Strength and Power in the Sport of Gymnastics

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

What is Mental Toughness?

Recently, athletes’ mental health has taken center stage in the media. A healthy mind is important for everyone, but especially for athletes like gymnasts who are performing difficult, often dangerous, skills. If you’re not in the right headspace to perform to your best abilities, you can get yourself into trouble. Building your mental toughness is important in your gymnastics journey – it takes a lot of strength, both physically and mentally, to keep up with all of the demands of gymnastics at all levels. However, you don’t want to misidentify mental toughness and put yourself into negative situations. Let’s discuss mental toughness for gymnasts and what it means and doesn’t mean to be mentally tough.