Modern Women's Pieces of Apparatus

Hello again! If you read my last blog post, you’ll remember me previously explaining about the floor and vault. Now it’s time for beam and bars!! These two pieces are more recent, and I might add ten times more frustrating to learn (by the end of this post, hopefully you’ll understand!!)

First, let’s start with my worst enemy: beam. The balance beam was first invented in the 18th century (how I wish I was born before such times!) when a German gymnastics coach called Johann Gutsmuths decided to use a tree trunk to help his gymnasts learn to balance. Since then the balance beam has developed into a 1.25m high, 5m long and 10cm wide wooden beam. Thankfully it’s slightly padded, although that doesn’t make it any less sore! Scary, right? And guess what makes it even better? For 90 seconds, us gymnasts not only spin and leap on the beam, but also flip. Just like floor. Yay! Honestly though, what was Gutsmuths thinking?

Lauren Mitchell on Beam, Credit: simple.wikipedia.org

And now for the last, but by no means kindest, of women’s pieces. Yep, you guessed it. The uneven bars. These were only developed in 1934. That year at the World Championships in Budapest, the uneven bars were revealed to the world as an alternative to the men’s similar event, the parallel bars. The difference would be that the uneven bars would consist of two bars at different heights, and would demonstrate women’s grace, as opposed to men’s power. The low bar is 1.65m tall and the high bar is 2.4m tall. Women must swing around, pirouette on top of, release and catch, and dismount from these wooden bars. Both bars must be used, with transitions between the bars also necessary.

Rebecca Downie on Uneven Bars, Credit: wikivisually.com

Again, maybe it would’ve been better to do gymnastics in the ancient times… Only kidding. These new additions to this complex sport only make it even more exhilarating! Honestly, no matter who you are I really encourage you to at least give one of these pieces a try. Gymnastics holds something for everyone and I hope one of the pieces caught your attention. Bye for now!

Thanks to the following sources for information:
www.thoughtco.com
www.britannica.com
www.livestrong.com
www.healthfully.com