FitSugar

Picture It: On the Line

Colleen Barrett — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 11:45:30 PDT

Laura Edwards of England competes on the balance beam today during the women's artistic gymnastics portion of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. England took home the silver, while Australia snagged the gold and Canada accepted bronze.

View 5 Photos ›

Fitness Lessons Learned From Childhood Gymnastics Training

Kristen Hawley — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:30:04 PDT

Besides teaching important values like responsibility, determination, and teamwork, organized sports for children provide fitness foundations that can last a lifetime. I spent 14 years as a gymnast (10 of those competitive), and while I haven't been up on a balance beam in years, I learned plenty of fitness lessons that I've carried with me from my years of chalk dust and glitter.

Balance: This is an obvious one; after all, flipping heels-over-head on a four-inch balance beam requires a whole lot of balance. I developed a good sense of balance at an early age and now know that a good sense of balance helps with things like muscle tone and even repairing damaged brain pathways.
Eye contact: I was a shy child, but incredibly competitive. In competition, a huge part of a floor routine is showmanship - smiles and eye contact with the judges included. It took me several years of competing to move out of "shrinking violet" mode and into "ham it up" mode, but the difference between a well-scored floor routine and an excellently scored floor routine is eye contact. Remembering this has helped me personally and professionally, from helping my relationships with others to helping my confidence in the office.

There's more! To find out what else I learned, keep reading.

Anna Paquin Makes Like a Gymnast

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:00:42 PDT

After biking along the Santa Monica beach boardwalk, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer stopped at Muscle Beach for a little gymnastics action. Seeing Anna fly through the air on the swing-a-ring set makes us think that her obsession with Pilates is paying off; that girl has some serious core and upper body strength!

If you live in Los Angeles and haven't taken advantage of the public gymnastics training area along the Santa Monica beach, now is the time. It's sort of like a big jungle gym for adults filled with climbing ropes, rings, pull-up bars, and more. Throw in a bike ride or a surfing session, and you've got an entire day ahead of you.

If you don't live by a public fitness center like the one in Muscle Beach, work out at a playground instead. Monkey bars are great for pull-ups and hanging knee lifts, and the balance beam is a challenging way to practice standing yoga poses. I often use a slide to do tricep dips, or a small jungle gym ladder to do standing push-ups. What's your playground fitness routine?

View 5 Photos ›

Should Athletes Medal Even If They Fall?

FitSugar — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:47:38 PST

While watching the figure skating events at this year's Winter games, a few friends mentioned that if a skater falls, they shouldn't medal. Many of them were pointing to Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, who skated his way into third place despite falling in his long program. Meanwhile, American Johnny Weir skated a flawless short and long program but ended up in sixth place.

The idea of an athlete not winning a medal because of a fall is not a new sentiment, and is only one reason sports with judges are controversial. During the 2008 Summer games, China's Cheng Fei received bronze in the women's vault despite landing on her knees. Like Takahasi, many of Fei's competitors gave solid performances and stuck their landings. But what sets Fei and Takahasi apart is that their overall performances are much more difficult than their competitors who gave clean routines.

What do you think . . .

US Gymnastics Blames Stadium Officials For Silver Meltdown

LibertySugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:00:14 PDT

The US women's gymnastics team pointed to stadium officials when explaining their disappointing silver medal finish in the team competition. US coach Marta Karolyi blamed the Beijing stadium officials for disrupting Alicia Sacramone's preparation for the beam. Karoyli said: "First they called her name up, then they did not even put her name up even though the Chinese had finished . . . (it was) totally unusual holding."

The loss of concentration apparently caused Alicia to fall off the beam and then slip during the following floor exercise. If it weren't for the unsettling, Karolyi maintains, Alicia would not have made the crucial mistakes and China would not have won the gold medal. Hours after Karoyli's lashout, the USA Gymnastics president mitigated the statements suggesting that Karolyli was simply disappointed by the loss.

Some believe the Chinese government issued falsified passports to underage members of their women's gymnastics team, making them eligible for competition. Has China given itself some unfair home-field advantages, or is the US just being ungraceful losers? To see some a lot more beautiful pictures from the competition, read more.

View 15 Photos ›

Source

When to Watch: Gymnastics

FitSugar — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:00:00 PDT

After tonight's opening ceremonies for the Olympics, the competition starts almost immediately and gymnastics are no exception. The men's qualifying rounds start Saturday, and unfortunately Morgan Hamm will not be competing. Yesterday he joined his twin Paul, a gold medalist in 2004 games, on the injured list and is out due to an ankle injury. The men's gymnastic team will carry on and I am sure it will prove exciting.

When I asked a while back, you all were most fired up about gymnastics, I thought I would post the general schedule of those events so you can watch or at least set up your TiVo.

To see the schedule read more

Weekend Reading: Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey

FitSugar — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 03:00:00 PDT

With the Summer games less than a week away and gymnastics on the top of my list of sports to watch, I was looking forward to reading Chalked Up by 1986 US Gymnastic Champion Jennifer Sey. Her memoir of the US gymnastic scene in the 80s is truly a page turner. This coming of age story is as much about the sport as Sey's overachieving, fiercely competitive personality. Although those traits might often be construed as negative, for a thirteen year old competitive gymnast they are essential.

The book is a bit repetitive, but the rhythm mirrors the relentless repetitions of "sticking" a complicated beam routine ten consecutive times. Her accounts of her injuries are particularly painful to read, and broken bones are celebrated as preferable injuries to career ending knee dislocations. Sey definitely delves into the darker side of gymnastics, how it denies a little girl childhood and denies a budding teenage womanly curves. Sey is berated for having three percent body fat at age 18 and this after abusing laxatives for years, and she states repeatedly that gymnastics is a sport for girls and at 17 she is over the hill.

There's more so

read more. Witnessing someone's struggle with her demons definitely holds a reader's interest, and to this story add the element of public competition of one of America's favorite women's sports and you have a page turner. Sey's demons are internal (perfectionism, body image) and external (the unforgiving apparatus like uneven parallel bars, four inch wide balance beam, the vault). Her internal struggles follow her into adulthood, but as a mother of two with a career in advertising she has definitely carved a life beyond gymnastics. You can see clips of her performing feats in competition at her website and you can buy her book online or check your local bookstore. It is a quick read and you could definitely finish it by August 10th when the female gymnasts begin competing in Beijing.

Lululemon's Ivivva Athletica Joins Disney For Kids' Collection

LilSugar — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:01:25 PST

Shake it up! Now lululemon-loving mamas will be able to have matching mini mes, thanks to the new line of dance and athletic gear from ivivva athletica, lulu's line for lil ones. Inspired by the Disney Channel's hit series Shake It Up, the Spring collection has everything your lil gymnast, dancer, or budding yogi needs for her active lifestyle, in all of the same fabrics and cuts that you've come to love for your own workouts. With pieces ranging from $12 - $58, the new collection is everything moms who love matching clothes need to get their lil one's grooves on!

Meet Alicia Sacramone, Olympic Beauty

BellaSugar — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:02:50 PST

The 2012 London Olympics kick off on July 27, but the US team members are already in game mode. We caught up with gymnast Alicia Sacramone, Team USA's vault expert, to find out what it's like to be a professional gymnast day to day. "A lot of people think we’re younger than we are because we’re in spandex and we’re little," Alicia says. "So all the time people are like, 'How old are you? Are you 14, 15?' And I’m like, 'I’m 24.'"

When it comes to the makeup gymnasts are known for, the shades aren't a spur-of-the-moment decision, and not every beauty product is welcome. "We’re not allowed to have colored nail polish when we’re competing," Alicia told us. As for color palettes, "It’s kind of a process," she admits. "You pick out your leotard and your warm-up suit a couple months in advance. Then I base my makeup off that." Typically, the P&G Beauty spokes-athlete can be seen wearing the brand's makeup, especially their lip gloss and stain, on the mat. "I try to have my eye shadows matching my leotard," Alicia adds. "That's one of the big things."

Do You Think the Chinese Gymnasts Are All Over 16 Years of Age?

FitSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:00:00 PDT

In a close competition, every detail falls under scrutiny.

The US women's gymnastic team, older and wiser than the gold-winning Chinese team, performed well minus a couple of falls and landed in second place. The 20-year-old team captain Alicia Sacramone, who unfortunately fell during both her floor routine as well as her balance beam exercise, tried to keep a positive attitude about winning silver as did her teammate Nastia Liukin. Although the team mostly accepted their defeat with grace, the age of the much younger Chinese team was once again questioned by US coach Marta Karolyi, wife of coach Beyla Karolyi with whom she trained gold medalists Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton. A report was published just before the games alleging that at least two of the Chinese gymnasts are only 14-years-old, making them ineligible for competition. Both of the Karolyis have complained that the stadium officials disrupted Sacramone's preparation prior to competing on the balance beam.

What do you think? Do you believe the Chinese gymnasts are all 16 years old? Or do you think these accusations are poor sportsmanship?

Source