Artistic gymnastics

Aesthetic athletes face higher risks of disordered eating, and perfectionism is one of the determinants involved. While research suggests that perfectionism in sport may play a role in physical and psychological well-being, its influence remains to be confirmed. As such, further examination of the influence of perfectionism on health is warranted as it could lead to better interventions. This preregistered research sought to shed new light on these relationships by investigating the mediating role of passion in the perfectionism-disordered eating relationship as well as physical and psychological well-being in aesthetic sports...

This study aimed (1) to assess the validity of a modified method (Mmod ) based on heart rate (HR)-oxygen uptake (VO2 ) regression functions to calculate total energy costs (Wtotal ) and aerobic (Waer ) and anaerobic alactic energy contribution (Wpcr ) and (2) to analyse the physiological and energetic demands of high-level pommel horse routines (PH routines). The Mmod was developed because VO2 measurements are limited during high-level PH routines. Answering Part 1, nine male artistic gymnasts performed a PH routine where energy costs were calculated from VO2 measurements and then compared with energy costs determined from the HR- VO2 regressions of Mmod 's two additional tests...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the longevity of a large sample of Olympic Games participants, considering the interaction between different types of sports and medal awards. METHODOLGY: Data scraping from Wikipedia and Wikidata allowed us to collect a sample of 102,993 famous athletes. We selected 20 of the most populated disciplines to make the groups comparable. We conducted a comparison of life duration on a subset of 17,194 elite athletes, predominantly male, dead at the time of analysis...

The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the passive joint range of motion (PROM) and muscle strength in prepubertal rhythmic gymnasts (RGs), artistic gymnasts (AGs), and a control group (CG) of the same age. A total of 54 prepubertal girls were divided into three groups: 18 RGs (age 11.14 ± 0.7, height 142.6 ± 5.81, and body mass 31.2 ± 3.63); 18 AGs (age 11.27 ± 0.99, height 139.6 ± 5.85, and body mass 31.7 ± 3.21), and 18 school girls who are defined as CG (age 10...

BACKGROUND: Women's Artistic Gymnastics (WAG) is a sport well known for requiring a heavy and difficult training load from a younger age to reach a high level of performance. This also is associated with an injury risk. Epidemiological studies are thus needed to improve injury prevention strategies. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the injury epidemiology in French high-level WAG. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of injury data collected prospectively over six seasons from the 2014-2015 season to the 2019-2020 season among French high-level Women's Artistic Gymnasts from the France Gymnastics National Centre of Saint-Etienne...

Muscle mass is one of the main components of an athlete's body weight. Its development is related to the biomechanical gesture and the strength required to physical activity. The aim of the study was to assess musculoskeletal development by means of anthropometric indices in sports with different demands. The sample comprised 780 subjects (58.2% male), age 23.8 ± 4.7 years. Six sports were included: olympic shooting, long-distance running, hockey, kayaking, artistic gymnastics, and weightlifting. Muscle mass (MM) was estimated by Lee's equation (Lee et al...

A good set of cognitive and psycho-behavioural skills are beneficial for young athletes to overcome and benefit from developmental challenges. Unfortunately, there is still a dearth of knowledge on how both these cognitive (i.e., executive functions; EF) and psycho-behavioural (i.e., psychological characteristics of developing excellence; PCDE) skills develop in youth athletes. Especially for athletes in early specialisation sports such as artistic gymnastics, the early EF and PCDE development might be important to be able to cope with the pressure and challenges that comes with a transition to the next stage...

A middle-aged female veteran artistic gymnast sustained an avulsion injury of the latissimus dorsi and teres major. The case reveals possible pitfalls in the current classification system and illustrates how a nonoperative approach, in contrast to recommended guidelines, was adequate for an excellent clinical outcome.

To examine the effect of the fluid balance on and performance in young artistic gymnasts during training under ad libitum and prescribed fluid intake conditions, eleven males (12.3 ± 2.6 years, mean ± SD) performed two 3 h identical training sessions. Participants ingested, in a random order, water equivalent to either 50% (LV) or 150% (HV) of their fluid loss. After the 3 h training, the gymnasts performed program routines on three apparatuses. The pre-exercise urine specific gravity (USG) was similar between conditions (LV: 1...

In women's artistic gymnastics, difficult elements with great flight heights have to be performed on the apparatuses. However, the importance of the physical condition for generating flight height and its development with age remains elusive. Therefore, we investigated the age-related differences of lower body power, reactive strength, 20 m sprint speed, flight heights (basic elements on beam and floor) and run-up speed on the vault of 33 youth female gymnasts. Further, we calculated correlations between all parameters separately for different age groups (7-9 y; 10-12 y; 13-15 y)...

INTRODUCTION: General and particularly sport-specific testing is an integral aspect of performance optimization in artistic gymnastics. In artistic gymnastics, however, only non-specific field tests have been used to assess endurance performance (e.g., Multistage Shuttle Run Test; Cooper's Test). METHODS: This study aimed to examine the validity of a new sport-specific endurance test in artistic gymnastics. Fourteen elite-level gymnasts (i.e., eight males and six females) participated in this study...

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to analyze physiological and energetic demands of elite gymnasts during still-rings routines (SRRs). METHODS: Eleven male gymnasts (mean [SD] 23.6 [3.9] y, 65.9 [5.6] kg, 171.1 [6.7] cm) performed a maximal graded exercise test and an individual SRR, during which respiratory gas and heart rate (HR) were measured using a mobile spiroergometer and a paired HR sensor. Metabolic energy and the energy contribution in terms of aerobic, anaerobic lactic, and anaerobic alactic were determined by oxygen uptake (VO2) during exercise, net lactate production, and the fast component of postexercise VO2 kinetics...

We examined the effects of adding a Kettlebell Swing training program (KB) to the regular skill-training protocol (REGULAR) on cardiorespiratory fitness, cardiorespiratory/metabolic demand, and recovery to a simulated competition of female artistic gymnastics. Nine gymnasts (13±2 years) had their REGULAR complemented with a 4-week kettlebell training (REGULAR+KB), consisting of 3 sessions/week of 12x30" swings x 30" rest with ¼ of their body weight, while 9 aged-matched gymnasts acted as a comparison group...

OBJECTIVES: Artistic gymnastics is a sport where most athletes start at an early age and training volumes are high. Hence, overuse and acute injuries are frequent due to the load endured during landing tasks. During landing, the ground reaction force (GRF) is up to 15.8 times the body weight and therefore reliable GRF measurements are crucial. The gold standard for GRF measurements are force plates. As force plates are mostly used in a constrained laboratory environment, it is difficult to measure the GRF in representative training settings...

The upstart is commonly used on bars in artistic gymnastics following a release and regrasp skill, where the gymnast will perform a flighted element before catching the bar. The variability of the flighted element leads to varying initial conditions prior to the upstart. The aim of the study was to understand how technique can be manipulated in order to ensure success at the task despite this variability. More specifically, the study aimed to quantify the ranges of initial angular velocity a gymnast could cope with in an upstart using (a) a fixed timing technique, (b) with one additional parameter to modify timings as a function of initial angular velocity, and (c) a further additional parameter to extend the range...

Still rings are a unique gymnastics apparatus allowing for a combination of dynamic and static elements in a specific technique. This review aimed to compile the dynamic, kinematic, and EMG characteristics of swing, dismount, handstand, strength, and hold elements on still rings. This systematic review was conducted in concordance with PRISMA in PubMed, EBSCOhost, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. In total, 37 studies were included, describing the strength and hold elements, the kip and swing elements, swing through or to handstand, and dismounts...

Swing to strength hold elements are important for a top ranking on still rings, require a high level of upper body strength of the gymnasts and have not yet been scientifically investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine force requirement profiles for these elements using a dynamometric measuring system. Two force sensors attached to the cables of each ring and synchronised with video recorded the forces exerted by the gymnast. For eight swing to strength hold elements (Uprise backward to support scale straddled, Uprise backward to swallow, Uprise backward to cross, Honma to cross, Uprise backward to support scale, Kip to cross, Back kip to swallow and Uprise backward to inverted cross), the variables maximal force (Fmax ), minimal force (Fmin ), time over Fhold (t1-3 ), rate of maximal force development (RFD) and impulse (p) were analysed...

Artistic gymnastics (AG) is a sport that demands grace, strength, and flexibility, leading to a broad spectrum of injuries. The dowel grip (DG) is widely used by gymnasts to securely hold onto the high bar or uneven bars. However, incorrect usage of the DG can result in grip lock (GL) injuries. This systematic review aims to (1) identify studies that have investigated the risk factors related to GL injuries among gymnasts and (2) synthesize the key evidence. A comprehensive electronic search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, ScienceDirect, Elsevier, SportDiscus, and Google Scholar, covering the period from their inception until November 2022...

The crucial criteria when assessing technical performance in artistic gymnastics is the higher elevation of the gymnast's body and a stable landing (i.e., stick-landing). The purpose of this study was to compare kinetic and kinematic parameters during the landing phase of standing back somersaults (SBS) following three technical arm-swing performed during the preparatory phase in high-level male gymnasts. The three different arm-swing pertain to three "gymnastics schools", i.e., Russian, Chinese, and Romanian...

Objective  The present study aimed to analyze ankle sprains in young athletes of basketball, futsal, artistic gymnastics, trampoline, tennis, judo, and volleyball over 2 seasons. Methods  Data of 529 athletes in the 1 st year and of 495 athletes in the 2 nd year of analysis were investigated from the injury record database of a sports club. The following data were considered: the demographic characteristics (age, body mass, height, and sex), the mechanism (contact or noncontact), the severity, the moment at which the injury occurred, and the recurrence...