What Is the Fastest Way to Increase Flexibility for the Splits?
Stretching the hip flexors, hamstrings, quadriceps and groin muscles on a daily basis will help you get into the splits fast.
Read more →Gymnastics for Beginners: Drills, Flexibility and Home Training
Gymnastics drills for beginners focus on building the flexibility needed for splits and backhandsprings. Learn the requirements for various levels and how to train safely at home as a kid or adult.
We Can't Believe Olympian Simone Biles Was Fat Shamed by Her Coach
With her new book, “Courage to Soar: A Body in Motion, A Life in Balance” Simone Biles inspires us with an emotional account of being called fat by her coach.
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How to Do a Backhandspring When You're Afraid
During a back handspring, you jump backwards to land on your hands and kick your feet over your head. It's mostly seen in gymnastics, but other athletes such as martial artists do it too. A large part of performing back handsprings is conquering the fear of going end over end.
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How to Do Gymnastics at Home for First Timers
Gymnastics requires strength, flexibility and body awareness. It is a complex sport that is best learned under the guidance of a trained professional in a properly-equipped facility.
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How to Do a Painless Split
Doing a split looks easy when gymnasts or cheerleaders do it, but it’s harder than it appears for anyone who is not naturally flexible or who is new to flexibility training. Stretching out the inner thigh, hamstrings and calf muscles is necessary for a perfect split.
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How to Do a Split for Beginners for Kids
A split is a popular move in gymnastics where the legs are extended in opposite directions so that they are parallel to each other. Like other moves in gymnastics, a split also requires physical strength, flexibility, coordination and balance.
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How to Get Into Gymnastics as an Adult
With elite gymnasts often competing in their teens and retiring in their 20s, gymnastics may seem like a sport for the youthful, but it’s really for everyone.
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The Difference Between Gymnastics & Ballet
Gymnastics and ballet both center on the athlete’s body movements -- the strength, balance, flexibility and artistry displayed in a performance. Despite these similarities, gymnastics and ballet are two different physical activities.
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Required Level 1 Gymnastic Skills
Whether a gymnast plans to eventually compete on a team or wants only to participate in the sport recreationally, all gymnasts in the USA Gymnastics program must master the required skills in Level 1 before advancing to the next level.
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Gymnastics Drills for Beginners
Gymnastics requires a great deal of strength, balance, coordination, agility and body awareness to perform the various moves and avoid injury. Beginners will greatly benefit from certain gymnastics drills that help to improve all areas of fitness, as well as get their bodies ready for more advanced moves.
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How to Keep Underwear From Showing Under a Gymnastics Leotard
In a practice setting, it doesn’t matter if your underwear shows beneath your gymnastics leotard, except in matters of personal taste. In competition, however, judges will actually deduct points if your underwear is visible.
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What Do I Need to Be Able to Do for Cheerleading Tryouts?
Before you backflip your way down the football field before the big game, you have to land that coveted spot on your high school's cheerleading team. Although every school's tryout expectations vary, there are some cheer and tumbling staples you can expect at any tryout.
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The Training That It Takes to Be a Gymnast
The sport of gymnastics demands great flexibility, agility and strength. The skills typically require many years to master. To reach the upper echelon of men's and women's gymnastics -- regional, collegiate, national and international competition -- athletes must train year-round.
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How to Do a Full Split Without Hurting Yourself
You do the splits by extending one leg forward, while extending the other leg backward and lowering your pelvis to the floor. The splits require flexibility in the quads and hamstrings as well as the hip flexors and buttocks.
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Warmup Games for Gymnastics
Warmup games for gymnastics are designed to help your kids get loose and limber prior to an instructional gymnastics workout. In addition to stretching, warmup games can help reduce the children's risk of pulling a muscle or straining a ligament during a rigorous gymnastics routine.
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Training Program for a Gymnast
Gymnastics is an intensive activity that requires strength, flexibility, agility and balance. To successfully prepare for competitive or recreational gymnastics, create a training program that develops the necessary physical attributes in a way that complements the activity.
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Types of Jumps in Gymnastics
On the floor and the beam, gymnastics jumps are about height, flexibility, extension, form and speed. While the floor and the beam have some spring action, most of the height actually comes from the gymnast’s power.
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Gymnastic Flexibility Exercises
A gymnast in action appears to have remarkable flexibility, turning and twisting in extraordinary ways. Gymnasts do not necessarily possess unusual muscle strength or elasticity, rather they develop their flexibility through a regimen of regular stretching and flexibility exercises.
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Female Gymnastic Workouts
Women gymnasts need to be both strong and agile. To accomplish this, they have to train for both power and flexibility. Gymnasts use every major muscle group in their body to perform the various moves that make up a routine.
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Requirements for the Different Gymnastics Levels
The national governing body in the USA is the USAG, or the United States of America Gymnastics. The USAG has established 10 Junior Olympic levels, according to the World of Gymnastics. Beyond the tenth level, a gymnast competes in elite gymnastics.
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