I am an Acrobatic Gymnastics Flyer AMA!

Did other guys made fun of you when you were young for doing gymnastics?

No one did to me, and also because I am in a Sports School now that it was quite normal

Oh ok that makes sense then. In public schools I knew some kids who got made fun of because of that.

Do you make good money with gymnastics or do you need a second job to pay for stuff like food, rent, etc.?

I am currently still a student so my money is enough and I still am saving it up for my future, but it should be enough when i leave school

How frequent are serious injuries in your sport?

Happens once in a while actually like once every few years if you are unlucky. A serious injury will pretty much set you out for a while and you probably won't make it back because of the short lifespan in this sport... and i haven't had a really serious injury which is good

I just have a few quick questions. Thanks for the AMA btw.

How old are you right now?

When did you start doing acrobatic gymnastics?

How much do you weigh?

How tall are you?

What is your training routine?

How many hours do you practice a day?

Do you plan to go to college, or are you doing this til you retire? What are your plans for your future?

I was a gymnast myself (not anymore though), so I’m really interested in other people’s workouts and stuff. Thanks for the AMA again!

I am 16 this year, and I started doing this when I was 7. I am 164cm tall, 49kg. I usually start with solo statics and hand balances for an hour or so, before moving on to partner work. Every training usually lasts about 4 hours at least. I am in a sports college now so i study and train atthe same time

Does the trust have to be 50/50? Clearly if the flyer fails they can just dismount and POSSIBLY not hurt anyone else. But if the base fails then that will hurt both the flyer and possibly the base.

Clearly trust is a big deal to do this profession. How does that trust translate while you’re not performing with your partner, meaning do you have a pretty close relationship outside of the gym?

Yes we have a very close relationship outside of training and we are very close to each other, which leads to the great trust we have when we train and compete, because we have to rely on each other to properly complete our routine and of course to be safe

Kvass or that Georgian salty mineral water?

Kvass!

This is the first time I've actually read about Acrobatic Gymnastics, but I follow Tumbling and Trampoline, and I've always thought that there is way too much focus on Artistic Gymnastics on media.

Why do you think that is? Why doesn't Acrobatics get the same level of attention? Do you wish it had it?

I think it could be because we are not an olympic sport, and people think we're more like a circus than a proper sport

Is there a certain diet you need to do to consistently stay the same weight for when they carry or throw you around? Or do you just stay as you are and let them adjust to you?

I try to watch what i eat to make sure i keep my weight light so it doesn't get too hard for my base to throw me around and we have to tweak the routine which could drop the difficulty score

r/gymnastics is fairly active, but obviously the focus is on WAG (and MAG to a lesser extent). Feel free to post on there, we would welcome more non-artistic gym content!

As for a question, how did you get into acro?

My parents actually haha. They enrolled me i the sport and im still here today

What's the closest you've ever come to serious injury in practice?

When i fell and landed on my arm by accident. I was lucky i didn't break anything too serious

[SERIOUS] How does a gymnast do all those end over end tumbles without getting nauseous?

We do it over and over again so many times that our body gets used to all the spinning

Where do you get your motivation to keep on doing this from?

My parents mainly to not disappoint them and give up halfway

What are the best and worst parts about your job?

Best parts are probably being able to travel around and see the world, but its alot of time and tough training

Absolute longest amount of time you could hold a handstand? Longest onehanded?

Props btw - as a amateur hand balancer I love what youre doing!

I could hold a handstand for half an hour aha never tried longer, a one hand i hvae held it for 5 minutes never tried much longer than that yet

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Yeah, various times

What is your favorite routine & performance? What do you have in mind once your days as an acrobat are “done”?

I've always enjoyed my combined routine. Maybe because we perform it for the finals and the atmosphere when we do it is always great

How long do you expect to be able to continue doing acrobatics? Do you have a plan for a career when you're done competing.

I may just do coaching when i am no long competing or casual perfomances

how long do you spend stretching? what are your other hobbies?

I spend half an hour on stretching. I enjoy just lazing around actually haha afte training just watching shows and lazing around

Hi, artem! I am a freerunner/casual tramper/casual flipper. Do you do any other forms of motion to help your aerial awareness, or do you stick to acrobatic gymnastocs exclusively?

I mainly work on acrobatic gymnastics but i do tramp and flips as well

How much time do you spend on training weekly?

i spend about 4 hours a day,6 days a week

What countries have you visited, and how difficult is it to arrange visas for those visits? Additionally, what is the most interesting place you have been to so far?

I have been to belgium, portugal, china just to name a few. But visas are usually quite hard to arrange because im from belarus and it can be quite difficult for some countries but its arranged by the national team so it doesn't concern me. China was quite interesting

Can you do one arm handstands on the ground by yourself? Or is this unnecessary and waste of time to train? If I'm not mistaken a flyer just needs to stay tight like a broomstick for the base to balance everything.

More important question is how many hours a week do you train?

Yes i can do one arm handstands on the ground, I actually train on my own alot to get my statics and handstands right so that when i am on top of my base I can focus on the balancing part. and yes staying tight while holding the statics.

I train about about 24-28 hours a week

Any plans for the olympics??

its not an olympic sport

Do you do your own strength programming or do you have a coach who manages it for you?

i have a coach that does the planning

I'm a women's acro coach!! I think the men's skills are just crazy!!! They look so wild! How many hours do you train a week and what level are you??

The women skills are so impressive too! I train 4 hours a day 6 days a week. I compete seniors

Understand that Belarus has conscription, are you exempt from it? If not, how do you plan to work around it? Asking as a Singaporean who had to do 2 years of military service.

I will still do it when the time comes

What's a typical day of training for you?

It usually starts with school then i go to the training centre and do warm ups and solo work. Then i have partner work with my partner where i do alot of flying work for 2 hours. A training usually takes about 4 hours