How Stretched Is a Stretch Too Far?

A not-so-recent trend in both sports and dance, as well as in various recreational activities, such as yoga, is the desire to demonstrate hyper-flexibility moves and to work on pushing the limits in that area.

While many yoga practitioners have already shared that the point of yoga is not to twist yourself in a pretzel, if you look at the various commercial representations of yoga, whether in advertisements for studios, clothing or accessories, the overstretched person has become yoga's poster child.

In many types of dance, from classical ballet to much more modern types of dance, increased flexibility moves have also taken a prime spot on stage, while, in reality, different dances use a different vocabulary of expression, and the physical qualities of a dance that matter much more than flexibility are features such as coordination, core strength, balance, control, musicality and expressiveness.

But in rhythmic gymnastics, it is much worse than in yoga or dance. It is worse because professional gymnasts actually get scored on their moves and their rankings depend on demonstrating flexibility constantly. For kids who aspire to reach professional level, the demand to be extremely flexible begins very early on, as early as ages 3 and 4. While there are many people in the world who have natural flexibility, for most, pushing the limits of stretching can work wonders as well. Regular stretching can lead many to accomplish a position like this:

If you start young enough and in good health, with high-quality coaching and persistence, you will likely get to an over-split. In fact, many gymnasts who never reach professional competitive level have an over-split on both sides. Even as an adult, through a combination of static and dynamic stretches, one can become quite flexible, if that is a personal goal. 

But the question is: if you are not an aspiring circus artist, what would this much stretching contribute to your life, or even your career in dance/sports? The answer is: probably not much. Our bodies are miraculous and it is natural to aspire to make the best use of them. But the reality is that, at some point (and that point is very different for each person), over-stretching can pose a threat to joints and bones when they are held by very loose ligaments. Holding static stretched positions, like the one on the picture, is also not for everyone, because of the prolonged exertion of pressure on the joints.

To be fair to dancers, many classically trained and modern dancers, have various other strengths to show besides extreme flexibility. For aspiring and professional gymnasts, where the code of points also provides points for other moves, such as jumps and pivots, many gymnasts can show amazing routines without twisting themselves into seemingly impossible shapes.

Circus artists, on the other hand, also start their training very young and under very specific and professional supervision. But the skills and abilities required for acrobats, for example, are not the same as those who perform tricks focused mostly on flexibility. You would need a combination of strength, great balance and trained muscle memory, and very specific technique. Doing a over-split may make your act more beautiful, but not spectacular by itself.

In the late 1990s and in the early 21st centuries, decisions around the gymnastics Code of Points gave strong preference to extremely flexible gymnasts. In fact some of the moves that were performed then are no longer part of gymnastics routines because of the very high risk of injury they bring, even for professionals.

While success requires many sacrifices, injury should never be one of them. Like stepping on the balance beam, a great routine requires  a careful judgement about risk. And, much like in real life, every time you look for that precise alignment, it all comes to down to one thing: who you are and what you can do best.

A Medal-Deserving Routine: Thoughts on the Coaching Relationship

Neviana Vladinova is currently one of the world's top rhythmic gymnasts. It has been amazing to watch Neviana grow and step out with even more risk and with more expression and show great class. But she competes in a sport where, much like in figure skating, somewhat subjective scores are assigned and where rules change often. I could not understand why she did not win a medal with ribbon during the Pesaro World Cup event in early April in Italy, but I would like to comment on the wonderful attitude her coach Branimira Markova has been showing.

Although gymnastics scoring has always been subjective, recently, it has become particularly difficult to predict how routines will be scored under the new Code of Points. The hardest part in gymnastics may not be finding someone talented and training her into a superb athlete, but actually motivating gymnasts who are already good to stay in the sport. I think that the desire to stay in the sport has to come from a lot more than the scoring and even the appreciation of the audience. You need support from the people who see how hard you work and those are, primarily, the coaches. What you learn from a coach is more than technique, of course, it is attitude. That's why I find it particularly encouraging to see Neviana's coach smile next to her and remain very optimistic even when their expectations may not have been met.

Of course, all gymnasts work very hard and we know, every single time, that only 3 gymnasts will get medals. But disappointment may come not from the actual placement among the top 8; the greatest disappointment comes when you feel that you have not met the expectations of those who spend their time and energy discovering and improving your skills. Coaches are already in the position of pointing out mistakes while remaining encouraging and supportive. That is already difficult enough. But to have to explain why a certain score is lower even when the performance was clean? How does one approach this issue without feeling pushed down into a feeling of helplessness? You can't stand in front of someone and tell her she made a mistake when she has not. But to have to tell her that even when there are no mistakes, there is still no recognition?

I think the best way to address this might be to look at the routines realistically, but also to see the coaching relationship as one where the gymnast should at all times feel how much you believe in her. How we show such belief and support is different for each person, but sometimes an encouraging smile and some silence feels stronger than words. While every competition is a new chance to do better, with human relationships, we sometimes do not get many chances to be truly understanding and supportive of each other. If you miss the moment where you really need to show care or if you overreact at a difficult time, it is hard to rebuild a feeling of trusting optimism later. So, you can drop the ball in a routine and do it better next time, but, in a human relationship, dropping the ball once may make it impossible to recover.  To remain calm at the right moment and to consider what to say next is crucial because, even if the scoring at one competition is not objective, you still want the gymnast to step into the next day of training with confidence.

Finally! Two Bulgarians in Top 8 and Ready for Medals

They train side by side and are great friends. They show unique moves with every apparatus. They use bold, exciting music. They are a joy to watch. Bulgaria hasn't shown two gymnasts of such high caliber since the 1990s. But Neviana and Katrin are not hear to defend the old glory of Bulgarian gymnastics. They are here to write history.

Russia and Belarus are the only two countries in recent years who have had more than one gymnast in the top, consistently. Other countries attempted but never quite accomplished this.

For Ukraine, while Maksimenko and Rizatdinova were both equally promising, Maksimenko's career was rather short-lived. Following Maksimenko's retirement, Victoria Mazur has been struggling to prove that she can earn the same scores as her illustrious teammate Rizatdinova. Prior to Rizatdinova's rise to number one, Anna Bessonova was the only medal-winning Ukrainian for awhile.

Israel has also had fantastic gymnasts in recent years and was especially strong during the times when Risenzon and Rivkin competed together. However, after Risenzon retired, various controversies and scandals prevented Filanovsky and Rivkin from consistently placing at the top spots and Rivkin ended going to the Olympics by herself. Now, with the rise of Linoy Ashram, who is the best Israeli gymnast, in my opinion, Israel may also break new ground by having two equally promising gymnasts in finals.

For Belarus, Cherkashina and Staniouta and then, Staniouta and Halkina had many strong and exciting competitions together where they both were up for the medals.

Russia, on the other hand, has regularly had two gymnasts on the podium together at big events such as Grand Prix competitions, World Cup tournaments, European and World Championships.

As for Bulgaria, for many years, only one gymnast showed world-class results. For a long time that gymnast was Simona Peycheva. Elizabeth Paisieva, who fully deserved to be right next to Simona, had unfortunate issues with coaching changes and very harmful federation politics,  so did not quite rise to Simona's level. Then, Silvia Miteva earned spots in finals as well as some medals from big events. But a second gymnast of the her caliber was never present.

Finally, in 2017, both Katrin Taseva and Neviana Vladinova are earning scores in the upper 18s. I really would like to see them reach for medals and stand next to one another in many prestigious events. They are very different in style, but each has amazing qualities as well as the ambition and resilience needed for great achievements.