310lb Gymnast?!?

Pretty funny. 8) He is certainly a good sport.

One of my favorite college gymnastics memories was having some fun with one of the football players who inadvertently wondered into the gym and wanted to try out the equipment. I will always treasure the astonished look on the football player's face when one of my teammates on the rings was having a conversation with him while holding an iron cross.

GElb88Xtdwk

310lb Gymnast Anthony Adams of the NFL.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

That just made my day.

Cracks me up!

His ribbon routine is the best

His second attempt on the vault was correct! He missed out balance beam - love to see him try a cartwheel on it and not fall off! Lol'ed at the rhythmic gymnastics bit, he looked like a ***! Funny enough I used to be football player myself and now I dedicate all my free time to gymnastics.

He should implement some gymnastic conditioning in his own training to become an invincible football monster.

About the Rio 2016 tryout, when does it actually take place?

About the Rio 2016 tryout, when does it actually take place?

2016.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Cartwheel for guys in general is risky. Especially with socks. But young guys will do dumb stuff. Luckily those two didn't have to worry about procreating for the human race. And I'm glad about that.

Music was pretty epic except for that "Chariots of Fire." I really hate that song.

Is that the reason men don't do balance beams? Its one of my favourite events. He could wear a jockstrap to protect his bollucks from being crushed should he fall off the beam.

Sailor Venus said:

(...) He could wear a jockstrap to protect his bollucks from being crushed should he fall off the beam.

ROFL... Jockstraps are not meant to be worn in the throat hole!

A jockstrap won't help you if you fall on your junk.

Wearing a cup might.

Men don't do balance beams in competition. Probably so the women could have a special event. Compared to the men's apparatus, it doesn't build or require as much strength. I'm guessing that's why it got pawned off to them.

And probably because they got sick of splitting the beam. Mind you, it doesn't feel great for the girls either. Even when hitting the inner thigh.

However, men working balance beam, beams for balance training dates back to antiquity. You'll still seem rudimentary balance work in military obstacle courses.

I mean yes, guys will play around with some elements. I can still do a cartwheel on beam but I sure as hell won't do it in socks. We used to play around with standing backs with mats on the sides of beam or back handsprings.

However, if you can get a guy to do it with socks, somehow, it's pretty hilarious when they fail. Victim waiting to happen.

What about uneven bars? Thats another female only event. Why's that women's only? Uneven bars are another one of my favourite events. I don't like the men's high bar compared to the uneven bars. To me, the high bar is a pointless version of an uneven bar. I love watching people swinging and transition between the upper and lower rails and back. Why does the men's bar lack the lower rail?

Coach Sommer said:

About the Rio 2016 tryout, when does it actually take place?

2016.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Best use of facepalm so far hahaha!

I think the hoop was the funniest to me, just barely ahead of... well... everything. Definitely spiced up my break from studying!

I love this

What I want to know though, how the hell did he hold that iron cross? :shock:

Colibri said:

I love this

What I want to know though, how the hell did he hold that iron cross? :shock:

Standing on an upside down garbage bin is your best guess...

FredInChina said:

Colibri said:

I love this

What I want to know though, how the hell did he hold that iron cross? :shock:

Standing on an upside down garbage bin is your best guess...

...

Let this be the second use of this emoticon today - I should have thought about it before posting

What's that stance called what the girl is doing on the floor exercise at 3:27 and the big guy said "no normal humans can do that by the way."? I like to learn that stance/position myself.

Sailor Venus said:

What about uneven bars? Thats another female only event. Why's that women's only? Uneven bars are another one of my favourite events. I don't like the men's high bar compared to the uneven bars. To me, the high bar is a pointless version of an uneven bar. I love watching people swinging and transition between the upper and lower rails and back. Why does the men's bar lack the lower rail?

They've been considering about taking the low bar from women's gymnastics for some time now. Uneven bars has changed tremendously over the years (look up 80s bar routines), and a lot of people speculate that in the future the low bar might be gone. Why you ask? At higher levels (9-10) the low bar becomes a hindrance rather than a nice edition not to mention it posses a huge risk for injuries.

Blairbob said:

A jockstrap won't help you if you fall on your junk.

Wearing a cup might.

Men don't do balance beams in competition. Probably so the women could have a special event. Compared to the men's apparatus, it doesn't build or require as much strength. I'm guessing that's why it got pawned off to them.

And probably because they got sick of splitting the beam. Mind you, it doesn't feel great for the girls either. Even when hitting the inner thigh.

However, men working balance beam, beams for balance training dates back to antiquity. You'll still seem rudimentary balance work in military obstacle courses.

I mean yes, guys will play around with some elements. I can still do a cartwheel on beam but I sure as hell won't do it in socks. We used to play around with standing backs with mats on the sides of beam or back handsprings.

However, if you can get a guy to do it with socks, somehow, it's pretty hilarious when they fail. Victim waiting to happen.

I've been up on the beam in socks, landed carthweels and roundoffs (before I realized that this wasn't a good idea) when I slipped and came dangerously close to severe pain got away with burn on the inside of the leg instead. I tried standing tucks and back handsprings on beam and lets just say you don't realize how tiny the beam is until you are trying to land both your feet on it after being upside down.

The crazy part is a former male gymnast on our cheer team could do entire passes up on the beam :shock: Back handspring, beam layout (they call it a layout but it looks like a plain whip to me) and any dismount that he was capable of doing on floor. He was a very talented tumbler though. Obviously he never trained beam but said he'd play with tumbling on it quite often.

Azure said:

They've been considering about taking the low bar from women's gymnastics for some time now. Uneven bars has changed tremendously over the years (look up 80s bar routines), and a lot of people speculate that in the future the low bar might be gone. Why you ask? At higher levels (9-10) the low bar becomes a hindrance rather than a nice edition not to mention it posses a huge risk for injuries.

What kind of stuff/routine/skillset/moves/etc in level 9 to 10 occurs where people start to find the lower rail an nuisance? I wasn't able to find anything that the gymnastic committee, association or whatever it is saying that the lower rail will be officially removed in the next couple of years. I really pray that never happens. It is so hypnotising watching gymnast bounce between the two rails, thats why I fell in love with the uneven bar. So beautiful.

Sailor Venus said:

Azure said:

They've been considering about taking the low bar from women's gymnastics for some time now. Uneven bars has changed tremendously over the years (look up 80s bar routines), and a lot of people speculate that in the future the low bar might be gone. Why you ask? At higher levels (9-10) the low bar becomes a hindrance rather than a nice edition not to mention it posses a huge risk for injuries.

What kind of stuff/routine/skillset/moves/etc in level 9 to 10 occurs where people start to find the lower rail an nuisance? I wasn't able to find anything that the gymnastic committee, association or whatever it is saying that the lower rail will be officially removed in the next couple of years. I really pray that never happens. It is so hypnotising watching gymnast bounce between the two rails, thats why I fell in love with the uneven bar. So beautiful.

First of all let me just start by saying while I've HELPED out on all the events (bars and vault the most) with all levels but my primary coaching is and most likely always will be tumbling. So what I am posting is not my own opinion but that of our primary bars coach with over 16 years experience in coaching women's gymnastics (all levels) and specializing in bars.

The gymnastics committeemen (to my knowledge) is not making any official changes to the bars at the moment and I am sure they'll be busy with the reworkings of all levels for the next year to two (an extra level is being added between 8 and 9 to make the transition easier, all levels below will be changed as well ex. current 5s will now be 4s). But like I said most bars coaches I've talked to SPECULATE that the low bar will be gone eventually.

Basically at higher levels it becomes a hassle to go to the lower bar as it limits what moves you can use to fulfill the requirements for a bar routine. Also Pacts and Bailes look nice indeed but they put the gymnasts at a higher risk than necessary (miss the bar and you are in big trouble or fly off the high bar and welcome to a few broken bones because of the low bar).

Level 9 bar requirements:

1. 2 bar changes

2. 1 flight element, minimum B value part

3. 1 different flight element OR 1 element with LA (long axis) turn, each minimum C

4. Salto/hecht dismount, minimum B

An example of a level 9 routine: ssPdRmyzQGQ

If you wanted to put other skills that would fulfill the same requirements you'd have a significantly harder time putting it together because a lot of the times you are limited in your choices because you always have to remember that your gymnast needs an easy way to work into her routine to get to the lowbar. With certain skills this becomes increasingly difficult because while they'll fulfill the requirements they won't connect well with a transition to low bar. As a result levels 9 and 10, which are suppose to be optional levels, you really barely see any real variety in routines due to this restriction.