Home gymnastics combines stretching and acrobatics with furniture and home accessories. It gained recognition in 2002 with a website launched by James Ford and Spencer Harrison. The practice offers improved overall fitness, connection to home space, and ability to impress friends. The movement incorporates elements of gymnastics with yoga, falling, and climbing. Not all home gym practices are as rigorous as Ford and Harrison promote.
Home gymnastics is a type of exercise that combines stretching and acrobatics with furniture and home accessories. When it comes to disciplined fitness plans, home gymnastics is very flexible, with much left to the individual participant. There are many popular poses that involve things like handstands, balancing acts, and wall-climbing maneuvers. Fixed rules do not really exist, and participants are free to innovate to the extent that their own spaces and flexibility allow.
Elements of home gymnastics have been around for quite some time on a very informal level. The movement gained recognition and a more devoted following in 2002 with a website launched by two Englishmen, James Ford and Spencer Harrison. According to Ford and Harrison, a quantifiable home gym trend was born from a trick they pioneered when trying to put up blinds. Soon after, they started a website to document this and other stunts, as well as encourage submissions from others.
Exercise is part of the goal of home gymnastics, but it is often not the motivating factor for participation. Along with “improved overall fitness,” Ford and Harrison list “connection to your home space” and “ability to impress your friends” as key benefits to the practice. Much of the early success of the home gym movement stems directly from the attention of social media and user engagement online. Users who uploaded photos of themselves striking specific poses sparked interest, with part of the appeal centered on exposure.
Ford and Harrison soon began providing basic movement diagrams and eventually published a book of poses and ideas. Most stunts are designed for one person, but some involve couples or groups. Some kind of household accessory is also required, be it a door frame, a hallway, a bookcase or something else.
Human sculptures are a mainstay of much of home gymnastics. Most of the poses involve twisting bodies in unusual ways, often playing with furniture or even other people. They incorporate elements of gymnastics with yoga, falling, and climbing. According to Ford and Harrison, poses must be performed for a minimum of three seconds before they are considered legitimate. Contestants who wish to post their photos on the Ford and Harrison website are prohibited from receiving assistance from others in getting into position.
Not all home gym practices are as rigorous as Ford and Harrison promote. Many people engage in the more informal home gym as a means of staying fit at home and maximizing existing spaces for use in an exercise regimen. Not all home gymnastics involves complex stunts or wall-climbing stretches. Almost any exercise that involves holding a held pose or pressing something around the house will qualify.
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