February Update

Great news! After talking with the coaches at another gym, I now have a place to train! Which means I've been so busy flipping that I haven't had much time to post. So here's a quick update!

With the huge weight of not knowing where I would train finally off my shoulders, I'm able to start putting together lesson plans and actually set reasonable goals. I have access to the gym Monday, Wednesday and Saturday so I spend those days training for about 2 hours (or as long as I can last!). Off days I try to do something to cross train: run with the dog, swim, weight machines, etc. And every single day I try to do oversplits and a basic core complex. It's a lot of work and a lot of time, and some days I can barely walk, but the process has been so much fun and so worth it.

Here's the update on skills:

VAULT
I don't have access to a table with a pit and I'm not ready to flip without that so this update is kind of boring. Vault seems to do the most damage to my body so I'm working on building up my strength before tackling the event. More on this later!

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BARS
Strangely enough, bars has become my favorite event. It doesn't hurt as much as the others, it's come back to me the most naturally, and I'm not that scared of things. It's odd because I don't remember bars ever being my thing, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Here's where my skills are at:
Pak saltos on real bars
Straddle backs on real bars with mats stacked
Toe on shoot connected to giants
Clear hip to handstand
Blind change, front giant, 1/2 pirouette to giants (see video!

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BEAM
Not gonna lie, beam has been challenging. I don't like to use low beams because they feel different than high beams so if I don't feel like I'm ready do something on high beam, I won't do it anywhere. This obviously annoys me and leads me to chucking things on the high beam, but there is a limit to what I'll throw. So I feel kind of stuck, but I also know that I'm feeling more and more confident as I'm taking the time to work basics and build up my strength.

Here's where my skills are at:
Straddle jump, tuck 1/1
Switch leap & switch side
2/1 turn on low, 1/1 on high
Front and back handsprings
Gainer layout on high beam
Gainer dismounts

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FLOOR
Similar to vault, floor puts a significant amount of strain on my body and it's a difficult balance to determine how hard to push it. Luckily, I've realized that the Level 9 reqs for floor are pretty doable so I don't have to kill myself. I'll have another post about requirements and explain how routines are made, but for now, I have three tumbling passes that I can do that are sufficient for Level 9. That being said, I (of course!) plan to do more challenging passes.

Here's where my skills are at:
R/o handspring double full
R/o whip handspring full
Front handspring full
Front handspring layout, punch pike
3/1 turn
Switch side, straddle full, shushunova

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And that's what's up! I'll post as much as I can to keep this thing updated, but if you don't hear from me, you know where I'm at. ;)

Thanks for reading!

Ashley