Parents Balance Beam for home use

[Ex member]

I have been thinking about getting a floor beam for both of my dd's to use at home, my oldest dd (10) has her Disability NDP grades coming up and she has a simple beam routine (just steps, turns and balances - no rolls or cartwheels) and my youngest dd (7) only does Forward Rolls, Cartwheels on floor foam beam, kicks, tuck jump, straight jump, cat leaps and balances.

Would this floor beam be ok or is it not recommended to use a floor beam at home

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rollup-ba...gGoods_Gymnastics_CA&var=&hash=item19e911a844

 

[Jenny]

looks Ok quite short. The best thing my dd had was a 'stickit' beam. Like a long roll of velcro you stuck to the carpet. I don't know where you can buy them know. It got full of fluff and sticky on the top (had so many drinks spilled on it I expect) and we eventually chucked it out but it lasted years and years.

It was brilliant for practising beam dance and routines.

She also has a proper 8ft floor beam which is used for everything but gymnastics lol. I don't think they are worth getting. They really get in the way and everyone trips over them. I regularly suggest we get rid of it but she insists on keeping it to sit on.

 

[Ex member]

Do you mean something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6FT-BASIC...ortingGoods_Gymnastics_CA&hash=item2334833c96

I cannot see the point in this one apart from the length, we have a folding mat (from Argos), I have put tape down the centre of the mat so they can use it has s makeshif beam, I am looking for something that gives them a better feel with more height.

I do not want a "proper" beam as it probably wont get much use in the future after the initial excitement and it would be hard to store, I am looking for something that is easy to store and is not too expensive.

 

[Jenny]

yes like that but longer. It was brilliant for perfecting routines on. The one we had was topped with beam suede not vinyl so it felt like a beam too.

 

[Ex member]

There isn't a huge price differnce between the two, which one would be better?

It will be used by oldest dd to practice her routine on and my youngest dd to practice her balances, leaps, forward rolls and cartwheels on.

 

[LIGYMMOM]

I just bought this one for my dd for her birthday, and we really like it because it has a nice feel to it, yet it's light enough to fold up and put away in it's box. We have cats who would destroy it! http://www.matsmatsmats.com/gymnastics/beams/practice-beam.html

 

[Jenny]

get which ever is longer. 6ft is not long enough by far to do a routine on. You need 8 ft for single skills and 10 ft plus for routines.

 

[Ex member]

I goes to show I have no idea about gymnastics in general - I didn't realise the beam came in different sizes, I thought they were all the same size.

 

[2gymkids]

We have one and it barely got used for a year and a half, but now that DD is learning her L3 beam routine it gets a ton of use. It's not long enough for a full routine but she can get the general idea of it. But I think a strip on the floor would also work just fine for practicing. As it is she covers the floor on either side of the beam with bean bag chairs and pillows so she feels confident with the handstand....a line on the floor would mean less deconstruction of the basement couch.

 

[xrachx]

DD has a 6ft floor beam that we had made by someone locally (cost about £50). When she first got it, she barely used it. Now she's having to do conditioning every say, it's always out, mainly for oversplits, but she's been using it to get her confidence up which has been noticeable in training according to her coach.
They seem to hold their value well if ebay is anything to go by, so if she stops using it, it'll go on there

 

[Iwannabemargo]

we have this one

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/finest-qu...ortingGoods_Gymnastics_CA&hash=item48630f472d

we are lucky to have long corridors so the corridor outside the livingroom is were it lives. I'd say she uses it weekly. she is currently practicing valdez's and straddle lever mount on it.

 

[Frase]

We have one (about 8 ft I think) dd doesn't really do much other than dance and spin on it - maybe a cartwheel at a push- but if it makes her feel more comfortable generally on the beam then in my mind it's a good thing.

 

[Uglybetty]

We have an 8ft floor beam from the beamstore. It is still sitting on my sitting room floor from Xmas but gets tons of use. They do a folding version too.

 

[Tami222]

My dd has a 2.5 m floor beam (as in photo) has just been the best to practice simple skills leaps ,tuck jumps, split jumps, press handstand even cartwheels.
We brought it at the start if idp1 and it has been great , the beam is very safe and made very well . Although now in ndp4 she has harder skills that coach and myself won't let her practice at home. She still uses it daily to work press to handstand and BWO and tick tocks so was deff worth the money. We are even considering buying the 40cm attachment legs to raise the beam. they also sell foam foldable floor beams.

 

[Committed]

We have one sort of like the one above. It's a low beam. It doesn't get a ton of use, but it was great for learning the cartwheel on beam.

 

[ollieblueeyes]

We have a folding beam from the beam store. It is used on a regular basis and can be put up easily.

http://www.thebeamstore.com/p/8+ft+Pink+Suede+FOLDING+Gymnastics+Beam/62/

The cat really likes it too!

 

[gymbeam]

We have the folding beam, too. DD received it for Christmas. It stays in the living room since it is easy enough to tuck away when not in use. She has gotten tons of mileage out of it over the last 3 months. Considering she is still a Bronze level gymnast, there is still much to be learned that she can use this for. The angled sides are great for giving her confidence to try certain new skills. Even my 5-year-old son enjoys playing on it.

Also, just this weekend, we gave her an 8ft. beam for use in the basement. Right now, its pretty much on the ground, but extension legs of different heights can be purchased to raise it up later. I'm thinking that will be a nice Christmas gift this year.

Anyway, we bought it, a kip bar, a cheese mat and a landing pad on Craigslist for a steal. I had been lurking here a while and read all the points made against the home bar, but the seller would not split up the items and it was such a good deal we decided to go for it.

 

[Flossyduck]

DD has one similar to Margo's dd and 10' long. It gets lots of use at certain times and is an unused pain in the bum at others. At the moment it's getting a lot of use, as dd dances through her routine, practices spins and jumps and straddle press handstand mount. When she had a growth spurt and struggled with her bwo she practiced them until she got the feel for them back.

So it does sit around ignored for stretches of time, but those short periods where it has boosted her confidence in the run up to a comp, or allowed her to work on a skill she was stressing about in the gym, have made it worth having for sure.

To start with, she had a wedge shaped foam one but that wasn't much use at all. She found it just wasn't stable enough to get a solid landing even in a simple jump and the edges gave way slightly when her weight wasn't completely in the middle, so spins were harder. We got rid of that one pretty quickly.

 

[GymBee97]

I have been thinking about getting a floor beam for both of my dd's to use at home, my oldest dd (10) has her Disability NDP grades coming up and she has a simple beam routine (just steps, turns and balances - no rolls or cartwheels) and my youngest dd (7) only does Forward Rolls, Cartwheels on floor foam beam, kicks, tuck jump, straight jump, cat leaps and balances.

Would this floor beam be ok or is it not recommended to use a floor beam at home

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rollup-balance-beam-Balance-beams-to-use-at-home-gym-outside-foldable-beam-/111284430916?pt=UK_SportingGoods_Gymnastics_CA&var=&hash=item19e911a844

Save your money. Most kids that get the practice beam or bars may use it few months then forget about it. Also really at home the only thing they really should practice might be dance moves on beam and even then they need the guidance of the coach to make sure they are learning it correctly. For us we leave the gymnastics at the gym under the supervision of the coaches so DD doesn't develop any bad habits on her own. There is nothing harder to do then unlearn bad habits learned by practicing at home.

I got the folding one that sits on the floor my DD used it for about a month and it has been sitting in the corner folded in her closet for a good 7 years now not used.

if you want your child to do something at home that would help work on the stretching and conditioning instead. That might require a mat for the floor and maybe a chinup bar.

For us time away from the gym is just that time to be a kid and not even think about practice.

 

[gymbeam]

i can totally see how time away would be precious at higher levels and that higher level skills shouldn't be done at home! but, in my own defense- we only go two hours two days a week and she's really just learning balance on it by practicing turns and jumps at this point. she also tries handstands, but that's about it.

when (well, actually, if) we get to the point that she is spending a lot more hours in the gym- then i bet the home stuff will be useless/unsafe/counterproductive.

my advice to anyone would be to buy used! i would not have considered our purchases if i had not been able to find the things on craigslist. i will be able to sell them for essentially what i paid for them and that made it worth it to us, know what i mean?