Gymnastics Fun At Home in Winter
The winter weather this last week has been oh-so-cold, especially in the Midwest of the United States! Lots of snow, ice, and cold winds have kept people from leaving home to go to school or work. There’s a good chance some gymnasts weren’t even able to get to the gym for a while!
Gymnastics is a sport built on strength, so skipping practice can set a gymnast back in their training. To help the gymnasts stuck at home, or for any gymnasts wanting to stay active on their days off, we’ve put together a list of some fun gymnastics activities you can do at home!
Before we start, it is incredibly important that your gymnasts stay safe when working on gymnastics skills at home. Without a trained coach there to spot them, it is easier to get injured. There are some skills we don’t recommend they try at home, like advanced tumbling or bars. The best way to do this is to ask your gymnast’s coach what they can safely work on at home.
Stretching
Stretching is a simple way to keep up on gymnastics training at home! Gymnastics is all about flexibility, and skipping days of stretching at practice can quickly have an effect on a gymnast’s flexibility. Have your gymnast go through their normal stretching routine like they would at practice. They can work on improving their splits and can use a steps tool or other low pieces of furniture to practice their oversplits if they can.
Conditioning
Conditioning is very easy to do at home! Push-ups, sit-ups, and other conditioning activities done at the gym without equipment can be done at home as well. This will help your gymnast keep up their strength, and maybe even improve it when they can’t be in the gym!
Their Floor Routine
While it is not safe to practice all of their tumbling at home, your gymnast can still run through the dance in their floor routine. They can practice making the dance moves cleaner and sharper and walk through the tumbling portions of the routine. This will help them remember their routine even better when they perform at a meet.
Obstacle Courses
An obstacle course is a fun way to engage a restless gymnast stuck at home! Set up tape lines on the floor to mark stations, and have your gymnast practice different skills like jumping, turning, stretching, or conditioning at each station. Or, lay out a long line and have your gymnast run some beam drills as if they were on an actual balance beam. This will improve their balance and give them a chance to have some gym fun at home! The whole family can even get involved!
Practicing their gymnastics at home will help keep gymnasts warm in the cold weather and having fun while they’re stuck at home.
