
When I got home, I looked it up.
Personally, I think it's a pretty lame toy. Especially for that price. And I don't think it's probably that hard to tip over.
However, as a slider for conditioning, I think it's comparable to my friend's product, the Xpodz.
Hover Balls ae $9.99 at Rite Aid. I'm tempted to get a couple even though we now have plenty of Xpodz foot sliders at my gym; and I have a pair of Xpodz as well as an ab slider.
I'm wondering if I get 4 of them, they could serve as a base for a small block for some creative block pushes....
Novelty item just for fun. If I could just fill these up with even more water- then we're talkin'!
Maybe some bottled water company should market their bottles in the shape of dumb bells. I'd love to bicep curl a 5 gallon jug a few times before setting it on the water cooler dispenser.
And here's a Gymnastike throwback Thursday to a Technique Tuesday:
Tumble Trak is now marketing this idea as a new product ("sticky toes"). So I finally decided to see if I could make my own. I was going to use sweat bands or the tube end of cut-up sports socks; but then I was in the 99¢ store and saw these ankle braces for....99 cents. So I picked them up, some needle and thread and industrial strength strips of velcro. Tested them out on Marissa at the end of practice tonight.
It might be a useful tool to pull out once in a while; especially for kids who can't feel that they are breaking form. Not only can the gymnast feel the velcro separate, but she can hear it happen as well. Great instant feedback!
Here's a link to Tumble Trak's product because they deserve support and you might want to save yourself on time in sewing labor:
Tumble Trak recently started promoting their product, Sticky Toes.
I've thought about making something like this, myself. Since there's a product out now, maybe I'll just support Tumble Trak's efforts and purchase to try one out.
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.
1) The theraband is probably less abrasive on the skin than unpadded rope
2) Being elastic, the beginning gymnast cannot totally slack off, but must still work her muscles to hold her body to the bar, or she will fall away from it.
3) Even if the beginning gymnast completely lacks in physical strength- or especially if she does- she must exercise her arm strength to get back into front support; those more advanced can work on shape and technique.
I haven't tested it out yet, but I'll do so tomorrow: Seeing whether or not having the level 3s cast into hollow shape with the theraband wrapped on helps to condition them with proper resistance (the restriction the theraband places on cast height isn't that critical since there isn't a cast height requirement at level 3- just shape).
I have one pre-team kid who is just so physically weak but who so wants to become a gymnast- I think the theraband circle trainer was a great aid to her. She was kept on the bar for a longer spell than she's used to, got to experience some circling, and had a great upper-body workout just to stay on or get back on. Meanwhile, my arms were not killing me. For those like her, I'm not worried about bad shaping and muscle-memory habits by allowing them to play with this. She needs the general fitness, first and foremost; and the sense of fun and accomplishment.
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
How many of you use a cow bell to alert the entire gym that someone got a new skill? My old gym had one; and to some degree, my current workplace uses one.
I don't know of any gym who has outdone this setup, however:
Here are a couple of other ways to use sound bells/buttons in a fun way:
