Kevin Visits!
Workouts these past couple of days have been fun because I had a visitor come in and train with me. That visitor was Kevin Tan, a good friend of mine, and also a medalist from the 2008 Olympics.
Kevin and I have not only represented the US as members of the national team, but we go way back as we both grew up in the Bay Area. That said, we have a pretty strong connection, and I consider him to be like my big brother.
Through our training sessions we were able to share our thoughts and techniques on certain skills, which is always fun and helpful. Although he left to go back to the east coast, I know he’ll be working hard. Knowing this is a good thing because it’ll be a reminder for me to work harder so that I can push myself to the next level. Can’t wait to see him and the rest of the guys in competition-mode in the near future!
Kevin, Jinjing (my coach), and me at the gym
Fun in the Gym!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to have fun in the gym by training new skills. Most of my time over this last year was chewed up by rehab and trying to get back into competitive shape. Looking back, I’m glad I got over my second-thoughts and apprehension about competing, and actually went with it. At one point my knee had flared up so badly that I got really worried about competing, however, training for it allowed me to push my body to a new level. If I had stretched my comeback meet until next year, I’m pretty certain that I wouldn’t be feeling the same at this point in time.
Now it’s back to the gym and working new skills to increase the difficulties in my sets. Working new skills can be challenging but fun at the same time. I have until the beginning of next year until I have to compete again so I can give myself a bit of a mental break also. Thank goodness for being done with college too. I see the younger guys getting ready for school to start and I’m reminded of how stressed I used to be. Working is fairly stressful at times but it’s definitely a different type. You’re not asked to prepare for 3 tests and write a 15-page paper in one week.
With summer coming to a close, I’ve been enjoying some activities outside of the gym as well. Last weekend, I had the chance to see Dave Matthews Band in concert. It was an awesome show!
Back At It
I never realized how much stress you put you body under when you compete until I finished competing at USA’s this year. Although we simulated a two-day meet in practice to prepare for competition, competing and simulating is a completely different story. How did I realized this?…my knee was pretty shot for a couple of days after the meet.
However, after taking several days off, my knee feels a lot better, if not stronger than before. Regardless of the result, I’m glad that I took this opportunity to compete and get my feet wet again. Through the entire process, it helped me gain a better understanding of my body and realize how much I can actually push myself. Competing again also allowed me to see where I’m at and observe the other competitors as well.
Now that I have several months to train until the next competition, it’s back to the gym, hitting basics, new skills, and conditioning. I’m finally feeling like I’m at the point where I am capable of improving and getting stronger (physically). Whereas over the last year, I was playing catch up because I was rehabbing the entire time.
Switching subjects but I had a bit of an eventful weekend. I was asked to be a featured presenter for the Region 1 Gymnastics Congress. I was a bit nervous leading up to it because I was called up last minute and didn’t have much time to prepare, however, all in all I think it went pretty well. Now it’s back to the daily grind as always!
Next Step
It’s been several days since USA’s ended and I apologize once again for the delay in putting up a new post. The very next day after the meet ended, I went up to New York to visit some old friends of mine, and currently, I’m in Washington DC, visiting my sister who works here.
Anyway, I’d like to back-track several days to the competition to fill you all in. As many of you probably already know, this year’s USAs was my first meet back in over a year because of the knee surgery I had at the end of summer last year. Naturally I was excited about being back on the floor again, but I’ll have to admit that there were definitely some pre-meet jitters because it had been so long since I saluted a judge last. However, it wasn’t long before I felt right at home competing again and performing in front of the crowds. Between the two days, aside from making one big and clear mistake when I came off of the pommel horse, everything else was pretty much the same as I’ve been doing in practice during the preparation process. Unfortunately, I will not deny the fact that my final results wasn’t a great reflection of this. When the meet ended and the dust settled, I was unable to get myself back onto the US National Team.
My coach and I had actually talked about this long before this meet even started. Our main goal for this meet was simply to get back in there and compete, and not worry about the outcome. Since I only got fully cleared by the doctor about four months ago, we decided that it would be best to keep our difficulties low. We figured that this would help us avoid the risk of reinjury, something that’s especially important at this point in the game. Naturally, this helped me improve my chances of hitting my routines, nonetheless, with the lack of difficulty, it made it tough for me to receive a high score even when I did hit. Despite having known this all this time, not seeing my name as part of the national team was definitely a difficult thing to swallow. I was clearly disappointed…
This has a lot to do with my competitive side. It constantly yearns to be at the top of the game despite any circumstances. However, after some talks with my coach and doing some reflecting on all that’s happened to me over this entire year, I realized that the fact that I was able to get through these two days of competition rather consistently was an accomplishment in itself.
I’ll admit that there were definitely still some pain in my leg, especially during the second day of competition, but the fact that I was able to get through them safely definitely boosted my confidence. Just the fact of competing again allowed me to create a starting point – a place where I can begin to build on as my knee continues to recover to full health.
My coach made it mandatory to take a break for a bit. After several days of taking some time off to heal some of the aches and pains, and to refresh my mind, I’ll be more than ready to get back in the gym again to begin building again. The next domestic competition will be in February and I’m definitely very excited to get stronger and prepare again. On to the next step!
Game Time
I’m getting ready to compete for the first time in over a year so I’ve been taking this time to reflect on all that’s happened to me since getting my knee repaired. Honestly, after having my surgery after last year’s Japan Cup, it was difficult for me to look too far into the future as, initially, everything was a day by day process. After all, the first couple of months consisted of only doing quad tighteners and straight leg raises in rehab. Boy, those were painfully boring! Simple daily tasks as walking to the bathroom was painful. Not to mention I was locked in at a 45 degree knee bend for those first few months.
Mornings were the worst as I’d wake up feeling stiff as a board. It took a substantial amount of warming up to gain the mobility for my knee to bend. I did get pretty skilled on those crutches though. However, there were several close calls when I tripped on them and felt like I might’ve reinjured it. Took some mobility tests by the therapists and docs to reassure that it was alright!
The most exciting news though was getting that green light to start training again. Obviously it was a gradual increase in numbers and intensity but it was a great feeling to know that the days of intensive rehab had paid off.
However, with the support of the people around me, I’ve managed to build myself back up to the point where I’m able to compete again. Although I’m not quite 100%, I’m definitely inching my way there. The plan is to get back in and compete in the sport I enjoy the most. Lots of ups and downs over this past year but I’m grateful for all the help that I’ve gotten. This is definitely all part of the journey and I’m ready to continue to build on it!
Me and Jonny during podium training
Reporting from Hartford!
Major apologies for the lack of updates! Last week was possibly the busiest week yet. I was busy getting ahead with my work and running errands to make sure that I was ready to go on my trip to Hartford for USA Championships.
The great thing was that training was light all of last week. My hard cycle was done by that point so we basically focused on lower volume but higher qualities in each of the routines. This was all just part of the tapering process to get my body physically fresh and ready for the competition. Now that the preparation’s done, it’s time to put on a show!
As for this weekend, I went to my old teammate’s wedding. It was great seeing him so happy, not to mention that the wedding became a huge reunion for the Stanford Men’s Team! All of my teammates are doing well in their own respective fields. They’re all out saving the world by working in the computer field, becoming doctors, lawyers, vets, etc.
Now, after a full day of traveling, I’m finally here in Hartford, Connecticut. It was a long cross-country trip but I made it over without any delays! I’ll be going to the arena tomorrow to get used to the equipment. Tuesday will be the same, and then it will be game time on Wednesday. Thanks again for all the support! It’ll be fun to be back in the game again!
Trying to Get Ahead
Apologies for the lack of updates! I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that with USA Championships coming up, I’ve been focusing extra hard on my training but on my outside work as well. Knowing that I’ll be pretty much away the entire week for the competition, I’m trying my best to get ahead and complete the work that I would otherwise be doing that week. That way, I’ll be able to put my full focus on the meet itself. Honestly, I thought life after college was going to ease up a bit. I definitely thought wrong…
While college was difficult in its own way, especially the combination of training and having a full schedule of academics, I now have a ton of other responsibilities that I never had to worry about while I was a student. Supporting myself through my three-part time jobs and dealing with the projects that come with it is one thing. I also never thought that monitoring my own meals would be this difficult! The hardest part is cooking after being beat from training that day. Man, was I spoiled during my college days. Dinner was always waiting for me in the dining hall!
Despite all this, I’m enjoying the ride. I’m learning a lot through the entire process.
On an unrelated note, I got asked to be a presenter at a regional gymnastics congress next month. I’ve never given hour-long presentations on techniques for specific skills so it’ll be interesting. But then again, how hard can it be? I live, eat, and sleep gymnastics!
Bye Bye Grips
The other day during one of my ring routines, I swung down to go for my dismount and boom! Lights out, my hand slipped right off the rings and I went through a side-winder/bucking bronco flip straight to my back. Honestly I couldn’t figure out what had happened until I looked down at my hands and saw that my left grip had torn right as I had gone to do the dismount. Yikes…
For those of you who are unfamiliar, gymnasts use a special hand guard made out of leather that not only helps us grip onto things but to also protect our hands from getting torn up while we swing on the rings and the high bar. Every once in a while, accidents do happen and they can tear after you’ve worn them out. Generally, they last for a couple of months. That said, it’s unacceptable when they tear on the second day of using them. Yup, that’s right. I tore them just after two days…
My two-day old ring grips
However, it seems like this has been an issue everywhere. My teammates at Stanford have experienced the same thing, and some friends in Japan have had similar accidents. If it was just a one time thing, it wouldn’t be such a big problem, but if they’re tearing after only a couple of turns in gyms all over the world, then there is a problem. It’s not only expensive to replace them, but there’s also a big safety issue involved. Can’t tell ya if it’s the mad cow disease that’s making the leather all weak but this needs to be fixed ASAP!
Gettin’ Through It
Hard training days aren’t all that bad when your body’s feelin’ fresh and you’re ready to go. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. As an athlete, you’re always dealing with sore here, or sore there, and it’s a constant battle between yourself.
However, getting through these workouts when you’re not “feelin’ it” is more meaningful than those workouts you go through when you feel good. After all, more often than not, you enter a competition not feeling 100%. What better way to simulate this than push through these workouts?
Anyway, I woke up this morning completely beaten up from the training the day before. It was one of those days when I had to “roll out” of bed. What made it worse was the instant I woke up, the first thing that went through my mind was that I’d have to go through another heavy training plan again. Went to the gym, and whatdayaknow, my body felt super heavy! Thing is, rather than loathing about it, I always like to takes these days as a fun challenge. An opportunity to see how much I could do while not feeling all that great. Crazy thing is, one little switch on how you look at things can change a whole lot. The mind is a powerful thing. Despite some minor mistakes, I was able to get through the hard training!
Tomorrow is finally a lighter day. I’ll be getting my knee checked out again by the trainer. Believe it or not, it hasn’t even been a year since I had the surgery to repair this knee. There are some days that are more sore than others but I’m happy with the way things have been progressing!
Champions Camp
It was a hectic week both in and out of the gym, but somehow I managed to get all of my assignments done! Not only was it a hard training week but I had my normal work to get done for my part-time jobs, and on top of all of that, our gym held a boy’s camp (that was the fun part!).
It was exciting to see a bunch of the local kids get together and train under the same roof. While summer is generally the busiest time for elite gymnasts because of all of the big competitions that are held during this time of the year, kids in the US use this time to train new skills and develop strength for the competitive season that starts in January. Everyone worked super hard and it was fun to see the improvements that happened all across the gym. I know from experience that getting advice from a different coach can make a big difference even though they might be saying the same exact thing that you hear everyday from your personal coach. Hearing the same thing over and over from the same coach can have a numbing effect, which is one of the reasons why these camps can be so effective.
Champions Camp!
I’m totally excited to see these kids again when their competitive season starts up again in January.
Well, my work week is over…well almost. Tomorrow, I’m heading up north to a gym that’s about two hours to run a clinic. I wouldn’t offically call this work though because I enjoy working with new gymnasts. I’ve never been up to their gym but I’m looking forward to seeing everyone up there!
