Let me say the quiet part out loud: without culture, everything else falls apart. You can have the best drills, the best equipment, and the best skill progressions in the region — pair them with a bad culture and the result is still a loss. Culture is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and gymnastics […]
Let me start with a mistake I made for years: long running workouts and panel-mat plyo lines as “off-season cardio.” It felt like hard work, so it felt productive. But there’s a principle underneath this — the SAID principle (Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands). Adaptations are specific to the exact demand you train. A gymnast […]
Here’s the thing most coaches miss about the off-season: it isn’t a break from the real work. It is the real work. Once the competitive season starts, you are maintaining what you built — not building. That’s not a motivational line; it’s how adaptation works. Strength and structural changes require a progressive overload stimulus applied […]
Here’s the exciting part: bigger splits, better leaps, and higher scores next season are absolutely within reach — and they come from working smarter, not just stretching harder. The off-season is your window to give your gymnasts real, usable flexibility: range that’s safe, that holds up under pressure, and that actually shows up in their […]
Every spring I get a wave of DMs, emails, and consulting calls from coaches who had a frustrating season. Injuries they didn’t see coming. Floor cardio that wasn’t there in February when they needed it. Skills that stalled out right before nationals. And what I hear from almost all of them is some version of: […]
Hey all! You may have heard that we recently opened up enrollment for the next cohort of the Champion PT Mentorship with myself, Mike Reinold, and Dan Pope which you can see here https://mikereinold.com/champion-sports-physical-therapy-mentorship-online-course/ One of the most common topics we got questions on during the first cohort was how to deal with the super […]
Toxic gymnastics cultures, when left unchecked, erode everyone inside making a massive negative impact on their health and performance while healthy gymnastics cultures, when nourished, elevate everyone to their highest levels of enjoyment in the sport. For those working in the sport, whether as coaches, athletes, parents, or medical staff, the atmosphere, and underlying cultural […]
Today is SHIFT’s 10 Year Anniversary. It’s insane for me to even write that. In October 2013, I wrote a blog post about hip flexor stiffness in gymnasts. 10 years later, SHIFT has grown into an international company and brand I feel has helped a lot of people. I’m blown away by the amount of […]
We’re thrilled to be just days away from the highly anticipated 2023 Shift Symposium. Over three days, we’ll be hosting an array of outstanding speakers who will cover gymnastics techniques, drills, progressions, medical care, strength and conditioning, and much more. While live tickets may no longer be available by the time this episode airs, there […]
Gymnastics coaching is a challenging and rewarding profession that requires a diverse set of skills. To really excel in the sport, be happy at work, and effectively work with athletes, coaches need to possess certain key attributes. In this article, I want to share five of the most important skills for gymnastics coaches to have […]
