Strength, Flexibility & Recovery

Gymnastics is a very strenuous sport and often comes with injuries. Gymnasts need to do strength and flexibility exercises to prevent injuries. It is also important for gymnasts to prioritize recovery for their bodies. Whether that is taking an ice bath or doing rehabilitation exercises to keep an injury area strong. Strength, flexibility, and recovery help prevent and recover from an injury but it also helps improve gymnastics performance. Learn more about how you can work towards being the best gymnast that you can be below!

  1. Tips to Help Prevent Repetitive Stress Injuries

    Avoiding injury is important for any athlete, and gymnasts are no exception. With most gymnasts training year-round, it's no wonder that repetitive stress injuries can be a very common occurrence.

    What is Repetitive Stress Injury?

    Repetitive stress injuries, also known as RSIs, are injuries that occur due to recurrent overuse or improper use. Carpal tunnel syndrome is one of the best-known repetitive stress injuries, often affecting typists, writers, and checkers at the grocery store.

    RPI's are becoming more common in young athletes because many kids are now specializing in one sport at an earlier age, continually using the same muscle groups in the same manner, repetitively. This can lead to muscle imbalance, which in turn can lead to stress injuries when combined with

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  2. When Should Gymnasts Begin Strength Training?

    When Should Gymnasts Start Strength Training

    Not only should a gymnast be flexible, but strong too. Strength plays a key role in each event from the floor routine to the bars to the pommel horse. However, when it comes to young gymnasts who are not fully grown yet, where does strength training come into play? Young gymnasts will not be at their peak strength until during their teenage years, but meanwhile, they can still focus on maintaining the flexibility that they will need for future competitions. Because their bones are not yet fully formed, gymnasts pre-puberty should not be doing any sort of strength training that involves lifting weights and excessive amounts of repetitions.

    Rather than hitting the gym to lift weights, young gymnasts can participate

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  3. Gymnastics Skills Outside The Gym

    Using Gymnastics Skills Outside the Gym

    All of your training in the gym allows you to compete and perform fantastically during meets, but have you ever wondered what else you could do with your hard-earned gymnastics skills? Here are some fun ideas for now to use your gymnastics skills outside of the gym!

    Improve your dancing!

    Creating small dance routines can be a lot of fun! Jumping, turning, and stepping to the beat are good ways to express yourself and exercise. Adding some flips, handstands, cartwheels, walkovers, and handsprings to your fun dances will surely make them unique, elaborate, and impressive!

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  4. RICE Therapy - Does It Help or Hinder Recovery?

    Whether you're a physician, parent, or gymnast, chances are that you have heard of RICE therapy, and may have used it at one time, but is it the best treatment for you?

    The doctor who created the RICE therapy has some new thoughts that may have you thinking twice about this go-to therapy.

    What is RICE Therapy?

    RICE is an acronym for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.

    Rest immobilizes the injury and Ice minimizes swelling and pain. Compression with a bandage or compression tape helps reduce swelling, and elevation helps with swelling and initial bleeding of tissue when used with ice and compression.

    Why is RICE Used?

    RICE has been the standard treatment for sore muscles and injuries since Dr. Gabe Mirkin wrote his best-selling Sports medicine Book in 1978. It helps relieve the pain caused by injured tissue, whether it's sore muscles from a tough workout or a sprain from a twisted ankle.

    New Thoughts Regarding RICE Therapy -

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