At home conditioning before starting gymnastics

[zemirah]

Hi all, I'm planning on starting an adult gymnastics class early next year and I'd like to be in the best possible shape before then! What conditioning do you think I should do at home? I never did gymnastics as a kid, but I'm pretty fit and strong and can do basic skills like cartwheels, handstands etc.

So.. be my personal trainer and suggest a routine of stretches and strength training that will help me be ready to start in January!

Thanks and look forward to getting to know you

 

[nicci1999]

I would do A LOT of crunches, push ups, pull ups if you have something to do that on, leg lifts, dips. Also stretch your back by working on bridges, your shoulders(lock your hands behind your back, bend forward and let your arms fall forward), and stretch your legs for your splits. Much more I can't think of at the moment, oh, and make sure you can run to some extent! Good luck, and welcome to the world of gymnastics!!!

 

[BlairBob]

Calisthenics - Conditioning Without Equiptment

Basic front and side splits besides straddle sit and sitting pike. Shoulder extension and cat stretch besides shoulder pass throughs/dislocates with a piece of rope.

Bridge wall walks. Wall Handstands.

Oh, bugger all. Check this out.

GymnasticBodies.com • View topic - Blair's basic beginner newbie routine

A simple stretching routine is to start out 2 days a week and add a day every 3-6 weeks based on how you feel. After an initial beginning phase, it would be a good idea to double or triple the amount of time held in each stretch as you do it longer.

Beginning phase. 20 seconds in each stretch of those listed above. You can find a stretching section at DrillsandSkills.com. The point is to allow yourself to adapt so your body can recover and you won't be ridiculously sore in the initial stage that will hamper your flexibility gains and ability to recover between stretching sessions.

Do this 2-3x, rotating from stretch to stretch. You can alternate sitting straddle and middle split if you like.

As for wall minute. Test your max duration wall HS. Cut that in half and train it for 5 or 6 holds for 4-6 weeks. Retest, repeat.

Building strength and flexibility is slow in gymnastics. Besides building neural connections (muscle memory) and muscle and bone, you need to build tendon and ligament strength which doesn't build fast...at all. And as an adult, you are much bigger which means more load on the body.

Looking into the GymnasticBodies program is a good start unless your able to figure out a routine somehow.

 

[zemirah]

Thank you both for your help, I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it!