Conditioning, killer crunches, high bars and more!

This is a post about Meridian Gymnastics!!

First of all, a HUGE thank you to the levels 4 through 8 girls and to Jess, Christine and the staff of Meridian for welcoming me into your gym and making me feel right at home.  Most of all, thank you all for your patience for this post.  My delay in posting in no way reflects the great times I had with all of you!!

As part of my week off from work in December (and again in January), I set out to shadow a gymnastics class at Meridian Gymnastics, where my friend Jessica teaches.  I didn't just attend any "class" but rather a level 4 through 8 team class.  These girls compete once to twice per month, year round!  They are no joke.  They train for three hours a night, nine hours a week!  I had a blast, visiting with them.  And if once wasn't enough, I went back a second time to really have some fun with the girls! 

Below are some photos from my time at Meridian but here is a "stock" photo of Jess (right) courtesy of facebook from the 2010 Visa Championships:

Go Meridian coaches!

Here is the schedule for the class I shadowed-- Levels 4 through 8:

Class begins at 5:45 and ends at 8:45, but Jess arrives well before then to prep for class (or should I say, think of ways to torture them ;)

Here are photos of some of the little gymnastics monkeys that I shared the floor with:

Okay, on to my time there!  The class starts with over an hour of warm up and stretching.  Who knew you needed that much stretching and warm up?  You don't have time to be bored because Jess makes sure you are gasping in discomfort the whole time.  I asked the team if they had any affectionate nicknames for Jess (such as "gymnastics Nazi") but they don't.  I on the other hand, dubbed her "evil stretch queen" for her inhuman like-ways of forcing splits, killer crunches and hamstring-stretching h-e-double hockey sticks.

My first time there was about observing what the team does, learning about them, their training and gymnastics generally.  For my next visit, Jess and the girls put together a list of things they wanted me to try (thankfully they were all achievable, AKA level 1--things a 4 year old could do--- easy.  I am grateful!! :)  I tried to be a good sport but of course I couldn't suppress my typical whining for the entire 3 hour class-- some of it was a bit scary! :)  Here is the list of some of the things I tried:

Cartwheels on the floor, floor beam and air trak
Back Handspring down the hill (a triangle-shaped foam "mat" used for training)
Handstands
Walking forward and backward on the high beam

Scale on the high beam (which is this:)

Swinging and casts on the high bar (both of which do this to your hands):

Tuck jumps, straddle jumps and forward rolls on the air trak

Back flips in the belt on the trampoline  (video here:)

 

back "flips" into the pit. As an aside, another kudos to Jess to forcing me to roll backwards into the pit and for calling it a back flip, hee hee. And to top the night off, we played a fun game called bear hug.  It's a fun version of duck duck goose, using wrestling moves (and some ultimate fighting moves if you ask me). You team up with another gymnast and sit in a straddle.  When a person points at your team, the front girl in the straddle needs to get to the "pointer" as quickly as possible, while the gymnast behind her tries to keep her in place.  Here I am schooling one of the older girls (guilt-free):

 
After spending six hours with these girls, it is easy to see why they are some of the best.  I am blessed and grateful to have met them and to have spent two wonderful Friday evenings doing their thing.  Thank you Jess, and thank you Meridian family.   hope to be back soon!

Best of luck on your future meets!!