Coach Keith's Corner

The bar muscle up isn't the only way to get on top of the bar.  Even though they will never be in a crossfit competition it is fun to learn a couple other ways.  Below is a video of me doing a bar muscle up, then a glide kip and then a back uprise.  Notice they are a little different.  One thing they have in common is the pull down that puts you up on top of the bar.   You want to think of your shoulders going behind the bar then pulling down on all of them.  Here is a...

We just had regionals and some of the gymnasts did well and some didn't do as well and didn't reach their goal of qualifying to nationals.  I sit down and have conferences with the kids after they are done each season to discuss how they are working and set goals etc. One of the kids I talked with came from another gym last year. He is very talented and works really hard taking a lot more turns than the other kids. Problem was he was inconsistent when he competed.  He was bummed because he feels he worked harder but got beat...

Ok I am not a big motivational speech type coach and hate reading a bunch of articles about reaching your goals.  I like to  think goal setting is just having a plan with milestones.  I know in my life - rather its work or even working out  - I don't really give it my all unless I have to reach a milestone.  (right now I admit I am sort of just going through the motions in my workouts but sometimes that's ok too - or so I tell myself).  If you don't have an objective, plan and deadline its pretty much impossible...

It was 1996 and I had American Online.  Somehow i was on this email list about gymnastics.  Usually I didn't even read it since it was mostly about silly things like Amanda Borden's haircut.  Well one day I came home from Party in the Park (may have had a few) and I came across a post. It was from an manager of a gym in Spain that said they had a gymnast who lost his Cuban coach. The gymnast was demoralized and going to quit but  wanted to try one more time to make European Championships.  I never respond to this...

Here are some tips to string those Toes to Bar together.. I am assuming that you have a general idea of toes to bars but you have trouble doing them together. If You get out of rhythm and have to jump down try these tips. The first video is just the shapes you should learn.  Work on holding these shapes on the bar.  Notice that I open in my shoulders and chest.  In the open/arch phase, think of pushing back on the bar.  The more flexible your shoulders are, the more aggressive your kipping motion can be, so work on...