Thoughts from Gymnastics 2.0

Back in 2011, I wrote about my observations when posted at the Gymnastics venue during the Pan American Games.

As I am currently at the 2013 World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, I thought it would be a good idea for me to revisit this post and see if anything has changed. In normal text you have my original post, while in red, are my thoughts from the last 5 days.

Foam Rollers – There are none. Not one. Obviously I use them in practice but watching gymnasts prep for training and competition is making me think that such devices could be used less with proper preparation.

• Here at Worlds, I've seen a total of two foam rollers. One grid and one standard white foam roller. Most teams have a therapist with them so it's easy for me to see why such equipment may not be needed. That is not to say that no one uses them - as they can very well be left behind in the hotel rooms - but prior to and after training, most of us therapists are busy doing meticulous hands on work that, combined with their warm up, seems sufficient.

Warm Up – These gymnasts meticulously mobilize each and every joint in their body dynamically. They spend the time starting from distal to proximal, from specific to general, and in all planes and directions. We might be shortchanging our athletes without this attention to detail.

• I cannot stress enough how meticulous they are with their warm up. Gymnasts at this level are very systematic and those few who seem to unfortunately have nagging injuries, are the same ones who, by my observations, cheat or rush their warm up. Of note, no specific ______ muscle activation exercises witnessed here.

Stretching – There’s no shortage of it here. Warm up here comes first then stretching. Warm up aside, stretching went from static to dynamic and is in general, mini-ballistic.

• It's no secret that gymnasts are both mobile and flexible. But they are also strong and powerful. So what does this say about the stretching research? Point blank, I think the stretching research is very reductionist. Because if you watch gymnasts from start to finish, you will understand how the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. 

Focus – Little chatting. Deathly stares. And full concentration. Period.

• Two words: "Russians" and "Americans". Actually, four more words: "Aliya Mustafina" and "McKayla Maroney".

Crunches Flexion/Flexing Based Movements – Lots of v-sits, and lumbar flexion warm up exercises as well. I don’t think it’s a green light for all gymnasts, but it would be hard for me to flip on the red for half of them. I see integration of all joint and myofascial segments and load sharing from head to toe. Even see the joint by joint respected (think sternum crunch in a dead bug position). In this case, I think its ok. In the normal population, I’ll still set up a road block. Remember, it was warm up, not training and definitely not volume.

• No change in my thoughts here but to elaborate further, because of their meticulousness in their warm up and their combined and controlled local and global ranges of motion, I think the fact that they - can and do - maintain centration throughout the entire body allows for the ability to perform such movements. Please note that none of them are doing these movements to "get abs".      

Bands – Plenty of resistance here during the warm up. Band pullaparts, straight arm pulldowns, etc. Great progressions.

• A few bands here but not as much as Pan Ams. That said, I haven't been watching the men train so I can't say the same for them.

Amazing feats of strength, mobility, and stability - Here’s an example of a commonly performed movement seen today. This video is obviously not by the gymnasts themselves as filming them warm up is not only prohibited but creepy. Naturally, the girls were much more precise than this video but he did a great job nonetheless. Note, the girls did multiple continuous reps.
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• Different video but this one is much better as it's straight clips from podium training. Enjoy!

All in all, watch some of the top athletes in the world and you’ll quickly see that generalizing rules of the human body to all populations is guessing at best.
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• Key word here is "generalizing". Like here at Worlds, specific people need specific levels of accreditation. That is, only certain people can go into certain areas (i.e. training gym, competition floor, etc). I think real life should be the same. Rather than generalizing rules for all, I think the generic answer should be "it depends...it depends on if they can do X or if they can't do Y."​