anyone go to a gym for a competition and go on the equipment and then go like whoooooaaahhh! in some gyms the equipment quality is not so good and there is a huge difference from the 'standard' ...really makes a bigger difference for optionals/elite, the higher levels. we have really good equipment, how do u like ur equipment at your club?

It's ok, not my fav of all th eplaces we go, but I don't hate it either. This one meet has a low beam that's carpeted. I hate it. And when you're level five or below, you don't get a full floor, just a strip.

[quote]It's ok, not my fav of all th eplaces we go, but I don't hate it either. [/quote] Are you talking about your gym flyingflex? The level 4's and 5's in my gym usually practice their floor routines on a strip too b/c of gym space, but they do get to practice it on the whole floor too, to get ready for competition. You didn't do competition on the carpeted low beam did u? that's weird. aren't there regulations....maybe it just have to be a certain distance off the floor or something? We have low/floor beams for practicing on, and then the 'regular' ones for competition. Some bars in different gyms are bouncier than others....floors that aren't bouncy at all though really suck esp. for optionals and higher level competitions!! :D Apparently the WOGA gym floor isn't bouncy at all....and all those national champions!

Really, no bouncy floor at WOGA? Their web http://woga.net doesn't have many picts. of their gym. They have lots of good gymnasts: "Deutsch to continue career with ISU" - http://www.planostar.com/articles/2006/11/30/plano_star-courier/sports/sports_10.txt

Yes, I was talking a/b my gym when I said it wasn't my fave. And the carpeted beam was jsut for warm-ups.

we got a new tumble trak some months ago b/c the old one was worn out but the new one really sucks! the texture is all uneven (weird!!), the old one had a smooth texture, and plus the new one isn't even bouncy like before, it feels kind of like you're bouncing on empty springs or something!

^^yuck! Personally, I don't really like tumble tracks for anything except font tucks/font hand fornts.

good quality tumble traks are good, to have more practice time on the tumbling w/o the hard impact of the floor -- good to do the dismount flip part on the mat-part end. the pit is also good for this - no hard landing! i know what you mean about the difference in floors! some are like you are tumbling on just a padded mat. that's why it's good that they allow you to warm-up on the equipment before competing on it, so that u can test it out and make the necessary adjustments. and also why there were complaints on the World Championships format where the gymnasts had warm-ups in the 'backstage' warm-up gym and then were to compete on the platform competition gym without warm-up. sometimes it's really like the people making the rules have no gymnastics experience at all and are just making decisions by the business side of it.

Equipment is very important. [quote]Biomechanists suspect that the spring component of the floor exercise apparatus does contribute to injury, by simultaneously increasing forces being absorbed by the lower extremities and decreasing the stability of the surface beneath them. In addition, the sport's governing bodies do not regulate the floors' stiffness, which raises the possibility that inconsistencies in the way floors are "tuned" could also contribute to injury in gymnasts who must adjust to a new apparatus each time they compete in a new location.[/quote] It's from the article: "BioMechanics January 2007 Efforts to reduce gymnastics injuries focus on spring floors" - http://www.biomech.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196900326