Photo-Shoot!

There are some doubles because I thought that some of the photos looked good in color and B&W

Enjoy!

Some of my double stag handstands

Those of you who know me will know that handstands are my favorite gymnastic skill, and double stags are my particular favorite. 

Enjoy!

Get Motivated to Condition!

Everyone has their days when they just don't want to condition their body for gymnastics...at all!

Weeeeell...here are some things that help me get motivated to work my muscles to the maximum!

1. Watch YouTube videos. 

You'll be surprised to find how helpful it is to get motivated just by watching somebody else pump their body up. Try it! It helps me every time. (I watch Rhythmic gymnasts when I don't want to stretch. LOL)

2. Turn on loud music.

Sometimes all you need to do is blow your ears off and listen to the loudest song you got! It helps if you're doing V-ups, bicycles, or crunches if you speed up at the chorus. (This also works for any exerciser, but I prefer to do it with my core more than anything because it's so weak)

3. Mix it up. 

Nobody likes to just do chin ups, push ups, and crunches, why not add in cartwheels, handstands, and flipping on the trampoline? 

For example, if you dislike push ups set a goal of doing 10-20 and then do five cartwheels, or 7 back flips on the tramp. You're still burning calories and building muscles while doing something fun and exciting.

That's all I have for now, so I hope this helped and you're ready to go and pump up your muscles!

  

Mental Blocks

  I get a lot of comments on my YouTube about mental block problems, self taught and non-self taught gymnasts alike. 

   I've decided it would be so easy just to write a blog post about it and send them to the same answer ever time. 

  Here is the plain and simple truth about mental blocks. They're horrible!!!

  Everybody hates them, everybody wants to overcome them, the problem is you can't just tell someone to overcome their mental blocks, they have to do it themselves. 

 Before we get to overwhelmed, I'll explain a mental block.

You're outside, and you want to do a handstand. You get ready in your stance, and you're about to go for it when suddenly you have a sudden clench in your gut and you think, "What if I get hurt? What if I land on my head and get paralyzed?! Forget it, I'm not doing it." But you still really want to do a handstand!!! You really don't want to give up but you can't think of any other way to do it without getting hurt.

1.     Watch YouTube videos.

2.     Get a spotter. (Somebody to grab your legs and help you if you fall.)

Don't do any skill that you're not comfortable with. I know it's hard but courage will come with time. It came for me and it will come for you. Just relax and remember that you're not the only one going through a mental block, everybody goes through them, not just you. 

  It sounds cheesy, but in all honesty you have to believe that you can do it and when you feel comfortable JUST DO IT!

Watching YouTube videos was/is the best medicine for me. 

DO NOT WATCH ANY FAIL VIDEOS WHEN YOU'RE GOING THROUGH A MENTAL BLOCK! EVER!!!

  If you have anymore questions then just email me at gymnasticschannel101@gmail.com.

Thanks, bye!

~Lydia

Some new gymnastics pics!