Whether you’re a budding gymnast or a seasoned pro looking to refine your technique, getting a quick burst of advice can make all the difference. In the fast-paced world of gymnastics, where precision and practice are key, you don’t always have hours to dedicate to training. That’s why we’re bringing you five essential gymnastics training tips in just five minutes. These bite-sized insights are designed to help you enhance your form, boost your performance, and get the most out of your practice sessions. Ready to transform your routine? Let’s dive in and get you flipping, vaulting, and balancing with confidence!

Gymnastics Training Tip #1 – Know Your Goals

First things first—know your goals! It’s super important to understand where you’re heading. Whether it’s mastering a cartwheel, front tuck, back handspring, or handstand, having a clear goal is key. A great way to stay on track is by using our progression charts. These charts tell you what skills you need to learn based on your gymnastics level.  It helps you stay organized and motivated as you move forward! You can download a free list of the skills you need at each level from our website.

At GymnasticsHQ, we are pretty big on goals. We talk about them all the time! It’s important to have SMART goals.

SMART Goals Breakdown:

• Specific: Clearly define the goal. Example: I will perform a back handspring with proper technique by focusing on my form, timing, and strength.
• Measurable: Determine how you will track progress. Example: I will track my progress by recording each practice session, noting improvements in form, balance, and confidence, and will be able to execute a back handspring with assistance by the end of the month.
• Achievable: Set realistic and attainable goals. Example: I will break down the back handspring into smaller skills, such as mastering the handstand and backbend kickover first. I will practice these foundational skills for 30 minutes, 3 times a week.
• Relevant: Ensure the goal is important and aligns with other objectives. Example: Achieving a back handspring is a key milestone for my gymnastics routine, as it enhances my overall performance and helps me progress to more advanced skills.
• Time-Bound: Set a deadline for achieving the goal. Example: I aim to complete a back handspring unassisted by [specific date], which is [X weeks/months] from now, with incremental progress checkpoints every week to assess and adjust my training as needed.

Gymnastics Training Tip #2 – Break Down Skills

It’s important to break down the skills you want to learn! Let’s say you want to do a perfec back handspring, like in the example above. Rather than just trying to do it all at once, identify the drills that will build the strength, flexibility, and technique you need. For example, work on backbends, shoulder flexibility, and leg strength. This way, you’re training smarter, not harder!

We have a lot of “how-to” skill posts here on our blog. In these, we go over the muscle groups that are needed to focus on for the specific skill, as well as usually cover progressions leading up to and following the skill, and of course, drills to help you learn or practice the skill.

Here is a list of our how-to’s (in no particular order):

• How to Do a Forward Roll in Gymnastics
• How to Do a Backward Roll in Gymnastics
• How to Do a Split
• How to Do a Back Limber in Gymnastics
• How to Do a Cartwheel
• How to Do a Cast Handstand
• How to Do a Back Handspring
• How to do a Gymnastics Kip
• How to do an Aerial Cartwheel
• How to Do a Front Handspring
• How to Do a Press Handstand
• How to Do a Back Walkover
• How to Do a Split Leap
• How to do a Handstand
• How to Do a Bridge
• How to do a Cast on Bars
• How to do a Front Handspring on Vault
• How to Do a Roundoff
• How to do a Split Jump
• How to do a Handstand Pirouette
• How to do a Handstand for Beginners
• How to Do a Switch Leap
• How to do a Squat Turn
• How to do a Handstand on Beam
• How to Do a Back Extension Roll
• How to Do a Front Tuck
• How to Do a Gymnastics Full Turn
• How to Do a Bridge Kickover

Gymnastics Training Tip #3 – Practice Drills Consistently

Which brings me to tip number three—practice those drills consistently! I know, drills might not seem as exciting as the full skill, but trust me, they’re the foundation of your success. Aim to practice drills for at least 15 minutes a day. This daily repetition will build muscle memory and confidence, making the full skill feel natural when the time comes.

This is where our SkillTrakker program comes in handy. It helps you stay motivated and focused for your daily practice, and we tend to focus on the basics since we know this is often overlooked during practice. Once you begin learning harder skills, often times coaches may forget to work on the basics. It’s up to YOU, the gymnast, to make sure that you’re still consistently working on the basic skills that are the building blocks for more complex skills.

If you want to learn or refine your back handspring – yes, practicing your back handspring is one of the ways that will help you improve, but working on form drills like the spiderman handstand (or all-time favorite drill!), handstand block drills to improve your rebound, flexibility drills for your shoulders like bridges, and strengthening/dynamic drills like plyometric squat jumps. We have some skill specific training packets for handstands, back handsprings and press handstands. There is also a 30-day plan for successfully achieving a skill and/or working on improving in just 30 days, with 15 mins a day!

Gymnastics Training Tip #4 – Knowing vs Mastering

There’s a big difference between knowing how to do a skill and mastering it. Just because you’ve landed a skill once doesn’t mean you’ve perfected it. Continue to train the basics, even after you’ve “got it”. The more you practice, the more polished and effortless the skill becomes, and that’s how you reach mastery!

We believe that you can learn a skill in just 8 steps:

Step 1: Strength – improving and achieving the necessary to achieve the skill
Step 2: Shapes – learn the shapes necessary to achieve the skill
Step 3: Progressions – there are basic foundational skills that lead to harder skills these are progressions
Step 4: Drills – completing drills that focus on the strength, shapes and progressions of the skill you are learning
Step 5: Spotted – completing the skill with a spot
Step 6: Can do – able to do the skill independently, but needs work
Step 7: Can do well – getting much better and building confidence, but may still be a bit wobbly
Step 8: Mastered – consistently nailing the skill and doing it with good form and agility

There is SO much truth to the phrase, practice makes perfect. In fact, have you ever heard of the 10,000 hour rule? If not, the theory is thought that to become successful (mastery) in any field, you must practice the task for 10,000 hours! The compound effect also comes into play here – practicing an extra 15 minutes each day = 5,475 minutes a year, which is 91.25 hours! A little each day, goes a long way!

Gymnastics Training Tip #5 – Basics ARE the Building Blocks

Last but not least, tip number five – don’t skip the basics! Basics are the building blocks of every advanced skill in gymnastics. No matter how experienced you are, always go back to the fundamentals, like forward or backward rolls, cartwheels, and handstands. Strong basics create a solid foundation that makes learning more difficult skills easier and safer.

Everyone knows that we feel the handstand is the #1 skill to master in gymnastics. It is the ONLY gymnastics move that is utilized in all four events.

You can also never work on your flexibility enough – sitting in splits while watching TV, doing needle kicks around a room or in the backyard, working on kicks, and shoulder flexibility…as long as you’re practicing proper techniques, you can’t stretch too much! It’s also a nice way to relieve some of the tension in your muscles with tools like a foam roller, since gymnasts are known to have tight muscles from all of the conditioning, strength training and hard work that’s put in, in the gym. Stretching is your bestie!

We have several free download pages for 1000 skills pages! You get to color in a star for each time you do a skill, working towards 1000. As you’ve learned in several of the tips here, a little practice, consistently, goes a long way!