Knights in armour hide under eyeliner.

February 21, 2021 3:20 PM

UCLA put out a fun video of their gymnastics team. That is all.
posted by Anonymous (18 comments total)

Those women are all looking strong as fuck in that video.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:02 PM on February 21, 2021 [5 favorites]

Oh that’s so fun! Strong AF alright. Love it!
posted by dog food sugar at 4:09 PM on February 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Wow. Props to team videographer Deanna Hong, too.
posted by evilmomlady at 4:11 PM on February 21, 2021 [7 favorites]

Okay, I admit that the last time I paid any real attention to gymnastics was in the 1970s. Can someone more knowledgeable explain the reasons for the difference in physique of gymnasts over time? Is it because the moves they're doing require more power, or advances in athletic training, or what? Compare.
posted by HotToddy at 4:22 PM on February 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Well for one obvious thing, the girls in that article are a lot younger than college age. But, correct me if I'm wrong, I think even older gymnasts back then looked more like dancers.
posted by HotToddy at 4:24 PM on February 21, 2021

Took me a bit to realize this video's style is mostly dictated by social distancing. It feels like a natural choice, as opposed to a clear artifact of the pandemic. That's really, really nice.
posted by suckerpunch at 4:26 PM on February 21, 2021 [17 favorites]

Mod note: One comment deleted -- it's okay to give this thread a pass if interacting with it makes you upset/unhappy.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 4:47 PM on February 21, 2021 [3 favorites]

My guess on the body type differences (aside from age): I think training regimens have improved, allowing competitors to put on more muscle and perform more powerful moves. Also I think there is less pressure in gymnastics than there used to be for competitors to have a certain body type, especially at the collegiate level. Gymnasts are less likely to be filtered out by coaches for not having a certain look (i.e. white and thin). Not that there's NO pressure, just less.

That article sets my teeth on edge. It reminds me of the judgements made of figure skaters. Frequently when judges complain about a gymnast or figure skater not being "graceful" what they really mean is "not thin enough, not white enough, too many muscles".
posted by Anonymous at 5:11 PM on February 21, 2021

College gymnastics is its own, different thing. (There’ve been a few different Slate articles; this is the first one.)
posted by Huffy Puffy at 5:11 PM on February 21, 2021 [5 favorites]

I suppose it makes sense that you can't have an acting career while being a gymnast, or keep up that level of gymnastics skill after retiring, but I kind of wish superhero movies had less CGI and more gymnastics, because that stuff is genuinely superhuman.
posted by Joe in Australia at 7:21 PM on February 21, 2021 [4 favorites]

JiA: Do I have the Razzie nominee for you
posted by dismas at 7:37 PM on February 21, 2021 [5 favorites]

Jackie Chan movies spring to mind.

Good point! I suppose I've been looking in the wrong places. Thanks!
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:11 PM on February 21, 2021 [1 favorite]

Wonderful!
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:01 AM on February 22, 2021

that stuff is genuinely superhuman.

I'm reminded of a friend's comment after seeing her first Cirque du Soleil show: "I'm glad nobody told them humans can't do that."
posted by rmd1023 at 6:04 AM on February 22, 2021 [4 favorites]

Awesome routine - anyone else get magical girl transformation vibes when they switched from their school uniforms to competition outfits?

Okay, I admit that the last time I paid any real attention to gymnastics was in the 1970s. Can someone more knowledgeable explain the reasons for the difference in physique of gymnasts over time?

Found a Vice article from 2016: Why Olympic Gymnasts Don’t Have to Be Super Skinny Anymore

Gymnastics is all about strength-to-weight ratio. You must be strong enough to throw your body around, or light enough that it's not that hard to do so. For a long time, the favored route to success in gymnastics was the latter, mirroring larger social pressures on women to be thin and delicate and innocent and young.
...Several paragraphs about the effects, including careers ending at puberty...
[Recent changes to the scoring system] gives more points for harder stuff, which has accelerated how difficult the very top routines have become. The new rules reward the incredible strength it takes not only to soar high in the air while doing two flips and two twists but to do it again and again in the gym without destroying your body. They're also more objective, with less room for judges score on aesthetics unrelated to how skills are supposed to be performed.

posted by cheshyre at 6:31 AM on February 22, 2021 [6 favorites]

That article sets my teeth on edge. It reminds me of the judgements made of figure skaters.

It's truly awful. Simone Biles and all the cool girls in this video are as womanly as they want to be. What a ridiculous use of that word to separate a way-too-thin, lily-white time in Olympic gymnastics with, in the context of this thread, college athletes who are achieving a healthy, diverse representation of gymnastics.
posted by bluefly at 6:42 AM on February 22, 2021 [3 favorites]

Okay, I admit that the last time I paid any real attention to gymnastics was in the 1970s. Can someone more knowledgeable explain the reasons for the difference in physique of gymnasts over time? Is it because the moves they're doing require more power, or advances in athletic training, or what?

This article may be of interest - "The Rise (and Fall?) of the Little-Girl Gymnast" by Dvora Myers. Myers is incredibly knowledgeable about gymnastics, has a fun SubStack called Unorthodox Gymnastics, and wrote an excellent book which also touches on this topic.
posted by hepta at 7:31 AM on February 22, 2021 [1 favorite]

Okay, I admit that the last time I paid any real attention to gymnastics was in the 1970s. Can someone more knowledgeable explain the reasons for the difference in physique of gymnasts over time?

My freshman year ('76-'77) roommate dated a member of the Indiana State University gymnastics team, so I (soft, pudgy, me) got to hang with quite a few of said gymnasts. And, honestly, even back then, those women had insanely strong, sculpted, muscular bodies. Maybe just a tiny bit more slender, but they definitely weren't the tiny Russian waifs we immediately think of.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:08 AM on February 22, 2021