Hmmm. 100th post of 2025 today, so we'll go back to one of our favourite subjects. Everyone admires acrobats for their flexibility, strength and balance. Well, those are the things that come from regular training, alongside - most important of all - commitment. If you are working with a partner, then we need to add in 'trust'. Trust that your partner is always prepared in case something doesn't quite right and you need to be caught or supported. It takes years of dedication to achieve some of the things you see in shows, circus or indeed in amateur acrobatic gymnastics clubs. Friendships made doing acro last for life. We should know. Here's a succession of things going well, and occasionally not so well. Above all, make it FUN.  That is from the top acrobatic gymnastics club in the UK - Spelthorne - part of their Christmas display from a few years ago. The art of the possible with good training. We go next to the USA to admire the current generation - one lad from S...

 Not everyone thinks that gymnastics is the greatest sport in the world - just us maybe, with acrobatic leanings. But without doubt it needs - and creates - extremely fit young people with well-developed strength while maintaining flexibility and endurance. So right now we celebrate that. It's mainly video action in this post, but we start some some cheerful 'big names' and also some guys having fun. Yes, I know we started with a still pic of the eventual outcome but, as you see here, it wasn't that easy! And, a finally, a young lad who's clearly a bit of a showoff (and embryo break dancer we think)...  ...and dad's justifiably proud of him!    

 Gymnastics requires strength, flexibility, endurance and balance and is thus needs a great deal of physical training time in addition to the actual skills which are performed. 6 apparatus for the guys. Gymnastics actually means "the naked art" but we don't do it that way... and, indeed, the original Greek variety involved naked boys performing field sports like javelin and discus, and wrestling - so very different from what goes on in 21st-century gymnasiums! And that's a strange word too, because in German it means 'High Schools'! Whatever. Let's admire the work put in by modern gymnasts. Even when they are just chilling in their gyms, the excellent body image built by the sport is very obvious.    

The perfect sport for strength, flexibility, skill and endurance. Much to admire here.