Do you want to improve your gymnastics? Then one or two weekly classes might not be enough develop the fitness, flexibility, and control necessary. Or, you may be in an open gym, tumble fit or early gymnastics training program for beginners and want to improve at a faster pace.
Various gymnastic exercises for beginners can help you improve your skills outside of R&R. At home, gymnastic drills, gymnastic core exercises, and gymnastic bodyweight exercises are ideal for beginner gymnasts with minimal equipment.
You can perform certain exercises at home to improve your core strength, while increasing your control and flexibility.
Here are some of the best exercises to practice gymnastics at home:
Sprints
Sprints are one of the most straightforward gymnastic exercises for beginners as you can perform it anywhere, at anytime. It increases your speed and power for certain flips an ground drills, along with improving your vaulting skills. Sprints are excellent for coordination, run-ups, lower body strength, and agility.
How to Do Sprints
You should perform this gymnastic core exercise at least three times a week. You can either incorporate another simple exercise or take a rest on gap days. While sprinting is pretty easy, many gymnasts don’t perform it correctly practice it often.
Warm-Up
Perform an easy exercise for five to ten minutes to warm up before going for a sprint You can perform the same exercise you plan to perform for sprints.
Do the First Sprint
When performing the first sprint, avoid reaching your maximum capacity and tiring yourself out. If you feel any muscle tightness or pain, you need to warm-up a little more.
Recover
Slow down and perform your gymnastic exercise at a more comfortable pace to recover from soreness, pain, etc. It would help if you kept moving your body while recovering.
Do the Second Sprint
When performing the second sprint, you can increase the intensity to 80% of your total capacity.
Recover
Use the next four minutes to slow down and recover.
Do the Third Sprint
You can perform your next sprint at maximum intensity, going all out.
Slowly increasing the intensity will ensure you don't fall or tear a muscle. Generally, four sprints a day are enough, but you can gradually build the number up to eight.
Pull-Ups
Pull-ups are one of the most beneficial gymnastics exercises if you’re looking to increase your functional strength for performances. They increase your upper body control, increase core strength, and make you more flexible. Additionally, this gymnastic core exercise only requires minimal equipment. You only need to attach a pull-up bar to your doorway.
Here is how to perform pull-ups the right way.
Stand directly below a pull-up bar, using an overhand grip to hold onto it. Your palms should be in the same direction as your face, and your hands should be approximately shoulder-width apart.
Get in the starting position by slightly curving your back. Stick your chest out and prepare to do the pull-ups.
Breathe in. Then, exhale while lifting your feet off the floor. At this point, you should be hanging from the bar.
Pull in your navel towards the spine to engage your core. Your shoulders should go back and down.
Use your arm and back muscles to raise your upper body towards the ceiling. Bend your elbows while pulling your body towards the bar. As you breathe, your chest and bar should be at the same level, with your chin slightly above the bar.
When moving upward, stay stable and avoid swinging your legs around.
After breathing out in this position, inhale before extending your elbows to lower yourself to the starting position.
This is one rep. Repeat.
Spiderman Against a Wall
Handstands are one of the most critical gymnastics conditioning exercises as it improves control and flexibility to perform on different gymnastic apparatuses.
Gymnasts sometimes perform handstands on bars, beams, and even the floor. Not to mention, gymnastic exercises like back handsprings, round-offs, and cart-wheels also start with a handstand position.
However, most gymnasts that are just starting out struggle to do this gymnastic exercise the right way. Spiderman against the wall is an excellent gymnastic core exercise to work on the correct form of handstand. This at-home gymnastic drill will help you improve your handstands and make you a much better gymnast.
Spiderman against the wall is a variation of the gymnastic core exercise: the handstand.
Choose any wall in your house and stand in a neutral position with your back against it.
Place your hands on the floor in front of you.
One at a time, press your feet against the wall.
Now walk your hands towards the wall, while placing your feet higher on the wall.
Your belly must touch the wall while keeping your hands as close to the wall as possible.
Make sure to keep your head in a neutral position and look at your hands.
Tighten your muscles, and concentrate on pulling your feet up towards the ceiling. Hold this alignment for as long as you can. This is your handstand position.
Splits
Splits are also a crucial gymnastic flexibility exercise that helps gymnasts improve their flexibility while strengthening the core.
It is one of the simplest gymnastic exercises at home to strengthen your body and increase flexibility and control. Besides helping with flexibility, splits also improve joint and muscle balance. Don’t forget, this gymnast exercise often shows up in gymnastics. So, practicing the correct split shapes is essential.
Whether performing side splits or front splits, make sure to warm up first with stretches like runner’s stretch, half-pigeon pose, and standing forward pose.
Side Splits
Sit down on the floor with your back against a wall in a pike position. Elongate your torso and avoid rotation your hips or pelvis.
Make sure your back is fully flat against the wall. Now, open up your legs slowly and gradually. Spread them as wide as you can. Use your hands to get as much support as you need.
Front Splits
Get in the low lunge position with the knee of the leg at the back touching the floor.
Your foot of the leg at the front should lay flat.
Place your hands beside your hips on either side.
Glide the foot at the front, pointing your toes. Simultaneously, draw the foot at the back further behind you.
Pause and hold the position.
Bottom Line
All beginner gymnasts want to improve their gymnastics skills, but it can be hard to know the right gymnastic exercises to start with. If you’re looking for gymnastic exercises at home, sprints, pull-ups, spiderman against the wall, and splits are great options to start with.