North West Gymnastics is now offering Online Resources for our Gym Families!
#nwgonline includes Live Video’s and Classes, Private Facebook Groups, Instructional Video’s and Resources, Skill Challenges and so much more.
Access is based on your NWG Family Website Account so you can access our resources for your Whole Family!!
With fortnightly subscription levels from Platinum, Gold and Silver to meet any budget.
Someday she will perform her final cartwheel, back tuck or giant swing.
There will be no more achievement ribbons to earn, compulsories or optional routines.
No coaches wrangling kids into classes, and no judges in blue handing out scores.
And the leotards will be tucked into storage or passed on to former team members.
Someday, for all kids who do the sport, gymnastics will come to an end. For some it may be after a few months, others after years and still others will only put down the grips when college is over or even beyond.
But this I guarantee: at some point everyone who does gymnastics retires.
So, while I am committed to making sure all the kids in my programs get awesome instruction and have a wonderful gymnastics experience, I am even more committed to ensuring that they take with them life lessons that will serve them far beyond the years that they spent in the gym.
After all, if all goes, as it should, a person should spend significantly more time in the post-gymnastics phase of life.
Gymnastics carries young people forward with a number of skills that aid in making them a successful adult. Here are some of them:
Read more “Gymnasts Salute: 16 Ways Being a Gymnast Made You a Successful Adult”
Gymnastics teaches kids how to move with confidence and competence – better than any other sport! That’s why it’s not only a great sport on its own, it’s also the ideal springboard to all other sports – a fact that’s recognized by The International Olympic Committee.
Gymnastics teaches the fundamental movement and sports skills that are at the core of every other sport. Fundamental movement skills include skills like climbing, swinging, balancing and landing. It develops the ABCs of athleticism: agility, balance, coordination and speed. In fact, gymnastics is so good at developing these skills that Canadian Sport for Life recommends gymnastics programs as a way to help children learn these skills!
The importance of having fundamental physical skills cannot be overstated. When kids learn these skills, they are developing physical literacy. Experts agree that physical literacy is just as important to a child’s development as learning how to read and write. Read more “Why Gymnastics?”
Grips are strongly recommended for Level 3 Gymnasts and above. We’ve compiled the resources below where you can source your own alternatively we can measure, size and source these for you. Read more “Grips, Hand Guards and Loops”
Lately we’ve been talking with the kids on Deliberate Practice. Focussing on specific parts of skills and making sure that every attempt of a skill has a deliberate focus.
We found this and thought we’d share.
Deliberate practice refers to a special type of practice that is purposeful and systematic. While regular practice might include mindless repetitions, deliberate practice requires focused attention and is conducted with the specific goal of improving performance.
The greatest challenge of deliberate practice is to remain focused. In the beginning, showing up and putting in your reps is the most important thing. But after a while we begin to carelessly overlook small errors and miss daily opportunities for improvement.
This is because the natural tendency of the human brain is to transform repeated behaviors into automatic habits. For example, when you first learned to tie your shoes you had to think carefully about each step of the process. Today, after many repetitions, your brain can perform this sequence automatically. The more we repeat a task the more mindless it becomes.
Mindless activity is the enemy of deliberate practice. The danger of practicing the same thing again and again is that progress becomes assumed. Too often, we assume we are getting better simply because we are gaining experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our current habits—not improving them.
Read more “Deliberate Practice”
An amazing video on how gymnastics can further ones achievement in other sports and life.
Several gymnasts explain how their participating in gymnastics helps them in other important areas of their lives. For example:
General Hand Care
Gymnasts will undoubtedly form callouses on their hands from working on bars. Hand Grips are recommended during gymnastics training and competitions to aid in the prevention of Rips. Please note gymnasts may still Rip under grips.
You can fin our Post on Grips, Hand Guards and Bar Loops here or alternatively contact us and we can measure, size and source these for you.
The concepts of physiology are well developed in gymnastics training. I recently came across this article that explains the concept of fast and slow twitch muscle fibres from verywellfit.com which aligns well with the latest approaches on some of the concepts for competitive strength (or even better – Power) training.
While there is much more to it in terms of power vs strength this article outlines some of the target muscle fibres that our programs (in the higher levels) are designed to target once fundamental levels of strength are achieved.
We receive a lot of questions around suitable nutrition and dietary demands for Gymnasts. Here we provide some advice from recent conferences that we have attended with sports dietitians on good eating habits for gymnasts.
There are numerous resources and beliefs regarding nutrition. We do recommend if you have any questions that you refer these to a qualified Sports Dietitian registered with Sports Dietitians Australia.
You can also check out SDA’s Nutrition for Gymnastics recommendations at the link: Food for your sport – Gymnastics or their Food For Gymnastics Factsheet.
Gymnastics Australia recently released this article on Nutrition for Gymnasts: http://gymnastics.org.au/GA/Posts/News_Articles/2018/09_Sep/Nutrition_during_training.aspx
The body only absorbs proteins in small quantities from each meal. Protein is a critical part of soft tissue recovery. It is recommended that gymnasts have an intake of 4-6 meals a day containing 20 grams of protein each. This is to aid muscle recovery and development.
What does 20g of protein look like?
Meals should be balanced. Using the ideal meal plate model this means 50% vegetables or salads, 25% Low GI carbohydrates and, 25% lean proteins.
Whole foods are recommended over packaged foods. Consider replacement of packaged foods with the real alternative. Whole fruits, cut raw vegetable sticks, boiled eggs, lean meats are a great alternative to packaged foods.
Muscle cramps are often associated with lack of hydration or sodium deficiency.
Sports drinks are not recommended due to their high sugar levels. Hydrolyte sachets are a consideration in extreme circumstances. Water and a good balanced diet is strongly recommended over supplements.
Avoid packaged snacks where possible with replacement for whole foods.
Juice poppers can be replaced with a piece of fruit and water. Be aware of the sugar levels in packaged drinks.
Some great snacks may include:
Avoid Packaged foods, Packaged fruits in syrups, foods high in fats, high sugar muesli bars, juice poppers (high in sugar), packaged “Veggie Straws”, Nutella, Packets of Chips.
It’s amazing how that small three-letter word— yet —changes the entire meaning and direction of the sentence. Read more “💫⚡ The Power of Yet ⚡💫”
Here’s a few resolutions that your Gymnast may like to read through and choose a few to help them not only at Gymnastics but at school and home.
❤️
A brilliant video on the life lessons from gymnastics.
#thebenefitsofgymnastics
Learn more about The Benefits of Gymnastics here.
What if Johnny never learns a cartwheel? Or how about if Janie never masters holding a handstand? Would there still be any value in putting your preschooler in a gymnastics class?
Yes, I say.
Absolutely, yes.
In addition to it being a lot of fun, here are twenty reasons your preschool aged child should do gymnastics that have nothing to do with learning gymnastics.
Read more “20 Reasons your Preschooler should do Gymnastics”
Read more “How Gymnastics Helps Your Child Succeed in School”
Gymnastics is hard. I know. But, I also know that is why you love it. The challenges gymnastics faces you with everyday in the gym are the reasons you show up to practice everyday. You “want” to get better. You “want” to make it to the next level. You “want” to be just like the “big girls” in the gym. But being successful in the sport of gymnastics takes a lot more than “wanting”.
Being successful in gymnastics takes a life consuming dedication to the sport. You may be having a hard day, week, or month in the gym right now but don’t give up on yourself or the sport that loves you just quite yet. You are a gymnast, that means you are currently training in one of the hardest sports in the world. You may not realize it right now, but this sport will teach you so many life lessons. You are a tenacious girl, with a fiery spirit who can out do all the boys in a pull-up contest on the playground any day. So here is my letter to you. Gymnast to gymnast, I know you can get through this…all you need is a little pep-talk.
It has been said life is equal parts what happens to us and how we process what happens to us.
I think that is very true in gymnastics. The attitudes and beliefs that a gymnast has about herself and the sport will inevitably shape how long she participates, or at least how happy she is while she is involved.
Read more “9 Beliefs That Will Lead Your Gymnast to Quit (or at Least be Very Unhappy)”
Of late we’ve all been thinking about a New Year, our goals and resolutions. Well the same should apply for our gymnasts.
For our competitive athletes Goal Setting is critical given the difficulty and the time required to develop and progress in the sport.
Looking for loops or straps for Gymnastics High Bar work
Contact: Cobblers Cleveland
Peter and Gaylene
Ph 07 38212352
cobcleve@hotmail.com