American Gymnast Archives - American Gymnast and Ninja

AG Heads to Ozark, MO

Brad Thornton — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 14:19:24 +0000

American Gymnast recently popped over to Ozark, MO to knock out the installation of Summit Athletix cheer facility. We helped Summit throughout the design process to create the ideal equipment layout as well as a clean look of “Summit” red and black.

Once we wrapped up the design portion, we got some exciting new pieces of equipment in to production to prepare for an April install. Among those pieces of equipment was a new American AirTrack Factory AirBag. Owner, Lacy Emmert, chose to go with an airbag over foam block for a variety of reasons. First, Lacy is all about branding. She loves the ability to be able to create a unique and artistic look with the airbag top sheet. Secondly, Lacy wants a clean gym, so if you are going to do a pit, airbag trumps foam block in cleanliness all day. Lastly, Lacy was tired of hearing “hey, Abby is stuck upside down in the pit again. Can someone pull her out??” Throughput is key in a busy cheer facility and when you have an airbag it’s only going to take about 3 seconds to exit the pit. Imagine your athletes getting 3 times the number of tumbling runs in a 15 minute station. That’s productivity!

Summit’s new facility will host a number of programs including Cheer, rec gymnastics and Ninja. In addition to the airbag, athletes will train on 2 large custom sized spring floors, a 40ft tumbl trak, 40ft rod floor and a 7×14 in-ground trampoline. Parents will have a nice viewing mezzanine complete with a lounge and a coffee bar.

Check out a cool time lapse video of the installation >>>

Hear from Lacy about how it was working with American Gymnast to design and outfit Summit Athletix >>>

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Beautiful new Gymnastics Facility Design – 3D Fly Through

Brad Thornton — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 15:08:51 +0000

Some new clients approach us for a gymnastics facility design and simply want to see a basic equipment and pit layout. Others want to see a real life glimpse at how then envision their new business. We obviously are happy to take either approach but I get more excited about the latter (and so do our clients). When one sees all of their branding, colors, decor etc. in a final design, we typically see a common reaction – eyes wide, mouth open, gasp. Needless to say, this is a very rewarding part of the process for us. Vertical Athletics was no different. They wanted a full marketing piece and had some really cool color combinations in mind.

In addition to the beautiful aesthetics, they are also creating a phenomenal training facility. Nearly every apparatus has a foam block, resi and hard landing option. Recreational and competitive gymnasts each have their own area of the gym with their own apparatus. The gym is large enough to allow for good athlete flow, proper egress and dedicated areas for stretch, warm up and conditioning. It’s going to be world class so I can’t wait to see this one in person. Check out the design…

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Recovering 7 Balance Beams by Lunch-time

Brad Thornton — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 19:02:13 +0000

American Gymnast Sales & Installation Manager, Jason Heartsfield, performs 7 balance beam core replacements at Roanoke Academy of Gymnastics.

Starting first thing in the morning, 7 worn beam tops were replaced with brand new beam cores by 1:30pm so that zero classes were affected during the procedure.

The 7 used beam cores were then transported to our facility for inspection. Post-inspection, each core is either refurbished to original specs for resale or retired from service. Contact us for a quote on your next beam recovery!

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Largest Gymnastics AirBag in the USA!

Brad Thornton — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 15:24:10 +0000

American Gymnast recently worked with Synergy Gymnastics in Malvern, PA. The plan was to provide a 3D gym design for top notch gymnastics training facility for recreational and competitive gymnastics. The design incorporated air bags for training purposes instead of loose foam pits, a trend that continues in the gymnastics world. Well, our friends at Synergy didn’t just want to tip toe in to the world of air bags, they were ALL in – 5 new bags, one being the largest one to land in a gymnastics facility!

Our installation was a unique one in that we had to pick up and move their current gym and take it to the new gym on Day 1. Days 2 – 7 included the installation of all old and new equipment. Our days were tough, with 10 – 12 hours of labor followed by the few hours of office work we tried to catch up on. After that, a few Advil and off to bed to start it all again the next morning. All the craziness was captured on some really cool drone footage -a week of fun crammed in to a 3 min video…check it out!

If you need professional gym design services, please fill out a request form HERE

Brad Thornton

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After School Athletic Center Includes Ninja

Brad Thornton — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 20:30:58 +0000

We’ve taken on many different types of design projects over the years so it’s always fun when something new comes along. Jams Athletics presented something a little different than what we are accustomed to. Jams is an after school program which comes with a laundry list of procedures and regulations related to their operation to which they must adhere. These procedures must be considered when working the gym design and flow of the kids through the facility. It can be tricky and safety is paramount with these type operations. From the time a child arrives to the time he or she leaves, they follow a fairly regimented schedule. Understanding where the kids need to be throughout the day played a big roll in how the facility was laid out. It was quite interesting to learn more about after school programs and their operations.

This is Jams Athletics second facility and it is substantially larger than the first. They are taking advantage of this new space by implementing some new activities such as Ninja and a soft play area. Like many business owners, they recognize that Ninja is a fun way for kids to exercise. We added in a 30ft frame section with hanging obstacles, ground obstacles along with a 10ft warped wall. It should be awesome! In addition to the new programs, they will also have full court basketball, dance and cheer. It’s really going to be a great experience for the kids.

This is a testament to the sport of Ninja and the benefits it brings to a variety of businesses. I love seeing it’s popularity continue to grow as it makes its way in to fitness facilities, schools, organized leagues and even residential back yards. Stay tuned for completed facility photos, but in the meantime, here is a video of the design

Brad Thornton

Co-Founder and Lead Designer

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AAI Graphite E (Soft) Rail is Now FIG Approved

amgym — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 16:30:14 +0000

American Athletic, Inc. (AAI) is proud to announce that in September 2016, we received FIG approval (and certification) for the Graphite “E” Rail to be used during competition on our Elite Uneven Bar System (407-109). The Graphite E Rail is made with less graphite strands than our Graphite X Rail, allowing the gymnast a “softer” feel. The Graphite E Rail has been in use at the USA Gymnastics Junior Olympic level for approximately 5 years, and now is approved for use during all competition.

How do you tell the difference between the E-Rail and X-Rail when looking at them?

The easiest way to tell the difference between the E-Rail and X-Rail, without actually swinging on them, is to look at the collars. The E-Rail has blue collars, while the X-Rail has silver collars as seen in the pictures below:

Graphite E Rail (has blue collars)

Graphite X Rail (has silver collars)

For more details, or to purchase the AAI Graphite E Rail, please contact American Gymnast at 1-877-789-2267 or order online.

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