11 January 2009

Shawn Johnson, USA Gymnastic Olympic Team Beijing 08', Runner Up All-Around, Gold Medalist Balance Beam; I wish I was still sixteen

Dudes, and Dudets, in a gymnastics gym. Today, Crossfit St. Charles hosted an open gym in the Generation Gymnastics gym where they share space. There were about fifteen of us, all Crossfit folk, from various affiliates around the St. Louis region, a large presence however was from Crossfit Valley Park. I did not bring my camera, so in the mean time I will wait until others post pictures so that I can then 'borrow' them and post them here, but in the mean time click on the Valley Park link, they have already posted a few pics.

I almost did not get out of bed this morning, but I am glad that I did, it was a great time. Steven is out of town, but Sam and Herbie, you guys really missed out, and so our next workout is going to be extra awful. At the workshop was a girl who led the group through the gymnasium, showing and detailing various exercises and apparatuses, and allowing us uninhibited reign at making fools of ourselves, proving even for Crossfitters, the laws of physics and most importantly gravity, still apply, and thank God for foam pits and soft reminders. BTW: The girl leading the workshop clearly was not impressed whatsoever with Crossfit and seemed very eager to see said laws of physics at work accompanied by grunts and whines... I liked her.

I have been to Team Central Gymnastics open gym hours a handful of times. Those moments were great as well (I have grown to really love gymnastics in the past year) and the set up was quite similar. A bunch of dudes, and sometimes dudets, jumping, pulling, swinging, balancing, etc all over the place with an instructor to make sure no one was planning on bouncing into a wall or doing something beyond a layman's acceptable version of stupid. However, those situations, despite one instance where I was the only in attendance and received almost one-on-one instruction, were quite often intimidating. And being in the presence of other dudes and dudets, without any formal training opposite to theirs, working on handstands while they tumbled ridiculous routines, just the clash of experience and the vibe put forth was at times too much. Though I learned a lot from some of them it was nonetheless a weight.

This workshop, set with some familiar faces but all with similar foundations, provided a totally comfortable experience. No need to expand further, it was just plain nice, and I thank the always charming Kim over at Crossfit St. Charles, and hope that she can set up more workshops like that in the future.

On a personal note: One of the skills that I wanted to learn upon first actively engaging in gymnastics was a tumbling pass. Today I performed for the first time a round off tied to a backhand spring. It was done on the trampoline runway deal, and honestly it was more of a mental hurdle, but a big hurdle, and I am quite excited by that. Next up, take it to the floor. Nothing To It.