When I was younger I was an all-around gymnast.  We weren’t allowed to specialize.  In college, I did specialize in bars, floor, and vault - but I broke my ankle like 3 weeks ago, so I’ll most likely stick to bars for a while and if I feel adventurous I’ll try vault again.  We’ll see.

Check out my advice page! There should be an answer there.

That’s super great you love gymnastics! Keep trying to take classes when you can and having fun.  If you really do love it, when you go to college check your university to see if they have a club team! Many schools do, and it’s usually a relaxed, fun environment of people (some beginners and some advanced) who love doing gymnastics too.

Yes ma’am, I do! I’m not sure what specific parts you’re having trouble with though, so I hope I at least help you out with what I say. 

Handstand on beam: If you’re dealing with fear issues, it’s always great to do some on a line, then on a low beam with mats, then pull the mats away, then move to a higher beam.  It’s a gradual process.  If you’re having problems hitting handstand, it’s probably because subconsciously you’re nervous to do your handstand on beam, but I can assure you it’s really not a difficult skill once you understand how to land your feet back on the beam! One of the most important things in a handstand is to look at your hands, but you don’t do this by throwing your head out.  Your hears should stay hidden by your arms, and you look down at your hands with your eyes.  When you go to step down on the beam watch your feet go down. 

Backbend Kickover: The best way to work this skill is to work it in parts.  The backbend portion should be done UP a cheese mat.  Start out with your coach spotting you, then when you feel more comfortable do it yourself.  When you think you can move to the floor again ask your coach to spot you on the first few - simply do the back bend the same way you did it on the cheese! This part of the skill takes patience.  A lot of people freak out and bail before they are anywhere near the ground because they don’t think there hands will hit.  Just be patient and understand that if you keep your arms locked by your ears, you’re hands will hit the ground before anything else! To work the kickover part, do a bridge going down a cheese.  This skill honestly just takes tons and tons of practice.  Your coach can spot you at first, buy you’ll have to continuously try and try again before you figure it out.  I always told my gymnasts to push their shoulder towards the wall their armpits were facing before they tried to kick over.  You need to keep your shoulders open otherwise you’ll collapse down onto your back. This is the same kind of deal. When you can do it down the cheese, try it on the floor! If your gym doesn’t have a cheese mat, you can always use a panel mat by placing your feet up on the panel with your hands on the floor and doing a bridge. 

Round-offs: My advice for making your round-offs better is to practice them off of a panel mat.  Start standing on the panel, then step out and place your hands on the end of the panel mat.  Your feet should then land on the floor.  That will help you get used to landing with your feet together and to drive your heels better in the skill. Once you have it good on the panel mat, again move it to the floor and perform the skill the same way! 

Hope that helps. 

Exciting News!

Hey everyone, I’ve finally started on an advice page to list almost every question I’ve answered asking for advice about something in gymnastics! It’s still got a lot of work to go, but I’ll gradually get it updated, so you can have an easier time accessing the information.  

Just click on the “Advice” tab.  Like i said, it’s just getting started, but more topics will be added soon, as I get my blog more organized! 

Oh boy, I’ve been there. Aerials were never my strong suit, and I definitely had this problem too. This is one of those things that you just have to do it once, and then you see that aerials are actually possible and not some crazy skill that seems to counteract the laws of physics. 

Anyway, Try doing them into a resi that is level with the floor and whatever you do, do not put your hand down. I imagine you’re afraid you aren’t going to land on your feet, which is why that hand shoots down.  Maybe if you do into a pit, you’ll see that you are perfectly capable of doing it without your coach there. Then move it to the floor with a sting mat. And eventually, count to three, clear your head and just do it on the floor.

Hope that helps! 

Hi! so i was wondering if you could give me tips on how to get on a competitive team. I’m 12 and I’m a level fout (i know, i know, I’m not that good) but i really want to start competing. Like what happens at a meet, ect. thanks!

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Sure! There are definitely level 4 competitions that a lot of teams go to, and you’ll be surprised because you won’t be the only 12 year old there, I bet. I don’t know how competitive teams work in your area, but I had to be invited onto my team.  I trained in little gymnastics classes for a few years, and eventually I got an invite.  You have to usually try-out or be invited to be on a competitive team because they want to ensure that you have the skill level to compete for them. 

I would call or visit the gyms in your area with a competitive team, and ask how you might go about getting on it.  I guarantee they will at least make you try-out, but it’s usually just a skill test to ensure (like I said earlier) you have the skills. 

Meets are a mixture of pure excitement, adrenaline, and nerves, but also  heartache, disappointment, and frustration.  There is nothing like the feeling of walking in with your teammates or hearing your name called for an award.  However, there is a flip side.  There’s the nerves that kick in during your warm-up and right before you salute to compete.  There’s frustration when you mess up and disappointment when you look over and see the unhappy frown on your coaches face. 

Most meets consist of a general warm-up, and then you walk-in to the arena with your team and are announced together. Then national anthem and you get taken to your respective starting events. Then you’ll get an event warm-up that’s time (this differs by meet sometimes), and after warm-up, you wait for your turn to compete. Gymnastics meets last a long long time (like 4 hours), but you’ll only compete for less than 10 minutes of that. After everyone has finished their first rotation, you line up and march to the next event. This happens for all 4 events, then you sit down and awards happens. 

I think it’s great you want to compete, and I wish you the best of luck!

SJ