I am at breakthough point where each day I train I am hitting key major breakthroughs. It started about a week ago when I moved from doing kickovers in the morning  as part of my warm up to going straight into Slinkies to warm up. Goal was initially to do three single slinkies to warm up. I blew past that quick enough and today I did a triple slinky, followed by a sexto slinky followed by a nanoslinky. For a total of 18 slinkies as part of my warmup. I can see it will not be long before I do a Decaslinky to warm up and then move onto other techniques. It is coming….

After that I did 3 Combos (FLKO, Slinky, BWO, FLSU, Stick). The third was perfect, the first two had minor steps. Still massive progress over the last month. So much harder to do such a combination versus the same technique multiple times. I am going to start working on Front Walkovers and will be able to include this into the Combo as well and then will include Back Handspring Stepout as well as soon as I am confident to do that. It is coming…….

I then worked on Upslinkies and got 5/5 on the Level 2 but could not get the Level 3 today. I am working on it and am close. If I was not going away I would have 5/5 within a week. My back is in incredible shape so this will be coming and then I am going for Level 4 as well and that will open up the upper back even more. It is coming……

My body is very unbalanced with my left leg being about 10 times as strong in kickovers than the other. Rather than working down panel mats I decided to focus on doing the leg lifts from the floor and eventually the panel will start settling into the body and then it will just kickover. Once I get there I will keep working on it until I can slot it into the combo and alternate the combo on each foot. It is coming……

As part of doing the leg lifts I decided yesterday to do a back bend into position. When I did this I though how would it be to do it with my eyes closed. Yesterday I did the back bend with my eyes closed. Today I did the whole technique including the Stand up with my eyes closed. A lot more in touch with the body when doing this. I am going to start doing a lot more techniques with my eyes closed to the point I can do the combo withe my eyes closed. It is coming…

Next I worked on Beam Slinkies followed by Back Walkover. A beam slinky is where you start on both feet and have hands in beam position and lean back with the hands on the ground and push through the shoulders and then kickover and land on the 4″ beam (simulated). Yesterday I added a back walkover it to get used to doing more combination techniques. Today I added the Back Walkover for all five. Did great. I used to be unstable or come off the side on the Beam Slinky. Not any more. Soon I will be doing this Back Walkover in Beam position as well so I can get used to doing the Back Walkover-Back Handspring so I can take it to the beam. It is coming……

I then went and worked on handstands. While I was doing it, I had Leigh come over and she asked me to show her how to do a handstand. She is one of the yoga instructors. I said of course. I gave her some key distinctions and spotted her on a handstand and she got to experience good form…Tight abs, Tight Back, Toes Pointed etc. She said I spent the first 50 of my life walking on my feet,I decided I want to learn  during  the next 50 to learn to walk on my hands. I said, “Me Too’, I explained my goal is to be able to walk around the gym on my hands for five minutes around a walking track. She is excited about doing more with me. 5 minutes on my hands. I did my longest walk today at 22 steps. It is coming…..

I am looking forward to getting more and more flexibility. Here are some of my current goals…….

Overall I am in excellent shape, the body is strong and getting more flexible by the day. The next 24 days in the UK should increase my flexibility and strength even more. So Excited… Go Heroes!!!

Back in Jan I was at the point where my back was just in amaing shape and I was did 5/5 Upslinkies onto the 3 panel mat (L-3) before hurting myself again. Only yesterday I got back to doing 5/5 Upslinkies on the two panel mat. I did that today as well and went for the 3 panel mat. I failed. I failed. I failed. I failed again. Then I made it. Ahh. The joy of pushing my boundaries and getting back there. I can see that I am very close to returning to the greatest flexibility I have ever had.

Also my back is so conditioned now that my warm includes some cobra stretches for five minutes followed by slinkies. Yesterday I did a Slinky followed by a Quad Slinky followed by an Octoslinky. When I went in this morning I felt strong so I decided to go for a Double Slinky right off the bat. Made it. Then did a Pentaslinky also a personal best and then did an Octoslinky (failed going for a Nanoslinky).

After that I did my three combos although I did double kick on one technique. I also got to focus on why my arm comes out on a standup. Will pay more attention to that. I then went onto Beam Slinkies which I double kicked on a couple of them but on the fifth one I did a Beam Slinky straight into a BWO. Huge progress in combining techniques.

I then worked on getting my right leg going for kickovers. Rather than doing it off the panel mats which is where I hurt myself before from being so twisted I changed strategy. I decided to do a backbend and then simply raise the right leg up five times and get used to the motion and as it gets more comfortable I will then docus on doing that while kicking with the left leg and eventually if I do that every morning as well it will get to the point where I will be able go over effortlessly. I love this strategy and know it will beam fruit with the focus I now have and my back in such great condition.

Next I did handstands and just had an average day with these until I started to do walking. I did fantastic and did my longest walk (19 steps) and did the highest average walk on my hands. Being able to walk on your hands is all about control and body shapes and strength and balance. It was critical to get good form in handstands before starting to walk on them, so I am ready no. My goal is to be able to spend five minutes walking around on my hands around LA Fitness and do a course on the ground including turns, splits and other handstand postures ie stag. Big goal but I am up for it. There was lots more stretching as well on all splits which are all coming along well.

So exciting. I get to have another great day of training at LA Fitness tomorrow before going to see Doc and then training really early on Tues with coach from 4:30am-7:30am. It was the only time we could do because we had to be out for a summer camp starting at 7:30. I love my coach so much. He is the best.

Breakthroughs

I had my final session with coach before heading over to the UK to do some more work with experts over there in the area of flexiblity. Coach showed me the Stag Handstand and wants me to start work on various different positions including this one so I can have a lot more control. It is exciting and a very different feeling. Here is an example of Svetlana doing it on the beam.

I had a very rough day at the gym. Physically I am in excellent form. Emotionally I was a wreck with a whole lot of other things gong on behind the scenes. Upheaval with schedules, travel, Robby getting into a second car accident only months after recovering and news my grandfather passed away in Bulgaria. I apologized to coach afterwards.

I had an ineffective morning at LA Fitness although I did do three perfect combos to show what shape my body is in. When I arrived with coach he said how are you Bobbie. I said “Physically Great. Emotionall Horrible”. We taked for a while and then began tumbling. I tumbled well enough and got to Back Tucks and did five good ones and one that was very high but just not consistent. We then did some Standing Back Handsprings and that was not working well.

Next we went to Front Handsprings. I had never made one yet by myself and after coach spotting me I made a number in row and got greater and greater clarity. Finally coach says OK Bobbie you can do it by yourself now. Well I ran did the Handspring and landed on my butt eight times in a row. I then did one where I was close. The challenge with Front  Handsprings is that you go into a perfect handstand and then have to block (push) up and drive the feet through an arch into the ground ground as close to your hands as possible and stay looking at the ceiling. Of that arch is too big you sit. If you don’t extend through the handstand you sit. If you do not drive the feet you sit. If you do not block off the ground you sit. If you look forward You sit. The only way to do it succssfully is to do it all together and make sure you end up looking straight up. Which means you need to have total faith.

This is the technique where I have hurt my knee seven times and there is fear when I do it and I look to where I am planting my feet to make sure they are ok. Challenge is if I look. I sit. I gave myself five more attempts to do it and on the third I went for it. I made it and ended up standing. It was a VERY long journey to get to this point and not physical. My body has been able to get there for a long time but mentally. Hell. I made it and promptly burst into tears. That is when my amazing coach said “Metaphor for life Bobbie. Look Up and Trust”. The tears just kept pouring out and pouring out and pouring out.

We then went to bars and we ended up stopping that early and I called the class forty minutes early. Rare for me indeed. I was just not making progress and it was sad. Overalll in hindsight I made great progress and need to acknowledge that success and know there is plenty more in store. Coach when you read this. I love you and you are incredible and my Hero. Go Heroes!!

I am still adjusting time zones and while I got seven hours in bed, I was awake a lot of the night and not getting the deep rest my body needs. I go to LA Fitness and after a quick warmup I went to work on my slinkies now that I no longer need to do warm up bridges. This only started a week ago and I am now working up to doing multiple slinkies as part of initial set. The first one took me double to kick over which was frustrating and so did the second. For the third I went for it and did a pentaslinky and jsut was short of a sexto slinky. This is a huge step forward and really showing me the great conditoning my back has been going through.

Next I did three perfect combo (FLKO, Slinky, BWO, FLSU, Stick) followed by doing some Upslinkies (L-2) onto the two panel mat. I did 5/5 and only one required a double kick. This is getting back to where I was at the end of December before I broke a rib.  Next job is to work on going onto the 3 panel mat and when I get there I will be back to where I was before the break. Hmmm.

I went down to train with coach. Still a little tired. Coach arrived and I was asleep in the car. I started work with him on Back Walkovers on beam and it is just conditioning and conditioning. We did about 24 of them before moving on but everyone I do strengthens me. In May I will be making huge progress on the beam because of all the work I will be doing while I am in England.

We then went to work on bars and did some Ok work with lots of focus on Clear Hips. I did my best Clear Hip to date and got a clearer distinction on the cast with the focus of bringing the ankles to the beam. Progress. Small Progress but I’ll take it.

Next we went to to Back Handspring and it is frustrating that it is taking me so long to do this on the floor. It is such a basic technique but I will keep chipping away at it. Finally we went to work on beam. We did some basics before working on handstands and dismounts on the high beam. After a while of mediocre results coach put me back on the lower beam and setup the mats around it. I started nailing the handstands and hitting the position. There is a place where you get locked in  a handstand where you are so balanced you cannot move. I hit my first lock on the beam.

So lots of progress and looking forward tomorrow after more rest and care for my knee. Go Heroes!!

This will be Episode 135 on www.bobbiesue.tv

I have been travelling again and went to Australia to meet some important researchers in Australia to assist me with rehabbing my shoulder. It is very frustrating because of the broken ribs I have to crunch through all the scar tissue every morning. I was stretching with a friend today and she was shocked when she could hear the muscles cracking and breaking apart as I stretched. We made great progress and I have some more stretching to do in a certain way which may help.

I arrived back yesterday and after going to the awesome Lady Gaga concert with Kenny my fiance I went to bed so I could train today. I only got four hours and it showed in my training this morning at LA Fitness. I am doing incredible breakthroughs in some areas epecially in the area of back flexibility.

When I arrived with coach, he asked me what I wanted to do. I said everything coach. We started on Vault and I was determined to get my Level 6 Vault trophy. Up until now I have done the vault but coach has been spotting. I needed to do three vaults without coach spotting in good form. It did not need to be perfect. That will come during May. Well I did it. Fantastic start to the day. Only challenge was I twisted my knee slightly on one of the landings. Then I did a lot of leaps and hops which puts pressure directly to that knee. It is a bit swollen and it stopped me tumbling which is a real shame. I was really looking forward to it.

I am so excited by the progress and I am making great progress on the Back Walkover due to all the back conditioning. Bars is going to be a long, gruelling path to get the Level 6 and Level 7 because so many core skills are developed in these levels.

I have more sessions with coach and then into heavy conditioning. When I come back from that stretch I am expecting Back Walkovers to start happening on the beam. I am so looking forward to being able to do Back Walkover and then back Handspring on the beam. So far to go but I can see it which is exciting.

Progress. I just need to protect my knee….Go Heroes!!!

I woke up today to another beautiful day in San Diego. I feel so blessed to live in this great city where our weather is so beautiful so often. I went down to LA Fitness and trained for 90 minutes before going to work with coach. I was able to kickover from my first bridge which was great and did two more before moving onto Upslinkies. Prior to Jan 1 when I rebroke a rib I was able to do 5/5 on the 2 panel mat and was getting 5/5 on the three panel mat. Since then I have not been able to get back to that same space. Today I was able to do 3/10 so I am getting there again and know I will get back soon enough. I also did some really smooth Back Walkovers. I also went to do some beam slinkies but they were just not strong as I felt twisted and actually crashed one time which is never good.

I then went to meet coach at Elite Gymnastics. We started working on Back Walkovers on the beam again. This skill is very exciting to me as it is the real beginning to advance beam routines and coach is wanting to do all the ground work for Back Handsprings because at some point I will be doing Back Handspring Series and Back Tucks on the beam. We spent our time focusing on getting faster to the mat and then straigtening the front leg. We took it back to the floor and made a lot of small improvements that will have a big impact. It is so important to get the technique so much clearer for when we are doing it on beam.

After that we went to work on Back Handspring. Our goal is to overcome my fear of this and get it in great form. I can do nice clean ones on the tumbl track but bend my knees on the floor. I did ten with constant correction and started getting it stronger and stronger. We are going to keep focusing on this until I have the confidence to do it at LA Fitness and then I will be able to make rapid progress. I am just not there yet. I have been looking forward to doing series and just not done it yet. This is now under a microscope as when I first learned it,  the ida of me doing it on the beam was not even on the horizon. It is now glaring as a flaw that needs to be corrected.

We then worked on Back Extension Roll which is getting better especially with the work around to assist my shoulder. We then followed it by working on Front Handspring. The final five of them were easily the best ever and this technique has really turned the corner and I know I will be able to carryh this through and get great results going forward.

We then shifted to bars and did an hours worth of work on Casting into Kips which are an integral part of the Level 6 Bars Routine. I was strugling and then coach added in an extra drill and that made a big difference. I was then inconsistent but did make some great techniques and got them on camera.

This was the end of this block and I will see coach again on Mar 29 which is 18 dayss away. By then my Back Walkovers should be even better and we can make great progress on everything. It is slow going but an incredible journey. I love every step and even though there are challenges I couldn’t think of doing anything else. I feel so blessed. Go Heroes!!

(This episode will be 132 when it is edited on www.bobbiesue.tv)

I have been working on my back flexibility now for two years to get it back in shape like it was a Junior Elite 9 years ago. It has been coming back gradually and at the moment I have whole new dynamic opening up in my middle back allowing me to do back Walkovers even easier. Over the conditioning I have been doing in recent months my back feels great. Coach and I are laying the ground work for Back Walkovers-Back Handspring on the beam. So today we did a total of forty back walkovers speeding up the back process of getting my hands to the ground. Love it so much.

We then sat down and had a discussion about our progression. We have been doing lots of different techniques but not focused on completeing the routines. We were working on some Level 5, some Level 6 and a handful of Level 7. Coach said Bobbie-Sue I think we need to focus on this Level 5 floor so we can move past it and be entirely onto Level 6. I think that is where this journey should go. Yes coach.  I was a little sad because I love doing more advanced techniques but also happy that we get to complete Level 5 Floor and then get that trophy and the all around. Level 4 Floor took me a long time to get through because of the back flexibility not being adequate.

There are three techniques that are really stopping me from doing a good level 5 Floor Routine and they are Back Walkover, Front Handspring and Back Extension Roll. Of these the Back Walkover is almost a given now and I just have to speed it up. The Front Handspring has been a challenge because it is where I hurt my knee so many times. We started working on that today and did it on the tumble track which was great. We went to the floor and I was struggling and coach suggested he put the springboard there. I suggested we didn’t need it to which he replied ‘We will be using the springboard Bobbie’. Of course we are. How dare I question my coach. My job is not to question it is to perform in excellence. Doubting the coach cost Aliya Mustafina Gold at the American Cup. We ended up making some huge progress and I think we are going to be able to blow through this soon enough and put this behind me especially with my back opening up so much.

We then went to Back Extention Roll andmade modifications to allow for the shoulder which was having problems and having doing some of them we went through the entire routine in preparations to compete it tomorrow.  Near the end coach said Ok lets to the Swing Kick, Back Walkover combination. Normally once my back has cooled down for an hour it takes 15 minutes of stretching to be able to get back into form. Well I stretched for 3 minutes and was able to do it again which means huge progress. So excited.

Overall was a great day and I love the way my body is responding and now so much more is going to start happening as I condition it more and more because Conditoning Builds Stamina!!! Go Heroes!!

This will be Episode 131 on www.bobbiesue.tv when it is posted.

Today was an incredible day working with coach. All the hard work I have been putting in outside the gym is starting to show up. On Friday coach said that he would consider taking away the mats for the vault this week. I went into this mornings session with the intent of having those mats removed. I came off from working our for an hour at LA Fitness and feeling my back get stronger and more consistent. I was able to do a kickover on my first bridge and then nail two more. It is awesome to know that the conditioning is making the back so flexible without need for stretching to do that. I can see a time when I will be able to do the stretching for three minutes and go straight into slinkies and bypass the bridges into kickovers.

I started doing the vaulting this morning and it took for three to really get it coming together and then I started nailing them. Lot of corrections along the way but coach said give me four good ones and I will take away the mats. I nailed those four in short order and the mats were taken and I started flipping it . This is a much higher vaulting table when I was flipping the Level 5 vault earlier. Level 6 is the same vault but on a much higher setting. I need it higher for when I start doing it with tucks and then go into Tsukaha where you are run to the vault and do a round-off-backhandspring and then do a back handspring into the table. This is part of the Level 8 vault but coach and are in discussions for later in the year. Loving this. I shouold be able to do the Level 6 vault without him this week and get my Level 6 Trophy. Awesome!!

I then went to bars and did a mediocre rotation. After that I went to tumbling on the floor. Four weeks since any tumbling so a bit rusty but great to be back on the floor tumbling. Will be going at it hard again tomorrow as well as Back Tucks as well. Body if sit and strong and coming together with the back opening up to be even more flexible.

Finally I did some work on handstands on the beam as part of the Level 6 Dismount. I easily did the best ones so far and any fear has gone now and I am loving attacking this technique. Something about faceplanting the beam was not appealing but the grip on the beam has gotten so much stronger now that the confidence is skyrocketing.

The BIG news is that coach has start talking aboit working on Back Handsprings on the beam now. This is a big step forward and to me where real beamwork starts. We are going to be starting on the floor but I am soo excited about this progress and this overcome my fear of doing standard back handsprings especially as my back is opening up more and more. Loving life and the progress and cannot wait for more… Go Heroes!!!

This is episode 129 on www.bobbiesue.tv

• I woke up excited this morning to go down to LA Fitness in Poway at 6am. I was there just as the doors opened (just like yesterday) and set to work. I warmed up my back doing a couple of Cobra stretches and then did my first bridge. It was incredible, straight into good form and I kicked over strong and clean. My fastest and strongest first kickover over. Shows how far I have come. I then did three of them all in great form. I then went and did a SextoSlinky (6 in a row) and they felt the best control I have ever had going back. They were really easy and I know I will be hitting Decaslinkies VERY shortly and the aim is to do Decas every morning.

I then did 3 beautiful Front Limber kickovers, followed by 5 Front Lumber Standups. Next was Back Walkover as part of my routine. The first were nto smooth at all but then it clicked and the next three were beautiful. I then decided to go for the elevated BWO. This is where the leg is raised up resting on some object and then leaning back with no suport from that leg. I will need this for the beam. While it is more scary as all the weight is on one leg, once you have that control you actually go over even smoothly so in effect I am now building up confidnce to let my back melt ad go rapidly to the ground. I will be working on this every day now so I can get my back walkover on the beam shortly.

I then worked on handstands and my beam handstands were the best ever. All the conditioning with Georgia on the mini beam allowed me to hold it vertical much longer than ever before. This is something I also get to work on every day to get these locked and solid as they bare a foundation skill. I also did my longest ever handstand walk with 16 steps. My goal is to walk at least 100 steps on a presidnged path including turns with perfect stability.

My priouettes were ok and then I went and did some weight training without my knee brace which is great for it. These all gave me personal bests and I finished up with stretching. I focused on forward splits both left and right as well as Sidesplits and although I am not near personal best i am doing great.

So excited about tomorrow and training again. Go Heroes.

Bobbie-Sue

BREAKTHROUGH (6)

• Kickover – Fastest Ever with least pre stretching
• BWO Air6- 5/5 and overcoming fear
• Handstand (Beam) – Two counted to Z. Longest ever and in good form
• Handstand (Walk) – 16 steps and getting more and more stable and distinctions
• Pull Down – This works on the lat which I am working on
•  Chest Press – Working on improving overall body strength

I just came back from Australia. I had a chance to catch up with my friend Anne-Marie Telford and do trainings at her parents gym and also got to spend time with Frontier but it is getting harder and harder to justify training with Frontier as it is taking me away from working with coach too much.

I arrived back and went to LA Fitness. I got to stretch and the body was in fine form. Kicked over on the first bridge which always tells me I am in good shape and then did a Pentaslinky effortlessly. Flowing, Pain free which is how I love them. I was able to do some upslinkies and FLKO and FLSU and will be doing Back Walkovers tomorrow. I then went to work with coach. SOOO great to be back in the gym. I did a gret vault rotation and we will be flipping it next week which means if I can stick three I get a Level 6 Vault Trophy. Yeah…. Then went to bars and did some great work on clear hip circles. Progress. Then rotated to beam and just did great work overall especially with handstands.

Coach is very excited about the progress, especially on vault. Once I start flipping it regularly we then move to Front Handspring with full twist and Tsukahara where I run to the vault, do a Roundoff back handspring onto the table and then push off and Level 9 Vault is Tsukahara with back tuck. Supercool. He also had me focusing on some Level B and C skills for Level 8 and above today which is cool. Great to see where we are going.

Lots of challenges to overcome but now I am back in San Diego I am preparing for some big things to happen.

Loving Life. Go Heroes!!!