Stretching
Stretching is a very crucial part in the sport of gymnastics. Gymnasts typically spend about half an hour stretching before practice, fifteen minutes after practice, and have tiny stretching breaks in between events. The reason gymnasts spend so much time stretching is because they try to stretch every muscle in their body that they have the ability to stretch. Most sports have time set aside to stretch in the beginning of practices, but do not go as in-depth as gymnasts do because gymnastics requires so many different muscles. In this post, I will give a brief overview of how gymnasts stretch and how they make it effective.
Stretching is best when your muscles are warmed up and relaxed. Before gymnasts begin stretching, they typically do some type of cardio workout for a short amount of time. This can be running laps around the floor, doing energy-demanding exercises for a certain amount of time, etc. Anything to get their heart pumping and warm up their muscles to get ready for stretching. Warm muscles make for a more effective stretch, leading to better flexibility over time.
There is no specific order that a gymnast does their stretch, but typically gymnasts stretch as a team, counting out loud together and doing the same stretches at the exact same time as the coach guides them. Although the order in which a team stretches does not matter, there are certain types of stretches that help all the different parts of your body that a gymnast should do during their stretching routine to make sure they prevent injuries during practice.
Gymnasts typically stretch their all the muscles in their arms, legs, abs, hip flexors, neck, wrists, ankles, back, toes, fingers, and many tiny muscles in between. There are a variety of different stretches for each of these muscles that if I was going to go into detail with all the stretches, this post would be extremely long, so I am just giving a brief overview.
Stretches are typically held for an 8-16 count, depending on how major the stretch is. This gives the gymnast enough time to ease into the stretch and hold it for a short amount of time before they begin to strain their muscles. The stretches should be mildly painful. That is how you know you are actually stretching. If you do not feel slightly uncomfortable, your stretching is not effective.
Stretching is a vital component in gymnastics. If it were not for stretching, there would be many more injuries caused by gymnastics due to the stiffness of the muscles while doing complex and demanding skills. Stretching is also important to complete skills in gymnastics for the maximum points because a lot of skills require the ability to do the splits. Overall, gymnastics and stretching go hand-in-hand so if you want to become a better gymnast, practice better stretching techniques to help your flexibility and your skills.
Stretching is best when your muscles are warmed up and relaxed. Before gymnasts begin stretching, they typically do some type of cardio workout for a short amount of time. This can be running laps around the floor, doing energy-demanding exercises for a certain amount of time, etc. Anything to get their heart pumping and warm up their muscles to get ready for stretching. Warm muscles make for a more effective stretch, leading to better flexibility over time.
There is no specific order that a gymnast does their stretch, but typically gymnasts stretch as a team, counting out loud together and doing the same stretches at the exact same time as the coach guides them. Although the order in which a team stretches does not matter, there are certain types of stretches that help all the different parts of your body that a gymnast should do during their stretching routine to make sure they prevent injuries during practice.
Gymnasts typically stretch their all the muscles in their arms, legs, abs, hip flexors, neck, wrists, ankles, back, toes, fingers, and many tiny muscles in between. There are a variety of different stretches for each of these muscles that if I was going to go into detail with all the stretches, this post would be extremely long, so I am just giving a brief overview.
Stretches are typically held for an 8-16 count, depending on how major the stretch is. This gives the gymnast enough time to ease into the stretch and hold it for a short amount of time before they begin to strain their muscles. The stretches should be mildly painful. That is how you know you are actually stretching. If you do not feel slightly uncomfortable, your stretching is not effective.
Stretching is a vital component in gymnastics. If it were not for stretching, there would be many more injuries caused by gymnastics due to the stiffness of the muscles while doing complex and demanding skills. Stretching is also important to complete skills in gymnastics for the maximum points because a lot of skills require the ability to do the splits. Overall, gymnastics and stretching go hand-in-hand so if you want to become a better gymnast, practice better stretching techniques to help your flexibility and your skills.
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