Stage 4: Gymnastics Introduction

Types of Gymnastics

• Artistic gymnastics as seen at the Olympics include four women's events: vault, uneven bars, beam, and floor.
• Men's artistic gymnastics includes six events: vault, high bar, pommels, rings, parallel bars, and floor.
• Acrobatic gymnastics is another genre, similar to Cirque du Soleil, including trapeze, straps, ribbons, balancing acts and trampolines.
• Rhythmic gymnastics uses items like ribbons, batons, balls, and hoops.
• Stunt work in movies and live shows is influenced by gymnastics movements.

Brief History

• Gymnastics dates back to antiquity as Greeks and Romans used gymnastics training to prepare their military forces for combat.
• Gymnastics helped soldiers master skills like mounting and dismounting horses and were also used for entertainment.
• Modern gymnastics appeared in the 18th century when two physical educators created apparatus like the high bar and parallel bars
• They were originally fashioned from a ladder with the rungs removed, and a pommel was turned sideways, then the handles were removed to create vault apparatus.
• Men's gymnastics was accepted into the modern Olympic Games in 1896.
• Women were welcomed in 1928.
• The U.S. Navy adopted gymnastics in 1942 to make naval aviators fearless and to give them better spatial awareness.
• In 2005, Greg Glassman reintroduced a Navy guide to gymnastics and tumbling, used by the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army to develop agility, balance, confidence and strength in soldiers.

CrossFit Gymnastics

• Body-weight movements are considered gymnastics such as air squats, push-ups, pull-ups, etc.
• Skills from gymnastics are applied to workouts.
• The gymnastics label applies to any exercise in which you move your body through a range of motion (ROM) or extended range of motion (EROM) without an external load.
• Isometric holds are also considered gymnastics.
• Short parallel bars ("parallettes”), the floor, still rings, pull-up bars, dip bars, and climbing ropes are used to implement gymnastics training.

Why Do We Do It?

• Gymnastics are foundational to CrossFit and improves fitness.
• They assist in developing accuracy, agility, balance, coordination, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, power, speed, strength, and stamina.
• Gymnastics training produces incredible strength gains without external loads and are essential to an athlete's development alongside weightlifting and metabolic-conditioning.
• Body control is more important than weight training or sport and the development of movement requires static apparatus before dynamic apparatus.
• Strict movement should come before adding momentum to the movement
• Mechanics and consistency should come before intensity
• Kipping movement allows for higher power output, which is directly related to intensity. Kipping can be troublesome for athletes without control.

Gymnastics Definitions

• Gymnastics are physical exercises used to develop and display strength, balance, and agility.
• Gymnastics is the art or practice of such exercise.
• Includes climbing, yoga, calisthenics, and dance, for example

Gymnastics Terminology

• Active Tissue: Muscles that work even during transitional movement.
• Hollow: A position used to create stability, characterized by strong midline contraction with active tissue from toes to fingers.
• Strict: Movement absent a kip. The athlete relies on muscle control and strength to complete the movement.
• Kip: A dynamic movement from a lower plane to a higher plane.
• Load: The forces created while body weight is in motion.
• Core: Musculature that ranges from the top of the glutes up to the traps, not including the extremities.
• Form: The manner of doing a movement correctly while striving for perfection.
• Static Apparatus: Stable and does not move (floor and bars).
• Dynamic Apparatus: Unstable and moves (rings).
• Skill Set: Training for form and strength before going for time.
• Mobility: Movement around a joint.
• Active Flexibility: Contracting opposing muscles to stretch or hold a position.
• Passive Flexibility: Stretching a muscle that does not require contraction of opposing muscles.
• ROM: Range of motion.
• EROM: Extended range of motion.
• Spotting: Giving assistance to an athlete if needed as part of a progression or in order to prevent injury.

Spotting

• Valuable tool that can be useful for athletes who might struggle and should prevent injuries
• In a class setting, there are obvious challenges, but it is effective in a one-on-one setting.
• Is not just assisting, coach must be on guard for athlete and apparatus.
• Lack of active tissue or muscle fatigue are important clues of a greater need or end the movement altogether. Other times they can be completely unrelated due to kinesthetic awareness.
• Is the athlete connected to the equipment safely, straps on the rings are properly threaded and not slipping or frayed?
• Study and practice spotting.

Gymnastics Movements

• Grip is very important to improve
• Common grips in gymnastics and CrossFit are friction and crushing grips.
• Train with thumbs around the bar and around the rings so there is an increased grip strength and safety.
• Hanging from apparatus or frequently picking things up develops strength.
• Phenomenal resource for grip-strength development is Ironmind.com.
• Without specialized tools, various wrist push-ups, assorted barbell wrist curls for the extensors and flexors of the forearms, and tennis-ball squeezes are ways to improve grip and wrist strength.

Movement and Injury Considerations

• The shoulder joint has impressive range of motion in many different planes, but it also has a significant amount of laxity.
• This often results in instability issues such as rotator-cuff impingements, subluxations, and dislocations.
• Stability is most likely reduced because of mobility.
• The shoulder joint is frequently injured because of its anatomical design, lack of strength and endurance in the shoulder muscles.
• The rotator-cuff muscles play a vital role in maintaining the correct orientation of the head of the humerus.
• Shoulders are typically injured in three ways: falling, traction injuries, and SLAP tears
• Traction injuries occur when the arm is pulled suddenly from the socket.
• SLAP tear is common in baseball pitchers and can be prevented from happening.
• Control prevents the shoulder from rotating too far into external rotation and the legs must be under control.
• Tears are more common as athletes get older because tissue is not as soft, spongy, and pliable. Rehab from a surgical repair can be lengthy.

An overview of the different types of gymnastics, including artistic, acrobatic, and rhythmic. It also covers the history of gymnastics, from its origins in ancient Greece and Rome to its modern development in the 18th century.