The Gymnast Approach: Strength, Control, Power and Balance

Gymnastics is a sport known for its extremely physically intense training and skill requirements. The impressive show of strength, agility, balance and power all come from the basic principles of exercise, that you can easily do at home or in the gym. Although the methods gymnasts use to train may seem impossible to non-gymnasts, the principles and foundations of their training can be applied to your exercise routine. Using these methods can enhance your body’s ability to move better everyday and get you feeling stronger each day. The core of gymnastics training isn’t about the difficult looking skills, it’s about building a body that is well coordinated, strong, mobile and looked after. These are all things we are all able to do, not just gymnasts.

4 main principles:

1. Quality over quantity- In gymnastics, form is everything. If their form is wrong during a skill, they can be working the wrong muscle groups and actually increase their risk of injury. The same can be applied to at home or gym exercises ;getting your form right will allow the correct muscles to be doing the most work
2. Gravity is your friend- Gymnasts often perform skills in the air (quite literally defying gravity), this is own version of resistance. When performing exercises, instead of immediately going to add weights, make sure you are comfortable doing the exercise with your own body weight against gravity, giving your body the best chance to handle the added weight when you’re ready
3. Focus on a balance of push/pull exercises- People often focus on certain types of exercises or specific areas of the body that they are comfortable exercising. Having an imbalance of strength can lead to joint stress and poor movement patterns which in turn increase your risk of injury. Therefore creating a balanced plan that includes equal amounts of pushing and pulling exercises, allows the tissues to be exposed to those loads in a safe way
4. Giving yourself variety- Gymnasts can often see improvement regularly in their training as they often change up their routines. By varying the intensity and type of training you do or introducing new exercises allows your muscles to not get used to the movement patterns and will force them to adapt to those movements and get stronger as a result.

Mobility and Flexibility

Many fitness and exercises regimes often overlook mobility and flexibility work as it seen as ‘not as important’. But in gymnastics, mobility is put at the forefront of their training and is something that is a focus from early on. The key to enhancing your mobility is consistency, it’s not something that can be done once or twice, it needs to be worked on 5/6 days a week in order to see improvement. Whether your goals are to feel better walking around the house or competing in a physical event, mobility helps to enhance the efficiency of your joints and ligaments, giving you more freedom with your movement. Here are a few exercises to get your mobility journey started:

• Hip openers

• Thread the needle

• Around the world taps

 

• Banded shoulder flexion

 

Balance and body awareness

One of the many skills that gymnasts master from the beginning is exceptional balance and proprioception. The ability to know where their body is in the air is crucial for safe practice and ensures if something goes wrong mid air they know how to centre themselves. This heightened awareness improves  co-ordination and stability which is vital for maintaining control when doing physical tasks.

For example, balancing drills used for the beam and floor can be translated into better stability for sports, such as hiking or netball. They can also be used for everyday tasks such as walking on uneven surfaces or carrying heavy loads up and down the stairs. 

Joint Health and Injury Prevention

There is a common misconception that gymnastics is ‘too hard on the body’, and although it is one of the most physically demanding sports, the physical benefits that gymnastics gives you can last for a very long time. As an ex-gymnast, I can confidently say that is true. When gymnastics based skills and movements are done with proper techniques and progressed safely e.g., slow mobility work, controlled handstand progressions or gentle stretching techniques. It allows for improved joint stability, increased resilience to sudden or extreme forces whilst strengthening your musculoskeletal system. These types of movements are especially beneficial from those recovering from injury who need to re-build their kinetic chain and find their feet again after injury.

Getting started

Starting simple is the key here, taking good and simple exercises and giving them progressions to get you going, for example

•  Push-up->Incline push-ups->Ring push-ups->Handstand push ups
• Elevated plank-> Wall supported handstand-> Freestanding handstands

The fundamentals of gymnastics training involve improving strength, power, balance, proprioception and co-ordination all in the one session, therefore most sessions aren’t aimed at one muscle group like most typical gym based sessions are. Gymnastics sessions are built on shorter sessions that engage multiple muscle groups. The 4 main components of your workout should include.

1. Core- Hollow (dish) holds, plank variations, arch rocks and lemon squeezes
2. Strength (overall body)- Lunge variations, squats, dips and hanging holds
3. Power- Tuck jumps, hopping variations, box jumps and plyometrics
4. Balance- Single leg stands, wall handstands, toe walks and bosu ball holds