A Gymnastics Blog
Health
FIG Anti-Doping Statistics
Jul 6th
Yesterday, FIG made public the 2009 statistics concerning the fight against doping in gymnastics. There’s some really interesting numbers in the report, overall it’s shows that there were a low number of positive cases discovered.
In 2009:
- The Registered Testing Pool included 179 gymnasts from 36 of the FIG’s 127 affiliated federations.
- 243 urine samples were collected and tested, 114 of which were taken during the last trimester at the time of world championship events. Out of these 243, 183 were performed in competition.
FIG says that the results are encouraging:
A mere two cases came back positive out of 247 samples taken. The first was an out of competition test concerning Brazilian Daiana dos Santos, the second Alisa Usmanova (BLR) at the Acrobatic World Cup in Vila do Condo, Portugal. Furosemide was the offensive substance in both cases.
Researchers to investigate sale of eating disorders among gymnasts
Jun 1st
According to Wales Online, Welsh researchers are to investigate sale of eating disorders among gymnasts. A team of researchers from Swansea University have been given a grant of £100,000 ($145,000 / €120,000) to find out if young star gymnasts are starving themselves for success.
They will begin their research which will span over 18 months, in partnership with British Gymnastics this summer. The Team will investigate how British elite gymnasts develop freedom of choice, self image and identity within the elite gymnastics environment they find themselves. The research project is a multi-disciplinary effort drawing from philosophical, psychiatric, and social-sciences research perspectives to understand the ethos of elite gymnastics. It’s the perfect time to do this research, given that gymnasts are currently training in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics and the World Championships in Rotterdam.
Steve Green , the Technical Manager of British Gymnastics says:
We hope to learn from this piece of research to better refine our identification system and pathway of intervention to the benefit of not only gymnastics, but to share the model with other sports.
It’s excellent to read in the article the BG already have a a frame work in place for supporting gymnasts with eating disorders. It’s great that British Gymnastics are supporting this research and it’ll be interesting to see the project results.
Shawn Johnson spreads a positive message about body image
May 28th
In the last few months there’s been chitter chatter and comments on forums and blogs relating to gymnastics physique and look. One gymnast who has been commented on a lot, mainly in regards to her legs, is Shawn Johnson. This week KCCI reports on how Shawn Johnson has been helping to spread a positive message to girls about body image and self esteem. Read the report here and see a very short clip of Shawn speaking.
Well done Shawn, it’s great to see people using their fame for good reasons and issues like this.
Iowa Olympic star Shawn Johnson helped to spread a positive message about body image and self-esteem in Des Moines on Thursday.
The gold medal-winning gymnast said she pulled from her own experience as a not-so-cookie-cutter star to help central Iowa girls learn what’s really important.
“There’s a huge push in the world on an image, a stereotypical, beautiful model image, especially in gymnastics,” Johnson said. “I was a huge target for that.”
She said it wasn’t unusual to hear stories in her sport about cases of anorexia and bulimia. She said that her 4 foot 11 inch muscular build wasn’t popular with some on Dancing with the Stars, either. Johnson said she was frequently compared to Holly Madison.
“I don’t know if you girls know who that is, but she’s a model and she’s like tiny and tall! And they’re like, ‘You have to become her,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m 4 foot 11, that’s not possible,’” Johnson said.The girls who came to hear Johnson speak are involved in the Chrysalis Foundation’s activities. The group sponsors afterschool activities for girls all over central Iowa.Participants said they’ve already learned a lot about growing up, being a better person, learning to deal with bullies and how to be themselves.
Johnson said she hoped her words would solidify that message.
“Image isn’t everything,” she said. “It’s what comes from your heart and what you learn and what you say and how you act that means more than anything.”
Little Links 24/5/10
May 24th
GymFinity discusses “No Excuses”
Are Plyometric exercises important in improving performance?
Daniel Keatings discusses From the highs of Success to the lows of injury
Beth Tweddle on becoming an MBE:
Little Links 13/5/10
May 13th
Helsinki has been chosen as the venue for the 2015 World Gymnaestrada
Theresa Murphy in Ireland is looking for extra judges for the County Kerry Community Games Finals on 23rd May. Judges will be paid for on the day. You can find contact information for Theresa here
Reebok Easy Tone Trainers: Day 1
Apr 16th
Last month, I was approached to try out Reeboks new “Easy Tone” trainers. The description from the Reebok Ireland site describes the shoes as:
Tailor-made for walking, with a slanted heel to propel your foot forward. Combine that with the latest technologies for comfort and muscle-toning benefits.
According to the website, Easytone uses;
Balance pods in the shoes to create natural instability, much like walking on a sandy beach, which encourage toning through increased muscle activation in 3 key areas of the leg
SmoothFit technology hides all seams for an irritation-free fit
Open-weave mesh provides breathable support, removable liner adds cushioning and accommodates orthotics, slanted heel enhances your walking stride
Synthetic and textile upper/textile lining/synthetic sole
My kit arrived earlier this week. I had forgotten what shoes I had chosen. It turns out that I chose the Easy Tone trend shoe. I’m really not loving the colour. The silver a makes them look a bit… 90’s and like space shoes, it’s a bit over powering. Ah well! It won’t stop me from trying them out. The cool thing is that for an extra cost, you can customize your own shoe on the Reebok website. I’m quite particular about the colour and shape of my shoes so for anyone like me, that’s ideal as long as your bank balance can afford it.
I wore the shoes for 3 hours whilst at gymnastics coaching yesterday evening. I noticed a significant difference when I tried them on to how my normal shoes feel. I felt slightly higher off the ground and the shoes felt spongey. I found a noticeable difference in the feeling of the sole, it’s more curved than that of your normal shoe. You can find out more about the shoes in the video below:
They were comfortable to walk in, although one thing I didn’t like was the clumping sound they seemed to make on the gym floor. They were comfortable to stand in whilst coaching. I came home and was tired, my back and legs ached but they do from standing in the gym often anyway and from lugging equipment around. Also, I wasn’t wearing my orthotics as I’d forgotten to take them out of my normal trainers. I can’t say I felt the burning and aching like other testers wrote in their posts.
I hope to wear them a bit more since the evenings are getting brighter and go for a walk after work. The real test will be at gymnastics training at the weekend when I’ll have more classes and be standing and walking around and moving equipment for 6 hours!
You can read two reviews of the trainers on the Debenhams website and also on Stefanie Grace’s blog. If anyone has tried these shoes before or you are also trying them out and writing a review, please feel free to comment below!
