Rhythmic gymnasts

[Stick.figure]

I wasn't really sure where to put this, so if one of the mods deems another place more appropriate, please feel free to move this Topic.

Now, I personally love watching rhythmic gymnastics. I find it so incredibly aesthetically pleasing and wonderful to watch those skinnies perform.
Also, great "medium-tall" girl thinspo - they are thin, but a bit more toned - which is the kind of body type I have.

Some of my favourites:
Irina Kazakova

Uliyana Trofimova

Yana Kudryavtseva :

Maria Yuskevich

Maria is my favourite - she is skinny, and she has my body type, so I am easily motivated by her

 

[alexandtm]

I love rhythmic gymnasts (and ballerinas) - particularly the Eastern Europeans. They have such great bodies and real discipline.

 

[gymtiger]

I'm an artistic gymnast so not an expert on rhythmic gymnasts, though one of my personal fave rhythmic gymnasts for thinspo is Maria Titova.

 

[happyending]

Wow I haven't been on this thread since I started lurking a few years ago. Love rhythmic gymnasts' bodies. So thin and strong! I wonder how they're so lean. Is it just the stretching and diet restriction?

 

[gymtiger]

Wow I haven't been on this thread since I started lurking a few years ago. Love rhythmic gymnasts' bodies. So thin and strong! I wonder how they're so lean. Is it just the stretching and diet restriction?

Unlike rhythmic, artistic gymnasts like me are encouraged to be strong and muscular because we just flat out need the muscle to our skills, however rhythmic gymnasts aren't doing the acrobatic stuff we do and don't need the same muscle so really they don't do that much conditioning (to my knowledge), think it's most just ankle/calf work they do. I'd guess that they can get away with restriction since they don't really need much power. Definitely stretching gives the lean but thin look, but particularly is the type of skills they do- leaps, that require your muscles to 'snap' into motions, but don't make you bulky.

 

[MickeyMouse]

I did artistic gymnastics for YEARSSSS and it was incredible. I have always been really lean and never built much aesthetic muscle so I think it may also depend on your body type - I will never be stocky. I mean I guess it is theoretically possible but it would take much more time and effort to make and maintain the shape.

 

[Butternut]

My dad thinks they have the perfect bodies too! So it's not just our aesthetic
He even signed me up for rhythmic gymnastics when I was young, but unfortunately no amount of stretching could change the fact that my legs have zero flexibility. Also my coach was Russian and I HATED it, all I remember is pain and disappointment lol

 

[Sakura]

I love rhythmic gymnastics! The girls are so incredibly talented! I find myself in a trance whenever I watch their floor routines They move their bodies so fluently, and so smoothly, it almost seems unreal how someone can be that flexible, agile, and graceful. I wanted to do rhythmic gymnastics so bad when I was in Germany, but I couldn't find any gyms that taught it, and just stuck with artistic gymnastics All the girls are so beautiful, skinny, and elegant, it's great thinsporation!

 

[gymtiger]

I love rhythmic gymnastics! The girls are so incredibly talented! I find myself in a trance whenever I watch their floor routines They move their bodies so fluently, and so smoothly, it almost seems unreal how someone can be that flexible, agile, and graceful. I wanted to do rhythmic gymnastics so bad when I was in Germany, but I couldn't find any gyms that taught it, and just stuck with artistic gymnastics All the girls are so beautiful, skinny, and elegant, it's great thinsporation!

You were a gymnast too?! Shocked that I've seen a few gymnasts on here it already, it makes me happy haha. I am extremely genetically flexible. I've been told many times by coaches I'm too flexible for artistic bleh. I live in northern California and honestly would have loved to have been put in rhythmic, but there's barely any regular gyms up here, let alone rhythmic.

 

[Sakura]

You were a gymnast too?! Shocked that I've seen a few gymnasts on here it already, it makes me happy haha. I am extremely genetically flexible. I've been told many times by coaches I'm too flexible for artistic bleh. I live in northern California and honestly would have loved to have been put in rhythmic, but there's barely any regular gyms up here, let alone rhythmic.

Yes, I was a gymnast I never realized how many gymnast were on this forum up until now! I feel your pain, it sucks how there's barely any gyms that teach rhythmic gymnastics. It's such a beautiful sport, It's a shame it's not that popular . If you ever get the chance, give rhythmic gymnastics a go! I'm sure you would do wonderfully in it!

 

[marieebo]

I love watching rhythmic gymnastic competitions, they're SUPER talented and have such lean long bodies, even the girls who aren't super tall!
And if you compare them to girls who do artistic gymnastics:

such a difference!

 

[happyending]

I do find rhythmic gymnastics to be an odd sport (just because of all the overstretching) but beautiful nonetheless. Their extensions are amazing-even more so than dancers. There are a couple thin/not bulky artistic gymnasts who come to mind, particularly Nastia Liukin who had a rhythmic gymnast's body up until maybe 2005 or so because her training was more about flexibility and dance elements (correct me if I'm wrong @gymtiger )

But anyways, beautiful strong bodies. I'm sure they eat really well because they're always glowing. If any of them were tall enough, I'm sure they'd have the discipline to maintain a model's body and enter modeling.

 

[gymtiger]

I do find rhythmic gymnastics to be an odd sport (just because of all the overstretching) but beautiful nonetheless. Their extensions are amazing-even more so than dancers. There are a couple thin/not bulky artistic gymnasts who come to mind, particularly Nastia Liukin who had a rhythmic gymnast's body up until maybe 2005 or so because her training was more about flexibility and dance elements (correct me if I'm wrong @gymtiger )

But anyways, beautiful strong bodies. I'm sure they eat really well because they're always glowing. If any of them were tall enough, I'm sure they'd have the discipline to maintain a model's body and enter modeling.

I can actually add a unique insight about Nastia- I trained at WOGA, the gym her father owns, for a year & a half during the 2008 Olympics. If you were to compare 2 gymnasts, in the example say Shawn Johnson superpuke and Nastia, the body types are so different. For whatever asinine reason, this new generation of gymnastics seems to prefer stocky, power gymnasts. Shawn always has higher start values on events like vault and floor because she had so much more power than Nastia. You can always tell if a female gymnast is a powerful tumbler by looking at their tumbling- someone who is built like Nastia with a more dancer-like physique will rarely do double flipping & almost always stick to twisting. For example- if you watch one of Shawn's Olympic floor routines her very first pass is a double twisting double back compared to Nastia's first pass which is a front twist to a front double twist, which while difficult, has nothing compared to Shawn's first pass. If you watch the first video though the announcers are discussing Shawn's start value and saying that she's not getting full credit on some of her leap passes which is because their ugly as hell & while American judging would give her the points for it, on International stages, many judges will score stocky gymnasts poorly. (another good example of this was the 2012 Olympics with Gabby Douglas & Jordyn Weiber).





*end part 1 of rambling* *begin phase 2* So another fun fact- Nastia Liukin's parents were both internationally known Soviet gymnasts themselves. Nastia's father was the first man to compete a triple back on floor and was part of the gold medal winning team in 1988 Olympics. Nastia's mother is Anna Kotchneva, a rhythmic gymnast who was the 1987 World Champion. Nastia and her are identical in both bodies & faces. It was funny, after the 2008 Olympics when they paraded around Nastia, Anna taught her some of her old routines to do at shows (watered down though of course). Anyways... no, Nastia's practices weren't consisting of only dance and flexibility things- she still had to do all the events, but she knew her strengths and the skills she chose always catered to them. That being said, most gyms don't include dancing rotations in their practices anymore. The only gym that I know of who really makes sure to do it WOGA and we'd do 2 one hour rotations with a Russian ballet coach every week. That coach was so grandmotherly and sweet until the moment you pissed her off and then all hell would break loose haha, & she also was not afraid to straight up tell girls to not eat if they were looking pudgy. While I'm on this subject, I'd like to commend Russia for not conforming to the new aesthetic of stocky gymnasts- if you look at their 2012 team, their starlets Aliya Mustafina are Viktoria Komova much better looking than the Americans *cough Jordyn Weiber & Aly Raisman*

 

[blue]

@gymtiger- while on the subject, I think Aliya is a bit stocky looking. Komova was perfect. Any idea if she's competing next year?

I never understood Jordyn's body, while Raisman is alright- akin to Mustafina. Gabby's was similar to Komova's build, but more bulky to allow for the tumbling.

Simone Biles this year.. and last.. omg. Terrible body, but kudos to her for her wins. Bloody amazing, but such a stocky body.

(I'm am an artistic gymnastics fan girl)

 

[gymtiger]

@gymtiger- while on the subject, I think. Aliya is a bit stocky looking. Komova was perfect. Any idea if she's competing next year?

I never understood Jordyn's body, while Raisman is alright- akin to Mustafina. Gabby's was similar to Komova's build, but more bulky to allow for the tumbling.

Simone Biles this year.. and last.. omg. Terrible body, but kudos to her for her wins. Bloody amazing, but such a stocky body.

(I'm am an artistic gymnastics fan girl)

I think part of Aliya's look is that she has such broad shoulders. I mean, she's definitely gained weight as she's gotten older, but she's still tinier imo than any girls on the US team with the same body shape. I hated Jordyn's gymnastics... she is so lucky for being so strong because if it weren't for her strength she'd have been awful. Idk, she's just not pretty to watch. I thought Aly could have lost weight some weight but I agree that she wasn't too bad. She just has such a long torso that I think it gives her an appearance of being heavier than she really is. As far as modern gymnastics goes, I thought Gabby was relatively thin, she's definitely lucky though because she just seems to have a smaller build anyways. If she had less muscle I would say she actually looked quite good, but then of course that would make her skills much harder to do haha. I refuse to watch Simone.. probably sounds bad, but she's just not pretty to watch. Might just be me, but when I see her she just looks chubby. In all her podium pics, she's always looking like she's trying to suck in and her arms are so manly they stick out awkwardly. All I can really say is that despite her body, she's amazingly talented and it's such a shame that she isn't smaller because I feel like she's just be so much better....

on another note, what are your thoughts on Svetlana Khorkina?

 

[blue]

Svetlana was good, queen of the uneven bars, right (more talented than Nastia..)? Perhaps too skinny for artistic gymnastics in the early 2000's. I liked her lines, but she did her bar routines too quickly and you don't really get to appreciate it as much. I love her beam work though.. those lines....

Personally, I never liked her leos. I think at one olympics she was wearing something which reminded me of kermit the frog...

 

[gymtiger]

Svetlana was my idol back in the day I was at the 2003 World Championships in Anaheim and had broken both my arms from peeling off the high bar- the organizers of the meet saw me and gave me front row tickets, so we ended up right in front of beam and she was standing directly in front of me. She's so tiny in person. And yes, Svetlana was queen of bars, but she was very good on beam too (and has 8 skills named after her in total). I think the reason Svetlana had such a quick bar routine is that she has much less bar transitions than other people- as in all her skills were connected to each other so she didn't have an excess of kips and whatnot. Certainly it's hard to compare Nastia and Svetlana though since Svetlana didn't use grips. Svetlana had a lot more intricate skills that I don't think Nastia could have ever done, but Nastia did a Higgins with invert giants and also did those into her dismount which gave her a huge ass start value and Svetlana would never have been able to do those without grips (idek if she'd have had the shoulder flexibility for them though anyways). Ugh I wish more of our current gymnasts looked more like her

 

[gymtiger]

Comparing Svetlana & Nastia's bar routines-

Svetlana's bar routine from the 2004 Olympics during the team qualifications


and Nastia's 2008 Olympic bar routine during the All Around competition (I thought it was her best during the olympics minus the bad dismount)


If Svetlana had competed the exact routine during the 2008 Olympics she'd have been blown out of the water- her start value would have been 16.2 compared to Nastia's 17.7. That being said, if Nastia didn't have her invert giants, then Svetlana would have the much more difficult routine imo.

 

[gymtiger]

Dominika Červenková

 

[AliceTaf]

I LOVE GYMNASTICS
the Chinese team are always quite tiny, but most artistics gymnasts are bigger and stronger which makes them pretty good inspo for toning imo
At the moment Chen Siyi, Shang Chunsong, Yao Jinnan and Bai Yawen are pretty thin but still very toned. Some of the Russian and Romanians are slim but most are more muscular now :/
From Russia, there's Darya Skrypnik, Darya Spiridonova and Ekaterina Sokova, from Romania there's Andreea Iridon and from the USA there's Alyssa Baumann. Most are better fitspo because of their muscles.