I went and trained today down at LA Fitness and I had one goal. TO achieve a Quad Beam Slinky. My best until now has been a Triple Beam Slinky and that was tough. I have done slinkies before (Back Bend Kickover) and my longest series was 14 in a row. It makes a big difference when you move your hands into the position. I would almost say three to five times as hard.

I started warming my back and it felt good. I did a series of Back Walkover Leans in the beam position. This was my best set ever. I then did some Back Walkovers with the foot raised. It was a good set but nowhere near my best. I then went to do Beam Slinkies. I failed on the first. The second. The third. I was almost in tears. It just was not walking. I then did a Double Beam Slinky and then a Quad and then to prove it was not a fluke another Quad and then almost made another but just fell short on the last one.

I then did some Timed handstands and did a great set (not a record) and then did Handstand into Stag Position back into Handstand then into Stag with other foot and then Handstand and then down. I call this Switch Stage and did my best ever 7/10.

There are some other things I am working on as well and ended up with 5 breakthroughs. What I realized is that as long as I am pushing my boundaries and getting 4-10 breakthroughs a day I will achieve my goals. It will be slower than I wanted but what I do today was a dream six months ago and impossible a year ago.

As long as I train and persevere I will end up doing Back Handspring-Back Tucks on the beam. It may be three years ago but while I keep my body in great shape it will happen. Oksana Chusovitina just won Silver at worlds in vault at 37. 37!!! She was winning medals as a gymnast before the other gymnasts were even born!!

Rio is the real possibility. 5 more years from now. Intense training. My body is in the best shape it has even been. While I look after myself and keep making incremental improvements I will be able to do all the techniques I want; Amanar on vault, Katchev on bars, Back Handspring-Back Tuck on beam and Quad Twist on floor. There is so much more to learn and and it is going to be an amazing journey.