How To Keep Up With Your Gymnastics When You Can’t Get To The Gym

This is generic information and not to be confused with advice. Speak to a professional for all your health needs and seek their counsel. Children need to be under adult supervision at all times. We disclaim all liability for any physical harm resulting from the information on this website. For more info see our disclaimer and privacy policy

How to keep up with your gymnastics when you can't get to the gym

 

GYM CLOSED!

If you’re like thousands of other gymnasts around the world right now, you’re probably faced with a unique challenge these days – you’re not allowed to go to your gym. On top of that, meets have been canceled and no one is sure when gyms will reopen or if and when meets will resume this season. 

While not being able to get to the gym for practice or meets is certainly not an ideal situation for anyone, it’s something we can choose to make the best of while we have no other choice but to keep our social distance. And despite these crazy conditions, this doesn’t mean our gymnastics has to suffer. There are many things you can do at home to keep up your strength, endurance, and skills while you are away from the gym. 

First, definitely consult with your gym to see if they have any workout plans for you to do. During the past week we’ve seen many gyms going on social media and having their coaches share conditioning workouts for their gymnasts. 

Second, remember to always do things that are within your current limits as a gymnast. You should never try new gymnastics skills or do skills that require a spot at home. Safety first. Remember that just because you might not be able to train a skill doesn’t mean you can’t do the smaller things that will help you learn that skill faster when you eventually return to the gym like work on your strength and conditioning drills.

Finally, remember that while you might not be able to get to the gym, you can still maintain your skills and even make progress if you commit to training at home daily. You can make them part of your home school routine and they might even fulfill your PE requirements in the process. 

 

We’ve compiled a list of things you can do at home when you can’t get to your gymnastics center. See which of these you can incorporate into your daily routine.

 

Number 1: Stretching

We all know keeping up with your flexibility for gymnastics is super important. Yet it’s so easy to forget about maintaining your flexibility and to skip out on stretching. During this time at home, remember to include daily stretching as part of your every day routine. You can do the static stretches that you do in the gym which might be things like sitting in your splits or doing pike sits for a certain amount of time. Another thing you can do is active stretching. Research has shown the effectiveness of active stretching versus static stretching in terms of gaining flexibility for things like your split leaps and kicks.  

 

Number 2: Conditioning

Conditioning is also important while you’re away from the gym. You might decide to avoid this one since it’s not as fun as everything else you might do at home, but if you want to keep up with your stamina and strength during your time off from gymnastics then this one is a must. A fun activity to do is the Baby Shark conditioning workout for gymnasts. You can do this every day as a great way to warm up and condition your abs. 

Here are some ideas for conditioning exercises you can do at home:

Mountain Climbers

Burpees

Frog Jumps

Jumping Jacks

Glute Bridges

Front Lunges

Side Lunges

Back Lunges

Again, check with your gyms to see if they have a specific conditioning workout for you to do.   

Number 3: Practice your Jumps and Leaps

Your jumps and leaps are dance elements that you probably don’t have too much time to perfect during the season because you’re busy doing some of the bigger skills. If you focus your time on these smaller elements, you’ll help to improve your score when you eventually compete again. A great way to do this is to videotape yourself doing your jumps and leaps and then take a look at your video. Do your jumps/leaps need more height, more extension, better form? If so, try to correct those things and videotape yourself again to see if you’ve improved. Also check out our article on how to improve your jumps for more exercises you can do at home to improve your jumps.

 

Number 4: Practice your Handstands

Handstands are the most fundamental gymnastics skill that you can master since they are the foundation for harder skills. This month we’re running a Handstand Hold and Walk Challenge in our online SkillTrakker community to help gymnasts improve on their form at home (You can still join and catch up on all the exercises you missed). One great drill that we love from our SkillTrakker challenge is Spiderman Against the Wall. This drill teaches good form and builds arm strength. This is something you can do for a few minutes every day to maintain your strength and practice good form in your handstands.

 

Number 5: Practice Your Dance Routines

Now is the chance to focus on the smaller details of your routines. Do your routines over and over (minus the tumbling skills) and practice your expression, artistry, and dynamics. Practice lifting your chest and chin and exuding confidence. Work on the littlest of details such as making sure your feet are pointed and in correct alignment during your turns and that you are working on high releve. 

 

Number 6: Practice Your Mental Routines

With the extra time away from the gym, you can start to get more serious about your mental training. Every day, either before you go to sleep at night or right before you do your conditioning and flexibility workouts, go through every one of your routines in your mind. See yourself doing your routine perfectly with good form. Feel yourself going through the routine with ease and enjoying doing them. Imagine yourself finishing your routine and feeling the satisfaction of having done a great routine.

 

In addition to these ways to keep up your gymnastics, here are some other articles that will help you while you’re stuck without a gym to go to:

Start Improving Your Gymnastics With 4 Easy Steps

10 Exercises You Can Do At Home to Improve Your Gymnastics

 

Remember, at the end of the day this will all pass. Your gym will open up again soon and you’ll be back to your regular gym workouts in no time.

Join SkillTrakker to Improve Your Gymnastics Skills (and Score!) Today!

 

How to Keep Up With Your Gymnastics When You Can't Get To The Gym

Related Posts:

  • No Related Posts Found
7 comments… add one
  • Bella March 21, 2020, 11:12 pm

    Wow! Thank you for this blog. I enjoyed the baby shark conditioning. But as I was searching for other ab conditioning programs I came across this really cool video a lot like the baby shark one:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2EGLIyDkXE

    Reply
  • Lillie March 22, 2020, 9:30 am

    Thank you soooooo much for this! The only thing I’ve been doing is handstand walks down my hallway and stretching my splits every other night for three minutes. I woke up this morning seeing this email and I said “ Every morning I’m gonna grab some breakfast and go down to our in home weight room and do these exercises. Later in the day I will work on back and front walkovers on our carpeted area.” Thanks again for thinking of all of us gymnasts out there! I think I can speak for all of us when I say your help is very much appreciated!

    3/21/2020 ~Lillie

    Reply
  • Sadie March 22, 2020, 9:52 am

    This is an amazing blog! I have been practicing front and back handsprings as well as walkovers and other simple skills in my attic/playroom, because I have a panel mat and a less dense mat to use, and doing pull ups and lifting weights in our weight room downstairs. I am on my hands more that my feet! I am literally walking around my house in a handstand!

    Reply
  • Mabrie March 23, 2020, 10:48 am

    Thanks so much! I feel so warm right now. I’m not in team yet so I couldn’t do the routines. But, my coach talked to me about joining. I was the only one there that day bc everyone was scared about the corona. Also, I just did my back hip circle a few days ago but now I can’t do it. Email me bhc and tryout advice: mabrie09@yahoo.com

    Reply
    • Bryn August 8, 2020, 5:48 pm

      Thank you so much! This is always fun to read! It has been a big challenge not being able to go to gym. But this really helps all us gymnasts out there trying to keep up with staying strong! I have been doing conditioning and stretching and stuff like that. And it has really payed of!

      Reply
  • Faye Smith November 14, 2020, 1:31 pm

    Wow! Thank you. This helped a lot. Great advice.

    Reply
  • Ilanda K June 15, 2022, 6:34 pm

    hi my mane is ilanda K

    Reply
Cancel reply

Leave a Comment