Acrobatics Means Tough Training... and Some Fun Too! (2023/4)

For the second day running we have two posts on the same date. DON'T MISS the FIRST ONE featuring our favourite gym training!

And Now: ACROBATICS, whether in the entertainment profession or in the acrobatic form of gymnastics, demands a high level of commitment with training of strength, balance, flexibility and endurance. Training over, those skills allow for some fun stuff as well! We start there with five guys, probbaly from an acrobatic troupe, 'relaxing' at home...

Now, two rather similar routines, first in rehearsal and then in performance with Cirque:

Now I feature several cliips of an acrobatic gymnastics "mens pair" from the USA (I have not yet identified who they are or where they train - maybe you can help. I have posted several of their clips before but here we can enjoy various developments of their training (and we can expect to see them in the world championships before too long I think):

The first is seen from a headcam worn by the 'base' guy:

Don't under-rate the contribution of the base - he is responsible for maintaining the balance once the 'top' hs arrived in position - and often provides the power to get him there. Hence this form of training:

In men's pairs - and fours - the 'top' is invariably the smallest (and probebly youngest) guy. A general view amongst coaches (like ourselves) is that if the top is not sustaining a one-arm balance by reaching age eight, then it is going to be awfully hard work to get them up to international standard.

Here is a 'four', showing off on the beach. They are obviously well trained as one can see from how they 'connect' and work together:

We would judge that they have trained together at least 15 hours per week for a year to get there.

Here are four more 'equal' young boys clearly showing ambition and coordination is some rather easier moves (that is, assuming that you can sustain a back bend ("bridge") with someone on top of you! The 'top' needs some work on his planche near the end but he'll get there, for sure:

Here's a strong front planche:

Here's a French pair, more evenly matched in terms of age:

In previous posts we have featured various young gymnasts who train hard in their homes as well as in their clubs, achieving some quite impressive moves. Andreii K lives near Moscow, I think, and posts on Instagram some remarkable endurance feats like an hour of successive leg lifts: here he, too, starts with a planche:

Good training for planches and handstand lifts is to repeat them, thus strengthening the necessary muscles. Alexander Z, who used to be in Donbas but has relocated to Russia (no comment, please) shows us three of his home training clips:

Talking of young fitness, this Ninja is cool!

We have also featured young Cristiano R from Venuzuela who, with his dad as 'base', reently made it to the semifinals of Spain's Got Talent, dressed as 'Mowgli' on an interesting set. Would have loved them to do another feature for the final, but we think they missed out. I posted their routine a couple of weeks ago, but here are some stills, the first featuring his free head balance:

As you can see, whilst the free head is unusual in competitive acrobatic gymnastics, there are a whole variety of one-arm balance positions. Cristiano (and his dad) are anyway a circus family, and live this stuff 24/7.

Ilya is another circus boy, Russian:

Some more one-arm balancing:

On the way to one-arm...

And a little piece of history: Thomas Carlton as 'Joey' in a 1942 Tarzan film was also a circus performer and shows us his one-arm... style then not so good, but it was early days!

Just to say (in case other gymnastics coaches are watching and think we don't know better!) that the boy's 'banana back' handstand shape is horrible, and shows a lack of shoulder flexibility. We're sure he improved as he grew through his teen years of continuous acrobatic performance (there was never time for another film role).

Sometimes the bent back is deliberate as in this press to full habdstand from tiger balance: