Beam Warm Up

[JBS]

What do your gymnasts do for a beam warm up for levels 5 and 6? Do they do the same thing every practice? How long does it take? What drills can we include on other events to help on beam?

We are trying to develope a warm up for our girls. However, we are a rec. gym. We have level 5 and 6 girls, they just don't compete. The main difference between rec. and competitive is the amount of time spent in the gym. Our girls are in the gym about 4 hours per week. This means they are only on beam for about 30-45 min. per week.

We need a great 10-15 min. warm up so we can move onto new skills quickly.

[saddlupasb]

Our girls use the same warmup most of the time. My Level 4 gymnasts practice walking (forward, sideward, backward) high on toe, pivot turns, what I call snowflake turns, kicks (f,s,b) high on toe, lock hops, long jumps,
chasses, hammer handstands both forward and back on both legs. Sometimes we take something out if we have less time, and sometimes we add leaps, needle kicks and running. You can tailor it for the amount of time that you have. I try to focus on presentation during warm ups and also just staying on the beam. I always have the girls do some conditioning (ie 10 shotguns) if they fall off during warmups to help them learn to fight to stay on.
Hope this helps,
Angela

[JBS]

Great feedback...anyone else have a warmup to post?

[gracefulone]

Well, we don't warm up that much any more, but usually just different walks and kicks and such. W/ our old coach, we ran back and forth across the high beams and walked on our hands(forward and side handstands). To qwork on the dreaded level six dismount, we had partners help us w/handstand holds with pirouttes;also just holding a vertical handstand on beam as long as we can.

[Perfect10n_ineverything]

My girls Do tip toe walks frontward and backward. Kicks (frontward only) or tip toe and flat foot then they ocassianally do forward and side ways sashe. They we do a few turns half (sometimes whole) and snap turns. then we move onto leaps (five but no less) then english handstands (five but no less). Then we start them on routines ( or skills depending on time of year) But since you are rec you can move on to skills.

[JBS]

Thanks for the warm up Perfect10n_ineverything.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfect10n_ineverything Then we start them on routines ( or skills depending on time of year) But since you are rec you can move on to skills.

We still do the regular routines for levels 2 and up. We do this because we have mock meets 3 or 4 times per year. We have 2 gyms so we alternate gyms (the gyms are about 25 minutes apart). All the gymnasts get a trophy or medal and there are no judges. Between our 2 gyms we usually have 60 - 100 gymnasts, so they are pretty popular. It also gives the coaches something to look forward to, since most of us were competitive gymnasts.

[Perfect10n_ineverything]

Well then you can fit my suggestion to your schedule if you'd like!

[gymncoach40]

We start with step locks fwd side bk, step lock 1/2 turns (two people on beam at a time) chasse's, straight jumps across the beam, duck walks ( teaching them low skills), step kicks, sm leaps , md leaps, lg leaps.

[Angela]

I have a question for Angela (or anyone else who knows) -- what are "hammer handstands" and what are "needle kicks"? Could you give me a little description? Thanks! Angela.

[ZJsMom]

One good warmup no one's mentioned yet is jumping rope on the beam.