Men’s gymnastics has been called by many a “sissy sport” that is full of men who have no grasp about how to act manly, or even how to perform like a true athlete.  However, overall men’s gymnastics is treated quite roughly with most events involving great amounts of strength, coordination, and endurance in order to actually be considered a real gymnast.

The various aspects of gymnastics has always required great amounts of strength as well as athletic ability, however men’s gymnastics tends to take the typical requirements up a few notches by expecting bigger, better and longer routines from men than what is expected from women.  Men’s gymnastics involves six different events that are used to help showcase the ability and talents of each gymnast.  While many men train in all events equally, some gymnasts choose to train in one area more exclusively.

The first event for men is the floor exercise.  The basis of the element is the same as for women, using a 12m square floor series of tumbles, woven together with handstands, acrobatic, rhythm and various other components are strung together.  The typical time for a floor exercise is approximately 60 seconds; however, some can last as long as 70 seconds.  Some contrasts to women’s events include there is no music during the routine, and also gymnasts are required to touch each corner of the floor a minimum of once.  Read more...

Many coaches train gymnasts to use methods such as visualization to help them visualize a technique or movement before they actually physically try it.  This helps the gymnasts determine exact body placement, as well as how fast they should be moving to successfully complete the task.  To make things easiest it is necessary to take this up a notch and use several steps working together to make the visualization process much simpler and help your own little gymnast learn the skills much easier.

The first step is always stopping and relaxing.  People are not able to learn as easily if they are stressed out no matter what they are trying to do.  Relax and breathe deeply to let the tension go.  Once you feel the stress melting away and have taken several deep breathes you can move along.

Your next step is going to imagine your self performing the technique flawlessly.  How do you look?  What did you do?  What was the reaction of the crowd?  What was the reaction of your coach?  How did you feel while you were doing the position?  What were your hands doing?  What about your feet?  Did you feel comfortable in your mind?  All of these details will help you determine exactly what your body should do and when to achieve the best result.  Read more...