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Advice To CrossFit Athletes From A Gymnastics Coach, Physical Therapist, and Former Gymnast (Part 1)

After coming back from my first week teaching at Power Monkey Camp, I finally took some time to put an article series together related to some thoughts on gymnastics in CrossFit. I really stand behind Dave Durante’s approach to gymnastics…
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5 Reasons Training Proper Breathing Is Key (Part 3): Increase Routine Endurance and Breathing Drill Videos

Two weeks ago I started this post, and people have really seemed to enjoy it. If you missed Part 1 (find it here) I covered some basics about breathing, some concepts related to core stability, and the influence of breathing on movement. In…
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Follow Up To Gymnast with Shoulder Instability and Pain During Overshoots, Plus Shoulder Performance Drills

A few months ago I posted an article related to general hypermobility/instability causing shoulder pain in one of my level 9 gymnasts. I brought up some concepts that I think are very important related to flexibility training, dynamic stability,…
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Improving Overhead Mobility and Transferring It To Handstands : “Overhead Shoulder Performance Complex” Example

I had a great response from the post I put up a few weeks ago related to improving split mobility through one variation of the "Hip Performance Complex" I have been playing around with. I think this approach to changing movement and building…
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Improving Split Mobility and Transferring It To Beam: “Performance Complex” Hip Example

One of the biggest things I see is problematic in terms of performance and injury in gymnastics is when we focus so much on mobility, but then neglect the steps that should come after to change movement. These include drills to add dynamic…
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How Much Flexibility Is Too Much For A Gymnast?

I've been touching on this concept a lot in the last year, and I think it's very important for the people involved in gymnastics to consider. Gymnastics is well known as a sport that requires an excessive amount of mobility and flexibility (I…
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Are Dips and “Skin The Cat” Type Stretches Dangerous For Female Gymnasts?

I've been brewing on this topic for over a year now, originally sparked one of Eric Cressey's articles on the possible dangers of using dips with baseball players.  Reading that article and some other literature made me start to scratch…
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Screening Overhead Mobility in Gymnasts (Application of The JBJ Approach To Handstands Pt 3)

Last month I started writing about how I apply the Joint by Joint Theory proposed by Gray Cook/Mike Boyle into a basic gymnastics movement, the handstand. In Part I of this article series I went over some background info, and talked about the…
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5 Reasons Why I Don’t Push My Gymnasts Down During Splits – Part 2

The response to Part 1 of this post was incredible and ended up being one of the most viewed pieces of content on the site. I got some great feedback and it was awesome to see people enjoyed it. I think it's a topic many people involved in gymnastics think…
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5 Reasons Why I Don’t Push My Gymnasts Down During Splits – Part 1

Bet that title caught your eye as you were browsing. Well it's true, safe to say I haven't really pushed anyone down during splits or much of any flexibility for quite some time now. I had plenty of memories as a gymnast standing up after…