FCGC Footscray will be having our Open Day on:

Monday 11th of March

Save it to your calendars, phones, facebook events and more!

We are going to be opening up the doors to the gym so everyone can come and explore. If we had to pick one thing we love more than coaching gymnastics, it would have to be  showing new families why it's so fantastic.

It is going to be a day filled with fun and adventure!
With lots of photo runs for you to treasure.

Some of our super coaches will be available to answer any questions, which gives you the best opportunity before your first session!

We will even have a BBQ to help fuel your tummy,
thanks to Friends of FCGC, the snag's are quite yummy.

The gym will be open from 10 - 3
On a sunny Autumn day of 23 degrees.

We can't wait to see you there!

Signing off for now, Take care.

​-Coach Maygan

This is one part of training that is too often neglected, forgotten or avoided. It takes time and is often uncomfortable... yett should never be painful. Of course I am talking about stretching!

I feel like there are 3 types of people when it comes to stretching and flexibility training: Person 1. Loves it! Person 2. It's Ok I guess Person 3. Really REALLY doesn't like it.

We all have different natural ranges of movement, which is going to heavily impact on this outcome. The problem is that no matter what your opinion on stretching is, your attitude could be effecting your likely hood of injury. 

If you are naturally very flexible and find stretching easy, there is a chance you could over stretch and injure yourself because you don't feel the stretching sensation like somebody else might. Alternatively if you truly dislike stretching you could be susceptible to injury through lack of stretching, lazy stretching or through a forced/strained range of movement. 

The most common injury points I have witnessed occur through the hips or hip flexor region, back of the legs through the hamstring or sciatic nerve or also commonly through the shoulder in one of the many rotator cuff muscles.

A strain will occur if a muscle, tendon or ligament is torn. This could occur from holding a stretch position for too long, progressing too quickly, inadequate positioning while in the stretch or bouncing in a stretch.

There are 2 main types of stretching. Passive Stretching which involves holding a position over a long period of time with zero or limited movement. Active or Dynamic Stretching which involves a large range of movement through out a stretch (think lunge walks or needle kicks). Both have their benefits, but doing one completely on it's own in a training schedule will only get you so far!

I'm going to outline a very basic stretching routine structure for you all:

• 5-10 minutes of cardiovascular exercise - This is essential to warm up the muscles in the body, preparing it for the stretching to come. Stretching cold muscles is a one stop shop to injury town... so best to avoid that!
• 2-5 minutes of Range of Movement exercises - This is best to work more than one body part at a time. For example, walking lunges and making large arm circles above your head. Caterpillar walks, bear walks etc.
• 2-3 minutes for articulation - This is important for activating all the joints. If you skip this, you will have nice warm muscles surrounding the joints, but still have stiff or "sleepy" vertebrae. All of these should be very slow and controlled. Think about standing and slowly rolling down through your spine until you can touch the floor/reversing this movement. Some other good ones are head circles, shoulder rolls, ankle and wrist circles, scrunching and spreading your fingers and your toes etc.
• 5-10 minutes full body stretches - I like to work from the top down, this way its harder to miss a muscle group. So for example you can start with shoulder/forearm stretches, then back stretches eg. twisting side to side or extension and retraction of the spine. Then moving down to hip stretches/hip flexors eg. hip circles, deep lunges, triangle pose stretch etc. Move down to abductor/hamstring/sciatic nerve/calve stretches and lastly finishing off with ankles and wrist stretches.
• 5 minutes of GOAL stretches - Here's the thing, if you have a flexibility goal you need to make time to work on it and it needs to be consistent. If  you really want to progress in your splits, now is the time! If you want to open up your shoulders and upper back, do some bridges or wall shoulder stretches. If you spend the time working on these when your body is the most prepared it will be a lot easier and a lot safer!
  
  
  

Alternatively if you really can't make the time to stretch outside of your gymnastics class you could try these:
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- Having a light stretch after getting out of a hot shower as the water will of raised your muscles temperature which will make it more receptive to stretching.
- Practicing a few stretches daily each time you wake up from bed. Don't expect to be doing walk overs first thing in the morning, but practicing simple stretches and joint articulation will really benefit you and the rest of your day. 


Stretching is super important to maintain your over all health whether you partake in gymnastics or not. However if you partake in gymnastics it should be a priority of yours to not only maintain but progress your skills!

Do you have any stretching goals for 2019? Share them with us, we would love to know!

Signing off for now,
Coach Maygan.

If I asked you to sing all the words to Mary had a little lamb, without any prompting... could you do it? I can guarantee you can remember almost every word to that nursery rhyme. What about Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? I'm sure it would be the same. 

There is a reason why you can remember the words to a song after all this time, but you might often forget what someone told you a couple of hours ago. 

Songs are a learning tool used around the world to help little ones learn and discover the world around them. Here at FCGC we use songs in all of our PlaySkills programs to aid our gymnasts through learning classroom behavior, social skills, pattern awareness, vocabulary building, rhythm, communication and mimicking behaviors. All of which will be fundamental to your little ones development.

As we sing we tend to slow our speech down and articulate all of the words. This gives your little gymnast time to listen intently and learn how to put sounds together to create a word or a sentence. While singing, it is very common for us to sing in a higher tone which is incredibly engaging and stimulating for a developing brain. The sillier you can make the song, the more likely you are to have your little one mimic you and join you in the process.

Studies have shown that children who enjoy music and who sing and rhyme regularly have an easier time understanding language.

The best part is, you can find a song on just about any topic you like! You can start singing about body parts, colours, numbers, animals, gymnastics skills and more!

Have you attended a PlaySkill class at FCGC before? Can you remember what song you sang? Let me know in the comment section below!

Signing off for now,
Coach Maygan

Our feet do a lot for us everyday, but how often do we spend trying to keep them fit and healthy? The human foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments. That is one complex structure!

Every person who has feet, will have different feet than you. They are very unique to your stride, balance and locomotion. Each person will have a slightly different arch position, width, length, ankle stability, toe spread etc. All of these attributes have been developed over the years of living and even before you were born.

Today I am going to share some great injury prevention exercises with you all to keep you on your feet for as long as possible!

TOE EXERCISES:
Stand with your feet a comfortable distance apart from each other. Try to lift just your big toe's off the floor, leaving all other toes firmly on the ground. Next, try to lift all your little toes and keep your big toes firmly on the ground. Swap between these as many times as you can. This might take some practice as this is a bit of an unusual movement pattern. People who pronate, or roll to the inner arch, have a hard time lifting the big toes and most people who supinate, or roll on to the outer edges of the foot, have a hard time lifting the other toes.

HEEL RAISES:
This is an exercise most of us are familiar with and have likely attempted before. However you most likely only thought about it strengthening your calves. When this exercise is slowed right down and a lot of the intention is focused onto the feet, you get a lot of benefits through the gradual articulation of the ligaments. 

Stand with your feet close together. You can use an object to help stabilize yourself, but not to hold your body weight. Gradually rise through the ball of your foot and lift your heels off the ground, as slow as possible until you reach releve or full height. Reverse this process until your heel is placed back onto the ground. Be aware of your feet through out the entire exercise and make sure you are not rolling in or outwards over your ankle, and that your weight is distributed evenly over all of your toes.

SOFT SURFACE BALANCES:
We are constantly walking on hard ground all day and our ankles rarely get the opportunity to stabilize you on uneven and soft surfaces. A bosu ball is a piece of equipment often used for this exercise however if you don't have one you can substitute this exercise by standing on pool noodles, a pillow, blanket, sand, crash mat or a sturdy rounded object. 
Simply balance on one foot at a time on the soft surface and really consider all the engagement required by those muscles to keep your ankle in alignment. If you find this too simple, you can change it up by trying to do heel raises or  balancing on one leg and trying to touch the floor with your hands while balancing or one legged squats.

TheraBand Exercises:
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a video to explain this one instead.

There are numerous ways you can prevent injury or recover from an injury through consistent and comprehensive exercises. These are just a few that I like and find to be exceptionally helpful.

It's never too late to start taking care of your body!

Which exercise was your favorite in today's blog? Which do you think you will try first? Leave a comment below to discuss any ideas!

Signing off for now,
Coach Maygan.