Since I was a little girl, I was fascinated by gymnastics. Friends and family thought I'd be competing in the Olympics one day because it just came so naturally to me. You would always find me practicing flips, handsprings, and cartwheels! As I got older I stopped taking classes, but I am planning to join some adult gymnastics classes at Chelsea Piers this Fall!
Gymnasts must have extreme strength, flexibility, and endurance. Conditioning exercises for gymnasts break down depending on the parts of your body you are specifically training. Here we will explore some examples along with some sample exercises.
Flexibility
Flexibility training exercises are designed to improve your dexterity during routines as well as prevent you from pulling muscles during a full routine.
If you are looking to improve flexibility in your legs, performing exercises such as the pike stretch and front lunge will help you loosen up your hamstrings as well as your quadriceps. If you are looking to increase flexibility in your arms, performing arm-up rotator cuff stretches with a wooden stick or pole will improve your arm rotation.
Strength
In addition to increasing your power and strength during a gymnastics routine, strength-training exercises will help improve your control and coordination during an exercise.
Handstands for 30 seconds to a minute at a time will help improve your arm strength as well as your body control during a routine (I'm currently working on lateral handstand walks). In addition, push ups and leg extensions will help strengthen your arms and legs, testing the endurance for extended periods of time. While on the parallel bars, place a hand on each bar, bending at the knees and lowering yourself down. Perform three sets of 20 lifts to improve arm and upper body strength.
Endurance
Endurance exercises will help improve your follow through at the end of long routines.
For the uneven bars, jumping between the lower and upper bar repeatedly for two minutes will help strengthen your upper body as well as improve your endurance. On the mat, performing your routine several times without stopping will help boost improve your endurance. Basic endurance training such as running, jogging or biking can also be helpful for gymnastics looking to give their endurance a boost.
Core
Core-training exercises are designed to help strengthen your core muscles, ranging from your abdominal muscles to your lower-back muscles.
Planks are a basic exercise that will help strengthen these muscles. Performing sets of 30-60 seconds will help strengthen the core. In addition to basic exercises, performing leg lifts while balancing either on the uneven bars or the parallel bars will help strengthen your core muscles and legs. Lift your legs up until they are parallel with the ground, slowly lowering them back down and repeating until fatigued.
Rings <3 <3 <3
I have been trying out some exercises on the gymnastics rings at the gym. I have listed below a sample exercise routine for building strength using the rings as your modality.
- Pull ups
- Support holds
- Rows
- Declined Push ups
- Dips
- Hanging (L-sits, knee raises, roll ups)
*All of the above exercises can be performed with a TRX if you do not have access to rings
Stay Fit. Stay Classy. Stay True.
Jenna
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