Ways to Become a Stronger Gymnast
Most people think that gymnastics is all about flexibility and grace. But anyone who trains in gymnastics knows that it’s about strength, power, coordination, flexibility, and mental toughness.
Pound for pound, gymnasts are some of the strongest, toughest athletes in sports. It’s one of the reasons we love the sport so much. They also have some of the strongest hearts.
To get better, you’ve got to focus on being a stronger gymnast in body and mind. The training takes dedication, focus, and mental toughness. It's also fun and strengthens friendships and family.
Here are some ways to be a stronger gymnast:
Practice Self-care
When you’re going at full speed from home to school to training to homework or work, it’s easy to skip out on good meals, plenty of fluids, and lots of rest.
But hard work needs fuel!
Sometimes gymnasts can feel self-conscious about how much they eat. Don’t let others judge your nutrition. You know how hard you work and you should answer a need to fuel your body. Just make sure it’s good fuel: protein, lots of veggies, and whole grains rather than sugary snacks.
The same goes for rest. It might feel very “adult” to stay up late but believe us, most adults wish they could get more sleep!
When you work, work hard. When you rest, rest fully.
Your body needs a lot of recovery. Becoming a stronger gymnast means you break down your body a little bit so it can build itself back up. Don’t skip rest and recovery, otherwise you risk injury and burnout.
Be Consistent
It takes time to learn new skills and to get stronger.
When you were at level 1, how many hundreds of tries did it take to perfect your split jump? You couldn’t do every one of those tries in one session. It took weeks and months of consistent practice to get there. And as each level adds more skills, each one takes even more time and effort to perfect.
Consistency can be hard because sometimes we don’t see progress daily.
Instead, think about weeks or months and then look back at how far you’ve come. While it might seem annoying that your parents want to take too much video, embrace it as a chance to see where you were and enjoy where you are now.
Motivate Yourself
People who aren’t athletes often think that motivation comes from outside sources like a cheering crowd, getting a medal, achieving skills for your next level, etc. Those things might be inspiring, but YOU know that motivation - our reasons for doing something - come from WITHIN.
Boost your motivation by being clear about all of the benefits you get from gymnastics (strength, confidence, poise, fun, friends, toughness, etc.) and why you do it.
Let other people encourage you, but always remember that the motivation comes from within and never, never let other people tear that down. And, don’t let yourself doubt. YOU need to be your strongest supporter by being confident and reminding yourself of what you’ve accomplished whenever you feel doubts.
Embrace the Leadership
As a gymnast and not a football player or volleyball player or basketball team member, you might feel like your sport is unimportant. But your confidence and strength will be noticed by your classmates, friends, and family.
You may not realize that other people are going to respect and admire you for how hard you work.
Most people of ANY age have never physically worked as hard as you do to be fit and strong. Because of your dedication and motivation, they are going to see you as a leader.
When you take responsibility for your results and when you are in charge of becoming a stronger gymnast, you also become a leader. When you understand this, you can accept and embrace this role not only at the gym, but at home, in school, at work, or anywhere else in your life.
This means that you will be the motivation for others.
They’ll look to you for advice and encouragement. Take the lessons you learn in the gym - determination, getting up after falling, learning new skills- and apply those to your life.
Be the example for others. Share your strength with them and you’ll make them better students and athletes and you’ll make YOURSELF better now and in your future.
Trust Others ... But It’s Okay to Check
As an athlete, a student, and a young person, you’re frequently told to listen to your coaches. Listen to your teachers. Listen to your parents.
Sometimes you are told “just trust me,” especially if you don’t understand exactly why or what they are asking you to do. It’s important to put your trust in people who have your best interests in mind. Or to trust that they have a lot more experience in knowing what works and what brings results. It’s also important to trust yourself.
An old-time politician, Ronald Reagan, was famous for quoting an old Russian proverb: “Trust, but verify.”
This means that when you’re confident that someone else has YOUR best interests in mind, you trust them but if it’s something that makes you uncomfortable or seems dangerous or appears to be to their benefit at your expense, then you verify.
You check with other people about their experience. You talk to other people you trust about whether you’re being asked to do something that is right and not harmful.
In the case of Reagan, he was using it to tell the former Soviet Union that if they said “trust me” and they were telling the truth, then they wouldn’t mind him checking for himself.
It’s a very good rule of thumb in life. It’s a red flag someone doesn’t want you to talk with other people or doesn’t want you checking or learning for yourself, or demands that you listen only to them and ignore your knowledge of what's right and wrong.
It’s an extreme red flag if it’s they say it's a secret or if they threaten you for doubting them or asking for confirmation.
Trust yourself. Trust them… but verify.
Check it out and find out for yourself what’s true and right for you.
Trust your STRONG heart!
