10 Beginner Gymnastics Skills You Can Practice at Home

Whether you’re just starting out in gymnastics, or you’ve been competing for years you’ll still want to check out these beginner gymnastics skills you can practice at home. These are perfect for both beginners and more advanced gymnasts, because the skills are used throughout the levels.

Handstand

The handstand is one of the best gymnastics skills you can practice just about anywhere. It’s also what we feel is the #1 most important gymnastics skill to learn/improve because it is used in every event in gymnastics. In our Skilltrakker program, our handstand challenges are always the most popular – is there such a thing as practicing handstands too much?!  We don’t think so! The goal is to have a nice, tight body position in your handstand. You can also try this 5 minute handstand workout!

Bridge

The bridge is another great skill that is easily able to be practiced at home. It’s great if you have a mat to practice on, however it’s not really something that’s necessary to practice this skill. You want to push through your shoulders to make sure you get a nice shoulder stretch. Shoulder flexibility is important in many gymnastics skills–it’s especially important if you are trying to learn a backhandspring!

Cartwheel

Cartwheels can also be easily practiced anywhere.  Again, you can use a mat, but it’s not necessary. Another great way to practice cartwheels is by grading them – if you can do a good cartwheel already, try practicing it on a straight line (you can use duck tape, lines on your floors, etc). Once you’re a pro at doing cartwheels on a line, challenge yourself more by practicing them on a low beam. You can also check out our review of a great home sectional beam! Your goal here is to have straight legs and pointed feet.

Scale

Scales are another great skill to practice at home. Only one foot is off of the ground in a scale. There are many different types of scales – front scales, back scales, side scales, etc. Scales are great for working on your balance. They help strengthen your skills while you’re doing relevé drills as well. You can practice them on the floor, using a mat, or a low beam.

Leaps

Leaps are another one of the most important skills to perfect in gymnastics. They are used in most floor and beam routines. When you practice, you want to try to get good height off of the ground and push through your legs. You also want to try to split your legs as wide as you can while keeping your feet pointed. Kick & flexibility drills will help with improving your leaps on both floor and beam.

1/2 or Full Turns

You can work on 1/2 turns in preparation for full turns if you’re starting out. Make sure you push through the ball of your foot to get into a high relevé in your turn, whether you’re doing a 1/2 turn or a full turn. You can also check out this video to improve your turns!

Pivot Turn

A pivot turn is used in most beam routines, and even some floor routines. This is another easy skill you can work on at home. You want to be completely tight, with no bobbles during your pivot turn. If you aren’t tight or bobble in your pivot turn while competing, you will get deductions. Practice squeezing tight and being in high relevé with your pivot turns. This is another great skill you can practice both on a mat or a low beam.

Squat Turn

The squat turn is a skill that is introduced in Level 4 and is also in Level 5 Compulsory Beam Routines. You want to practice doing this skill tight without any wobbles. To challenge yourself, see how many perfect squat turns you can do in a row without wobbling!

Straight Jump

Straight jumps are important skills in all events. You need good height and power in your jumps for tumbling skills on beam and floor, jumps on beam and floor, off of the springboard for vault, and on your bars entry. Make sure you are pushing off of the balls of your feet to get good height and have a tight body position. This is another great skill you can practice on either a mat or a low beam, or even a trampoline. You can also read how to improve your jumps.

Split Jump

You want to practice your split jumps to improve on floor and beam. The same body position you use in a split jump is also the body position that will be utilized in your leaps. Just like in your leap, you want to evenly split your legs, while keeping your legs tight and feet pointed. Again, just like with your straight jumps, you can practice on either a mat or a low beam, or even a trampoline.

Our SkillTrakker program is a great way to add a little extra practicing at home each day – in less than 15 minutes a day, gymnasts all over the world are reporting improvements in their gymnastics skills!  Consistency is key, as Level 9 gymnast Alyssa told us in her interview!  @alyssa.jade_b

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