5 Exercises You Can Do at Home To Improve Gymnastic Skills

As your gymnast progresses from class to class in the gym, the skills she learns to build and grow on one another - a cartwheel becomes a round-off becomes a round-off back handspring. Even if your child is attending just one class per week, there are many different exercises that she can do at home to help her strengthen her muscles, improve flexibility, and become more confident in her gymnastics skills. Here are 5 great exercises that gymnasts of all levels can do (and she can even wear her favorite youth gymnastics leotard to make it more fun):

1. Stretch: Gymnastics skills require your gymnast to be more flexible than you can imagine. Taking ten minutes a day to stretch her splits and backbends can help improve her flexibility so that when she is in the gym she is ready to go! 
2. Sit Ups: Abdominal core strength is important in many sports, including gymnastics. Strengthening the muscles of your gymnast’s core will help her with balance and strength on all four apparatus. 
3. Push Ups: Just like the abdominal core, the arm muscles are another important area for gymnasts. Gymnasts use their arms, especially the upper arm, in all four events of girls' gymnastics. By working on strengthening her arms at home, she will be better able to perform the skills she is learning when in the gym. 
4. Candlesticks: Candlesticks or rolling candlesticks is a common exercise among gymnasts where she starts standing, rolls onto her back and shoulders in a “candlestick position” to balance, and then rolls back to her feet. This exercise is beneficial to gymnasts looking to strengthen their core while actively working on balance - both essential in progressing in gymnastics.
5. Wall-Sits: a wall-sit is another great exercise for building strength in your hamstrings and quads. Building strength in your legs is a vital part of being a gymnast, as your legs help power you through your skills and routines. 

Working out at home doesn’t even have to be boring! Your gymnast can put on her favorite girls’ gymnastics leotard and get to work outside the gym to make more progress when she is inside the gym at practice. Shop for fun at-home gymnastics leotards today!

What at-home exercises does your gymnast like to do? Let us know by tagging us on Instagram @destiraletoards with your gymnast working on her favorite exercises!