Edward Mesa Pommel Routine. Submitted by the ever enthusiastic Yin Alvarez.
Do you have something you want to share? SHARE
Edward Mesa Pommel Routine. Submitted by the ever enthusiastic Yin Alvarez.
Do you have something you want to share? SHARE
“When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt” Industrialist, Henry J Kaiser
“I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty is only skin deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas?” Author, Jean Kerr.
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something” Author, Robert Heinlein
“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be discharged and used up in order to exist at all” William Faulkner
“God may have had fun at creation, but he didn’t really think things through.” Filmmaker, Lars von Trier
“You can’t pepper spray an idea any more than you can punch a dream” Lee Camp
“98% of the kids are good, How come we only hear about the bad 2%?” My son
“When you want to win a game, you have to teach. When you lose a game you have to learn.” Tom Landry
“Pepper spray is not a seasoning” Tony Retrosi
Just something fun for today! Thanks to Greg Marsden at the University of Utah for sharing this on youtube.
Have a team you want to high light? Done be afraid! Keep the momentum going and SHARE.
Gina Paulhus, CPT and Owner, Home Bodies Fitness Training
As coaches we are always worried about our athlete’s conditioning program. We need to make sure our athletes’ bodies are physically prepared for the demands of gymnastics. When is the last time you thought about if YOUR body is prepared to coach?
Think about it–the demands include: spotting, moving mats (hopefully you have trained your kids to move the mats!!), long hours on your feet and with your body in less than ideal positions. Coaches have a dominant side which can throw the body out of whack over time. Then there is the stamina required of being the only coach at a meet with kids in four separate squads…
Here are 5 simple tips you can use when thinking about your own workout. You ARE working out, RIGHT??
1. For strength training, choose dumbbells over machines and barbells.
Dumbbells prevent your stronger side from ‘taking over’ developing muscular balance in the body. A balanced body is less prone to injury.
2. Favor ‘interval training’ over steady cardio.
Interval training, where you vary your pace within a workout (such as jog, sprint, alternating, or jog, walk alternating) is more similar to the demands of your job. It is also more effective in helping with weight control. 20 minutes of intervals is worth 60 minutes of steady cardio.
3. Do some core.
I bet you know a billion core exercises for your gymnasts. Pick two for abdominals, two for your sides, and two for your back.
4. Work out before work.
You will not be able to put much into your training after a long day at the gym. If you have kids, try hitting the gym right after dropping them off at school. Don’t go home, you will find something else to do!
5. Stretch tight areas as priority.
Who has time to stretch for an hour? But everyone can find five to ten minutes to stretch your tightest areas. Hamstrings, hip flexors, chest, and back are typical culprits.
The glide kip is one of the most difficult skills we have to teach a beginner team gymnast. If you think about it, it probably takes less time to teach a double back than it takes to teach a kip.
I plan on devoting a much larger article on the glide kip but I wanted to share these drills first to encourage others to share their favorite drills! [Read more…]
-Brandi Smith-Young, PT, FAAOMPT, OCS. Perfect10.0 Physical Therapy
How To Avoid Tendon Rupture
All too often little aches in the tendon go treat with ice, stretching, and continued repetitive stresses of tumbling and vaulting. The newest studies out there now show there is no inflammatory response in tendon injuries. It is more of repetitive micro-tearing of the tendon which leads to rupture. This is no longer referred to as tendonitis but tendonopathy. This can be prevented with proper early intervention, physical therapy, and respect for the 11-12 week healing process for the tendon. Thus tumbling on the tumble track, decreasing landings and take-offs, and utilizing equipment advancements like sting mats, pits, and other absorbing equipment during the healing process is necessary. It is imperative that the cause of the tendon injury is addressed, whatever weakness or tightness is leading to abnormal stresses on the tendon. This is addressed with very specific physical therapy. If the cause of the tendonopathy is not addressed the injury will continue to return.
How can I tell it is a tendon injury verses a bone or joint?
The gymnast will point directly at the body of their tendon or on it’s insertion on the bone or growth plate in a growing athlete as the location of pain. This may be the patellar tendon, just at the bottom of the knee cap, at the insertion of the patellar tendon on the tibia, the achilles tendon, or the insertion of the achilles tendon on the heel. These are the two most likely tendons injured in gymnast. Many times Severe’s Disease, Osgood Schlatter’s disease, Sinding Larsen Johansson’s disease or jumper’s knee are missed diagnosed when it may be a tendon injury or the tendon may be involved in the diagnosis.
What are the signs my gymnast is getting a tendon injury or progressing toward rupture?
What can I do as a coach to prevent the progression?
When a gymnast complains of tendon pain and is in the early stages this is the time to get the athlete in to see a good physical therapist. We will need to start the tendon training process and address the issues which have contributed to the tendon injury in the first place. In many cases it is a loading issue. The athlete is landing or jumping with poor technique or lots of compensations. Many times this is after the athlete has grown in the last year and the muscles are imbalanced. Some muscles are too tight and week while others are flexible and strong. In some cases the athlete developed compensatory movement patterns when increasing skill level and/or intensity of training. These compensations will need to be addressed along with tendon training. Tendon training involves low loading lots of repetitions (40-60% 1 repetition max, sets of 100-200 slow repetitions many times in a day). This means lots of biking, eliptical, painfree active range of motion, and minimal loading for up to 11-12 weeks. The sooner the injury is caught the faster the recovery. The stage of injury the athlete is in will dictate the amount rest from high impact activities (ie tumbling, vault, and possibly some beam tumbling or dismounts) needed. The painfree principle applies. The athlete cannot have pain while doing anything. Pain is a sign of continued microtearing and will lead to rupture. Rehab post-surgical repair of a rupture is 6-8 months and even up to 1 year to return to high level impacts and performance. As frustrating as 11-12 weeks can be the wait is worth it compared to the alternative. With proper strength and flexibility training specific to each athlete and proper tendon training your athlete will be back on track.
Look for exercises to come to help prevent tendon injuries by a proper stretching regimen and improving muscle function to promote proper jump and landing mechanics.
See the link below for presentation on tendonopathy leading to tendon rupture.
THANKS TO JEFF GRABA FROM AUBURN UNIVERSITY FOR LETTING ME POST THESE.
These are all up on his Facebook Page
“The Issue Of Ethics”
Dr. Joe Massimo & Dr. Sue Massimo
Excerpt from Psychology and Gymnastics by Drs. Joe and Sue Massimo.
In today’s climate of politically correct responses, it is clear that ethics is a concept that is well known and discussed in considerable detail. Many professions have a strict and fairly well monitored code of ethics (lawyers, medical doctors, psychologists, etc.). Many of these directives were a direct consequence of years of planning and deliberation on the issue. Coaching sports as a profession should be no different and coaching young athletes should definitely have a strict code of ethics.
If we look in the past to an issue of “Olympic Coach” published by the U.S. Olympic Committee Division of Coaching Development, an article appeared that dealt with ethics in coaching. A challenge in sport was offered during a presentation at the USOC Coaching Symposium. In this presentation, it was stressed that the coach’s highest priority should be in establishing relationships with athletes that help them develop in positive ways. The most important first step, in this regard, would be the development of a set of principles that would address expectations in the coach-athlete interactions—a code of conduct. In fact, that is the direction that USA Gymnastics took and this organization has made great progress in developing a Code of Ethics to better serve those who participate in gymnastics.
There are many obvious obstacles and resistances that interfere with the development and subsequent adoption of a code of ethics and behavior. One basic difficulty is that not many coaches like to talk about the subject. It is not just that they see it as an infringement on their autonomy and right to manage their own functioning, but also because some of the content is sensitive. Issues that present clear ethical dilemmas are touchy subjects for many coaches. They would prefer to deny the existence of such problems, even knowing that they are out there.
A major contradiction concerning a code of ethics is that sport is often seen through a different set of moral lenses than those used in the rest of our lives. For example, in years past some of us have seen gymnastic coaches treat their athletes in ways that, outside of the training setting, would be grounds for dismissal if not a civil or criminal lawsuit. What to some is acceptable in the gym might not be outside of that setting. Does this mean the behavior in the training setting is above the law in terms of what is right and ethical? Many more athletes participating in sport today are sensitive to the issues of abusive, demeaning, humiliating, or degrading actions of their coaches. A larger than hoped for number of coaches uses the gym as a place to work out their own personal problems around authority and control. These personalized agendas usually involving themes of domination are used to abuse the power the coach has by virtue of their positions and role. A loss of objectivity can often occur and contribute directly to emotional damage in a young gymnast who sometimes holds the coach as a special person and even god-like figure. A code of conduct goes a long way in illuminating what can be expected and accepted by everyone.
Since many coach’s livelihoods depend on production and performance of their athletes, it is understandable that they might tend, to some degree, to take advantage of their student’s time and physical well-being. Safety has always been stressed in gymnastics, but we are all aware of the fact that far too many coaches go for the big “tricks” prematurely, without preparation, in order to produce a winning team. A code of ethics also addresses the issue of over-emphasis on winning to the long range detriment of the gymnast. When it is a question of keeping your job, some resistance to looking at this question is to be expected. Again, however, is that an ethical point of view?
Seven basic attributes have been identified that athletes between the ages of 12 and 20 look for in their coaches. It is suggested that priority by the coach should be in developing positive and helpful relationships with their athletes. Our own research over the years with competitive gymnasts here and abroad has revealed similar findings. These attributes will be discussed in this paper from the perspective of the sport of gymnastics.
Coaching Attributes
Adopting a “Personal” Code of Conduct
In summary, although progress has been made by several sport federations to develop a strict code of ethics, many do not involve the type of desired characteristics nor coach-athlete relationship issues just reviewed. The code of ethics for gymnastics addresses issues such as motivational or training methods which may be considered abusive, has established guidelines for all registered coaches and gymnastics facilities, and continues to monitor and update their ethical code. However, based on the previous seven attributes of competence, approachability, fairness, confidence, motivation, personal concern, and support perhaps we, in the gymnastic community, should strive towards adopting these additional desired characteristics as our own “personal” code of conduct. Refer to “Abuses of Anger in the Gym,” “Male Coach-Female Gymnast,” as well as “I Have a Problem with My Coach” found in Psychology and Gymnastics for a more in-depth look at this important issue.
Works Cited
Massimo, J. & Massimo, S., (2012). “Abuses of Anger in the Gym,” in Psychology and Gymnastics, NY, NY: Morgan James.
Massimo, J. & Massimo, S., (2012). “Male Coach-Female Gymnast,” in Psychology and Gymnastics, NY, NY: Morgan James.
Massimo, J. &. Massimo, S., (2012). Psychology and Gymnastics. NY, NY: Morgan James.
Nielsen, W., (1994). “Ethics,” in Olympic Coach: U.S. Olympic Committee Division of Coaching Development, Winter 1994, Volume 4, Number 1.
USA Gymnastics Code of Ethics. October, 2011. http://usagym.org/pages/aboutus/pages/code_of_ethics.html
Thanks to Mary Lee Tracy from Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy for sharing this drill. And Thank you to John Macready from FLIP FEST for sharing this drill with her!
Mary Lee has some great drills up on her YOU TUBE Channel
Thanks to Karen Dabritz Tosti for sending this along.
Maroon Team
Gold Team