"The Naked Art" - yes, if that title grabbed your attention for the wrong reasons, look away now! It is a literal translation from the Greek of the word GYMNASTICS, and back in the day it was a collection of different sports, performed naked by boys and teens and only guys were allowed to watch. It included athletics, wrestling, discus, shot put and stuff like that. The word now describes a totally different collection of activities usually NOT performed naked(although most guys prefer to train shirtless!) - by both boys and girls. The guys get six activities: parallel bars, high bar, floor tumbling, rings, vault and pommel horse and, incidentally, that horse is the one item directly remaining from Olympian days - the pommels (handles) themselves were on side saddles designed to be be ridden on real horses by ladies in long skirts.  In one language we are aware of (German), the work Gymnasium actually means 'high school' and the word for gymnastics is TURNEN , which a...

We unexpectedly had to take a day off from posting yesterday. Let's just say that it was a day involving a very long journey!  This got us thinking about taking days off from training. Some say you should not, but they're wrong. One day at least is highly desirable for a brain and body re-set. And, of course, you don't train the same muscles two days running - you need to give them time to recover from the deliberate stress you have caused, and let them build back with that little bit more. So establish a routine that works for you and try to stick with it - and then, after a while, vary things a bit. A change is as good as a rest.  Happy training! You'll feel good about yourself.   Go on - take your body by surprise! You know it needs it!