Just got done reading an interesting article about the comeback of Alicia Sacramone (read the article here). For those of you not familiar with Alicia, she was a member of the US Women’s Gymnastics Team in 2008. It seems she has decided to come out of “retirement” and begin working towards 2012…good luck Alicia.

Now down to the business of gymnastics leotards. If you have a little girl that takes gymnastics classes, or is a competitive gymnast you know that the key to a successful gymnastics session is variety. Yes, working a variety of gymnastics skills is good to help build the gymnasts skill set, but more importantly your little gymnast must have a variety of leotards. This is the primary difference between boys and girls in most aspects of life. Little boys will get their favorite pair of shorts, or their lucky workout shirt, and that is what they have to wear to practice…no question about it. However, young ladies need an assortment of styles and colors in their wardrobe, and their gymnastics leotards and accessories are absolutely no different.

While there are a variety of leotard styles that exist for the aspiring gymnast (open back, cross-strap, etc.) the colors that are available dwarf the style choices. Young ladies can easily find their favorite pink leotard or red leotard on the Internet for a reasonable price. If they are feeling a little wild, they can even track down a pink leotard print…how often have you seen one of those? The reality is that if you want a specific color…it can be found, someone makes it.

While the black leotard is wildly popular for various types of dance, you don’t see as many of them in gyms. Most of the young ladies pursuing their gymnastics passions prefer leotards that have more personality than a black leotard can offer. If you were to look through a GK Leotards catalog or Adidas catalog, you would find very few solid black leos.

When you pair the varied colors of leotards these days with the various styles and materials you end up with almost limitless possibilities regarding the choices gymnasts have at their finger tips. I mean you could buy a red leo made out of spandex with short sleeves, and turn right around and order the same style of leotard made out of crushed velvet in a slightly different shade of red. The potential combinations are limitless.

Ok folks, I am going to be completely honest here I am completing my third graduate degree as we speak and my writing skills are just about shot. So, I am going to dig deep and give a small post today about a topic that is only remotely related to gymnastics, but that I believe is applicable nonetheless.

The title of the post gives the article away. I am going to talk a little bit about the thong leotard. I can honestly say that none of my gymnasts ever used a thong leotard during practice, but I did have several female coaches that liked the way they fit them.

Thong leotards are not the best leotard for gymnastics (although, they do eliminate the wedgie problem). However, I can see how females that spend a significant amount of time working out may prefer this type of leo. The high cut of the thong leotard up over the hips allows for additional freedom of movement and the fact that the backside is narrow can provide a more comfortable workout for the wearer. One of the sites that I found that has a fair assortment of these is riversedgedancewear.com.

Have any of you tried this type of leotard? What do you think, how does it stack up against a traditional leo? Does it provide more freedom when you are working out? Does it help to keep you cooler?

Now, get out there and stick it!

Gymnastics Leotards

The summer Olympic games showcase the greatest athletes in the world. Some sports do not capture the public fancy–not a big turn-out for the shot putters, certainly not compared to the celebrity status of gymnasts. The power and grace of these athletes, as they do seemingly impossible leaps and flips, thrills onlookers. Young girls in particular identify with the young female gymnasts who are the real stars. Most gymnasts are very young-usually teens to early 20’s. Little girls are dazzled when they see amazing performers like Shawn Johnson of the United States in her hot pink leotard, or Beth Tweddle from the United Kingdom and Kristina Vaculik of Canada in their deep blue leotard uniform. They want to become gymnasts too and wear some of those beautiful bright colors and fly through the air, defying gravity.

The flash and color of gymnastics leotards grew from the basic black leotard to a delightful array of designs and colors. Most Olympians wear high cut and long sleeve leotards. The high cut frees their legs from any hindrance in movement, while the long sleeves keeps their upper body muscles warm and limber. The material in their outfits is a mixture of stretchy fabric such as lycra or nylon mixed with cotton. Manufacturers have developed micro-fibers that will stretch and wick away perspiration, and dry quickly, keeping the athlete cool during the heat of competition.

If you are purchasing Olympic style leotards for yourself or a son or daughter, you need to ensure the style will be comfortable and not make the child uncomfortable. The leotards can be sleeveless for non Olympians to be cooler and more comfortable. If needed, many come with built in support from the shoulder straps. The support is built in and not obtrusive. You might be more comfortable with low cut rather than the revealing high cut. There are leotard outfits that use netting material for the shoulders to give a strapless look, and others that are open in the back or have straps crossing the back.

You can special order leotards online and personalize them with different types of rhinestones or beads. Take a basic white leotard and put beautiful patterns of sequins, beads or rhinestones, or colorful red white and blue stars like American gymnasts wore. A green leotard is the perfect color to add brilliant gold and white lightning bolt patterns, or choose an iridescent purple leotard with lavender flowers cascading down one side. Online options allow you to combine background colors with different patterns and decorations, in a choice of material. You or your child can dress in outfits identical to those of their Olympic idols.

Male gymnastic outfits are usually more sedate than the female uniforms. Most male athletes perform in tight fitting sleeveless tops that have fabric designed to wick away their perspiration. They wear shorts or gymnast pants rather than tights when performing. Their costumes are more practical and designed to stay out of their way and not interfere with their spectacular physical feats on the parallel bars, pommel horse or ring tower.

Safety and comfort are secondary to the looks, so make sure the material is light weight, stretchy but fitting well enough the wearer will feel confident and comfortable. If necessary, ensure the outfit includes adequate support.

Gymnastics Leotards

Retroactive Bronze Award 2000
When I saw a title stating that the US Women’s Gymnastics Team had been awarded the bronze medal for the 2000 Olympic Games – I had to do a double take. Honestly, I looked at the cover several times, and then I double-checked the date on the magazine I was looking , USA Gymnastics Online at (it was in fact for the month of May 2010). After one or two more minutes of head scratching, a very dim light began to come on inside of my head. I remembered that I had heard that the International Olympics Committee had penalized China for using under age gymnasts during the 2000 games. Finally it all made sense. I am sure the ladies were excited to learn of their belated award. One has to wonder though if we will be seeing more of this type of activity. If you recall, the 2008 games were full of allegations that one or two of the female gymnasts looked woefully under age. I guess time will tell.

A New Thought On Finding Used Gymnastics Leotards
I have written several articles discussing my thoughts on finding used and discount gymnastics leotards. If you have spent any time at all trying to find used leos, you know it ain’t easy. In the past I have covered options such as visiting Amazon or eBay to see what they have to offer in the way of cheap gymnastics outfits. Typically you can find something on those sites. Tonight, while I was sorting through the Internet to see what other resources I could find for you I had an epiphany…CraigsList (craigslist.org). They seem to have a little bit of everything on this site. While you may not be able to find quality used leotards on Craigslist all of the time, I am certain you can find a deal on there every once and a while. Another excellent source for finding reasonably priced, gently used leotards is at your local gymnastics center. Most gyms I have been affiliated with have some type of a pro shop on the premises and in those pro shops they typically sell used gymnastics leotards on consignment. If you can find a local gymnastics pro shop, they will be your best bet for finding a nice workout leotard for a reasonable price. Even if you paid the exact same amount for a used leo from the pro shop as one listed on eBay, you will save on the shipping.

Are You Ready For Gymnastics Camp?
To finish out this post, I figured I would throw a little bit of information out there about some of the upcoming summer gymnastics camps. When I was coaching my competitive girls team, summer camp was always the high point of their year. Gymnasts like to have the opportunity to go and work with other coaches and gymnasts because it changes their workout up a little bit. As a coach, I always enjoyed it because it was nice to have another coach reaffirm the instruction I had been giving them all year long. For those of you new to the gymnastics summer camp thing, there are tons of camps out there. I have decided just to provide you with information on three of them. The Woodward gymnastics camp and the UCLA Gymnastics Camp have been around forever and have very good reputations. The Olympia gymnastics camp is new to me, but they do have Svetlana Boguinskaia (former top notch Russian Olympian) coaching at the camp. Any one of these three camps is sure to be a great experience for your young gymnast.

Now get out there and stick it!