Gymnastics Strength Training and Exercises

The Holiday Season is here! As we all know, it is the most exciting time of the year as well as the most traveled time of the year. Your gymnast works day-in and day-out to get to where she is today within the gymnastics community.

Since there is a lot of time off and time traveled during this time of year, it is only natural for your gymnast to want to stay on top of her physical health while she is not at gymnastics.

I was recently on vacation during Thanksgiving and what do you know? I happen to had been with a level 9 gymnast! I was able to see what she did for conditioning every day to keep her heart pumping and her muscles strong!

Below I have included a handful of exercises that your gymnast can do at home, or away, or honestly where ever! A big thank you to the level 9 gymnast that helped me with this list!

V Ups

• Lie on your back with your legs (and feet) together and your arms extended behind your head with your arms touching the ground and palms of your hands facing up.
• Using your abdominal muscles, lift your legs straight in the air (keeping them straight) and bring your arms (hands) to your toes at the same time.
• You should be squeezing your abdominal muscles as you are performing this exercise.
• Slowly release yourself back down into the starting position.

Hollow Rockers

• Lie on your back with your legs straight together and your arms extended behind your head.
• Make sure that your toes are pointed and that your arms are touching (and stay touching) your ears.
• Lift your legs about six inches, and rock your body back and forth as if you are rocking.
• It is important that your body stays locked and in position.

Mountain Climbers

• Start by getting into a plank position on the ground.
• While you’re still in the plank position, bring your right knee towards your chest and keep your abs tight!
• Quickly switch and bring your left knee in while pushing your right knee back.
• Continue to keep switching knees as this completes the mountain climber.

Push Ups

• To perform a push-up, first get into a high plank position (palms on the ground and arms straight) with your arms shoulder-width apart.
•  Next, start to lower your body but keep your back and legs straight while you look straight ahead.
• Once you have lightly touched the ground with your stomach, push yourself back up into a high plank position.
• Continue to repeat this until you have completed the number of push-ups you want to do.

Squats

• Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart facing forward.
• With your arms straight out in front of you, your back straight, and your head facing forward, start to sit back as if you are about to sit on a chair.
• Let your lower back arch as you are performing the last step.
• When your knees are right over your ankles as you are sitting back, start to push back up using your heels into the starting position.

Walking Lunges

• The first step is to stand up straight facing the direction you want to go.
• Next, take a step forward with your right leg and lower your hips towards the ground while bending both your knees about 90 degrees.
• It is key to not let your back knee (left knee) touch the ground, but hovering right above while your other knee (right knee) is lined up directly with your (right) ankle.
• Lastly, push your right heel on the ground and push off your left foot to bring your left foot in front of you switching positions with your legs to perform a lunge.

Frog Jumps

• First start out in a standing position, facing forward with your legs shoulder-width apart.
• Next, get into the squat position (directions above).
• When you get to the actual “squat” part of the exercise, instead of pushing yourself back up slowly, you are going to push off of the heels of your foot with power and jump up back into the standing position.

Burpees

• Stand straight facing forward.
• Drop down into a squat positing with your hands on the ground.
• Next, move into a plank position with your arms straight and your back straight as well.
• Jump back into a squat position.
• Lastly, bring yourself back up to your starting standing position.

Tricep Dips

• Start out sitting forward with your hands shoulder-width apart on a chair.
• Next, slide yourself off the chair with both your legs bent at the knee out before you while your hands are still on the chair with the palms facing down.
• Start to bend your elbows (still keeping your arms straight) to lower your body towards the ground.
• Make sure you bend down to a 90-degree angle.
• Lastly, as you reach the ground press down on the chair to straighten out your elbows bringing you back into the starting position.

Planks

• To perform a plank, you want to get into a push-up position.
• To get into this position, make sure your arms are shoulder width apart, with your arms extended out in front of you (make sure they are straight) and your palms on the ground.
• Your legs have to be straight as well as your back, and you have to squeeze your butt to keep yourself in the proper position.
• Lastly, make sure you keep your head straight and looking forward; hold this position for about 60 seconds.

Sit Ups

• Lay down on your back.
• With your knees bent and feet on the ground, place your hands behind your ears.
• Start to lift your upper body using your abdominal muscles towards your knees.
• Slowly let yourself back down and repeat.
• Always remember not to pull on your neck or your head as you are lifting yourself up.

Before performing any of these exercises, make sure that you stretch to prevent any injury. Please feel free to comment below and leave any advice, feedback, or to include any other exercises we may have missed!