There are certain skills in gymnastics that are building blocks for many other skills. Looking to perform these basics perfectly will make it easier to progress and improve your gymnastics!
You might also be interested in 10 Exercises You can do at Home to Improve your Gymnastics Skills.
Here are 9 basic gymnastics skills you should master:
1. Handstand:
The handstand is arguably the single most important skill and position in the sport of gymnastics. It’s the building block for essential skills on each of the four events. Being able to do a perfect handstand is one skill you should learn to master. The handstand is used in most tumbling skills — walkovers and handsprings. The handstand is important on bars — cast to handstands and giants are in the handstand position. Handsprings on vault pass through the handstand position. One of the keys to nailing the back extension roll in the level 6 floor routine is to hit a perfect handstand in the middle of the roll.
You can practice handstands at home by doing Spiderman against the wall. Spiderman against the wall (see a picture explanation at this link) is one of my favorite exercises for improving your gymnastics skills at home. Spiderman against the wall is basically a handstand against the wall, but it’s a way to practice handstands with correct form. To do Spiderman against the wall, stand with your back against a wall in your house. Put your hands on the floor in front of you, and one at a time put your feet on the wall. Walk your hands closer to the wall as you walk your feet up the wall, until your stomach is touching the wall and you are in a handstand position. The tops of your feet should be flat against the wall, with your pointed toes touching the wall (your toenails will be against the wall). Keep your head neutral but look at your hands with your eyes. Hold this for as long as you can before coming down. While you are in the handstand, concentrate on tightening up all your muscles and think about pulling your feet up to the ceiling.This is a great way to practice good form because the wall forces your body to be absolutely straight. Learn more about how to do a handstand.
Here are additional handstand resources:
4 Tips to Hold your Handstand Longer
2. Cast:
Casting is the most basic bar element, and learning how to cast well early on will help you learn so many other skills. Body position in the cast is a hollow body shape. The hollow body shape is similar to the shape you have in a perfect handstand other than the fact that your back is slightly rounded with your stomach pulled towards your spine. You will eventually be casting to handstand, so the higher you can cast with a nice tight body position the better. You want your legs to be together and straight, your stomach pulled in, your back rounded and your eyes looking at the bar. Learn how to do a cast handstand.
Here is an additional bar resource:
3. Splits:
Mastering your side and middle splits will help you execute other skills that use that same shape as well. And your splits are easy to practice at home. The split “shape” is everywhere in gymnastics — split leaps, jumps, switch leaps, in the middle of back walkovers, etc. The better you can do your splits on the ground, the better you will be able to do them in the middle of a skill. You should be able to do a split on your left leg, your right leg and a middle split with your legs straight and all the way to the ground. If you’re having trouble getting your splits all the way to the floor, learn some tips for increasing your flexibility.
Here are some additional resources for splits and split leaps:
5 Exercises to Improve Your Flexibility
4. Handspring on Vault:
The handspring on vault is the basic skill that all upper level vaults are based off of. It will be hard to succeed at Yurchenkos or twisting vaults if you haven’t figured out the mechanics of the handspring vault. To do a great handspring on vault you need to run fast, jump hard “punch” off the spring board, fly through the air and hit a perfect handstand on top of the vault table, block using your shoulders off the top of the vault and land on your feet. The first basic gymnastics skill is in play here also — the handstand.
5. Back Handspring:
A back handspring is an important gymnastics skill to master because it is the basic skill used in back tumbling on floor and beam. It will be hard for you to connect upper level skills (like layouts, full-twists, back tucks and double backs) to a roundoff back handspring if you can’t do a proper back handspring. The roundoff and the back handspring are both crucial for providing power to whatever comes after it. For more help with a back handspring head over here to How to Do a Back Handspring: The Steps to Learning and Mastering One.
6. Round-off:
A roundoff is just as important as a back handspring to master for tumbling on floor. The roundoff gives power just like the back handspring does to the tumbling pass. Learn how to do a perfect, powerful roundoff.
7. Turn on 1 Foot:
The turn on 1 foot is a skill that doesn’t go away. It is required in every floor and beam routine gymnastics levels 4-10. So you might as well master this basic gymnastics skill right away.
Here are additional resources for your turns:
3 Drills to Improve Your Gymnastics Turns
The Wolf Turn in Gymnastics – Tutorial, Drills, Skill Values and more!
8. Split Leap:
The split leap is another skill that is required in every floor and beam routine levels 4-10. To have a perfect split leap you want to be able to do your perfect split position in the air as high as you can off the ground. You also want your split to be even — both legs should be the same distance from the ground.
Here are additional resources for your leaps:
How to do a Split Leap: Drills & Exercises to Help You Improve
5 Drills to Improve your Split Leap
A Split Leap Workout You Can do at Home
9. Tap Swing on Bars
Tap swings on bars, along with casts, are a building block of bar routines in all gymnastics levels. A tap swing is a swing on bars, but at the back of the swing you should “regrip.” This means you should come off the bar briefly and re-grab. At the back of the bar your body should be in a hollow position, underneath the bar you should move to a slight arch position as you “tap” your feet higher in the front of the bar. This just means that your feet will come forward to create a slight hollow in your body again.
Good Luck mastering these 9 basic gymnastics skills!
Do you have home gymnastics equipment ? If so, here are gymnastics exercises you can do using your home beam, mat or bars.
View Comments (87)
Nice
that were some
Very good
How do you do a backhand spring
it takes a lot of practice you just need lots of strength and a least a back kickover
so good. Recently i have improved in my ghymnastics
Gud
Bruh
Wow, these are basic moves? They look intermediate and advanced to me and I'm a gymnastics coach!
That just means that those skills are the skills from which other skills are built off of so maybe a better word would be important
Ja i also thought these moves did not look easy at all
Most of these skills are basic skills for team gymnasts.
itdoesnt matter guys at least they are teaching us stuff so be grateful like god says you should always be gratefull for what you have now cause you might not have it later on in life.and he also says never be ungratefull for what you have in life cuese somr people dont have what you have so please be kind
karma aways have a way of coming back imediantly!!!!!!!!!1
the hand sprained was hard but as an intermediate girl the others are easy
They look very hard because lots of people in basic gymnastics that I know cant do a BACK HAND SPRING! It looks so hard and I am starting gym in about a week and now I think I wont be able to do it.
Work with your coaches and practice!
These are skills that I do have, but I am very experienced and have been a gymnast for several years. It obviously depends on what level of gymnastics you are. And remember that you aren't going to get all these skills in 2 days it took me probably 1 and a half years to get my Front handspring on vault... And now it is almost perfect. It takes time don't worry if these skills seem hard cause when you have done it for at least 1 year it will seem very easy and simple... you don't NEED these skills you are just working up to it slowly...or quickly. GOOD JOB!!! Work hard and be patient!
Very useful and good basic exercises of the video. (y) (y)
The trick to making a perfect vertical (as pictured) trained and have strong shoulders to bear the weight and impose its own weight on the wrists and hands like so many, to be a perfect balance between the shoulders and legs. (y) (y)
I'm a gymnast; having learned envi makeup, not even hard labor, and I can stay there as I want. My gym buddies are wondering how I can do to make this "magic", I explained him, but they did not succeed. :) :) :)
That just means that those skills are the skills from which other skills are built off of so maybe a better word would be important
These look hard but I can do my best and keep trying : D
Just keep trying and don’t give up! Good luck!
Your picture of Gabby Douglas is not a cast, it's the completion of a Pak salto.
Amazing!
I hav been tryin to do a center split but it hurts wen i try
The reason why it hurts is because you need to to stretch it more. Do your center splits every morning and before you go to bed, soon they won’t hurt as bad anymore because you will be stretching out your muscles. Never push down too far, as this can pull a muscle. Hope this helps! Good luck!
Can y'all send me a gym video