7 Tips to Help you Set & Achieve your Gymnastic Goals

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7 tips to help you set and achieve your gymnastics goals

At the start of a new meet season or a new year, many of us look at our long term goals and think about how we can achieve them. We like to have yearly goals, monthly goals, and even daily goals. You don’t need to have every minute planned out, but it’s important to sit down and focus on what you want for yourself.  It’s especially important in a sport like gymnastics as well.   You need to know what you’re working towards (maybe you want to become a college gymnast?), so when you’re having a rough day, when you’re struggling to remember why you’re in the gym on a hot summer day doing 50 pull ups when all your friends are at the pool, you’ll be able to think about that final goal and push through.

setting goals and objectives

While we think you can set goals at any time of the year, the beginning of meet season has that whole crisp ‘new year-new beginnings’ vibe to it that we should really take advantage of.  Just before your competition season is a great time to review your yearly goals, to update your goals from January, or to set new goals specific to meet season.

gymnastics daily goal sheet for practice

We’ve created this Daily Goal Sheet for Practice, from a recommendation from one of our Level 9 subscribers, Zoey!

Below are some tips for making gymnastics goals this year, although we would also encourage you to talk to your coaches as well.  Really use them as a resource to come up with your list of goals and how to realize them.  They might already have some sort of goal making plan they want to implement, but if not, here are some things to keep in mind when making up your own.

1. Break down your goals.

Having a goal to “Learn a back handspring” is great, but you need to break it down into steps.  This way you know where you are in the process and what exactly you need to do next.  For example, some steps for the goal ‘Learn a back handspring’ may include “10 clean back handsprings in the training belt each practice”, progressing to “10 back handsprings on the tumble track with spot”, and then “5 back handsprings on the tumble track without spot” to “5 back handsprings on a sting mat on the floor with spot” etc. SMART goals are goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Timely. When we break our goals down into smaller goals, it’s much easier to make sure that they’re SMART goals.

2. Include conditioning.

Whether your goal is to master a new skill or to score higher than a 9.0 on vault, you need to make sure you include conditioning as part of the process.  Great gymnasts are strong- there’s no getting around that.  To make skills look effortless and flawless, you have to put in hours of strength exercises.  Meaning that if your goal is to “Learn a back handspring”, you need to also factor in what conditioning exercises will help you achieve that goal.  To be able to move from doing a back handspring on the tumble track to doing it on a sting mat on the floor you have to be able to powerfully jump backwards, quickly snap your legs down and pop your arms up again.  So, including “25 snap downs every practice” and “50 mountain climbers every morning” will help you move from step to step. Get some more conditioning inspiration from my Gymnastics Conditioning pinterest board.

3. Make your goals specific.

As you have seen from my examples above, goals should be specific and detailed.  Simply saying “Learn a back handspring” doesn’t mentally prepare or focus you for the process.  Break down each step or task as much as possible. Include a number for conditioning, a specific place or type of mat you want to use, or even a ‘light one-handed spot’ or ‘heavy two handed spot’ if necessary.  Being able to cross off another step is great for motivation and helps keep you focused. Again, apply the SMART goal method here.

4. Keep them actionable.

When setting goals, make them action-based.  Having a goal of “I want to get a 9.0 or higher on the balance beam” is fine, as long as you back it up with action steps.  You can’t technically control what the judge gives you, but you can do things to raise the start value of your routine by learning new skills and reduce your deductions by cleaning up your form.  Some examples of action based steps for that type of goal could include “Stick 5 dismounts every beam practice”, “Add an extra B level skill” and “Stick 5 back walkovers every practice with straight legs and pointed toes”.  I’m sure coaches would be more than happy to help you pick what skills/aspects to focus on. Or you can check out these gymnastics home workout plans.

5. Make time.

When you make new goals, you also need to make time to achieve them.  Making sure you utilize every minute of your practice time is a given (I mean, you — or more likely, your parents 🙂 – are paying for it!), but you may need to do some things on your own time.  It’s also important to complete action steps towards your goals every day. If your goals include new skills or getting better scores on floor or vault, ramping up your cardio workouts could be beneficial.  Many serious gymnasts go out for early morning jogs to get in the cardio workouts necessary to power through floor routines.  Flexibility, strength and cardio are all things you can easily do on your own time and at home.  Running 3 times a week at 7 am may not be fun or super glamorous, but won’t it feel good when you can barrel down that vault runway and bust out a tsuk? Our SkillTrakker program is also a great way to work on your goals at home, outside of practice. Just a little bit of extra practice a day adds up and compounds from achieving small goals to the achieving the bigger goals.

6. Think of all the components.

Don’t forget to think about other factors of your life that may be affecting your gymnastics.  Eating well, getting enough sleep and drinking enough water are just as important as getting in your push ups and hollow holds.  Prioritizing sleeping 8 hours every night, drinking 64 oz of water a day, taking a multivitamin every morning are nice, simple goals to start off with.

7. Ease into it.

My last tip is to tell you to relax. Resolutions and goals are great, but don’t think you have to change everything about your daily habits and routines immediately. In fact, that’s the last thing I’d recommend, because when you change too much too quickly it’s hard to make everything stick.  This can lead you to feel stressed, discouraged or burned-out.  I suggest implementing one action step every week or two weeks (or whatever time frame is comfortable for you).  Once you’ve successfully added in all the action steps for one goal and it’s part of your every day/every week routine, move on to the next big goal you want to focus on.  With four very different events, it’s good to have different things you’re working towards.  Your focus and attitude changes with each event, but make sure you don’t overwhelm yourself with an extra ten action steps each 3 hour practice.

We believe that celebrating achievements is just as important as setting goals, so we created this Gymnastics Achievement Water Bottle. Adorn your Gymnastics Achievement water bottle with an array of vibrant and inspiring stickers that represent your hard-earned accomplishments. From perfecting new skills to winning competitions, each sticker tells a unique story of your gymnastics journey. Let this bottle be a testament to your hard work, determination, and growth as a gymnast.

gymnastics achievement water bottle

Hope these tips help! Learn more about setting gymnastics goals in this post about mentally strategies for success. Now start making your goals and breaking them down! Tell us in the comments what goals you have (gymnastics or non-gymnastics related) for 2014 and how you’ll be making them happen.

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4 comments… add one
  • Kate January 20, 2014, 4:33 pm

    Visualizing the process required to reach your goals is also super important – if not the most important thing you can do.

    – Kate

    Reply
  • Annie January 26, 2017, 7:59 pm

    You are so right, Kate

    Reply
  • Brianna November 30, 2022, 6:20 pm

    Im a 12 year old self taught gymnast and the only level 3 skill I need to learn is a backhandspring in you have any tips that would be great!

    Reply
    • Anonymous January 1, 2023, 12:41 pm

      Hi! Fellow gymnast here! I would say if possible before just throwing the skill on dead floor, try to learn it on a bouncier/squishier surface (ex. Air Track, TumblTrack, a mat, or a at home trampoline). I would look up YouTube videos on progressions to a backhand spring (ex. back limber, back walkover, backbend kick over, etc..) I would also say that maybe if you are a self-taught gymnast that is struggling to get a skill, to find your local gym and see if they do private lessons with a team coach. Hope this helps!

      Reply
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