Keeping Fit At Home
Below you will find many different links and videos to enable you to stay fit and healthy at home.
In school children would be learning some gymnastics in their PE lessons. Below are some gymnastic activities you can do at home.
Spider Man against the wall works on a gymnasts handstands. One of the most important positions in gymnastics, the handstand is done on the floor, on beam and on bars; in cartwheels, round-offs, back-handsprings and front-handsprings. Spider Man against the wall is basically a handstand against the wall and provides a way to practice correct form for the handstand. See the proper way to do Spider Man against the wall.
Practicing sprints are a great way to improve vault skills and sprints can be practiced by running fast anywhere. Great vaults are quick and powerful, so the faster the spring before it, the more power the vault will have.
Working on splits is a way to improve flexibility at home. The split shape shows up frequently in gymnastics; the split shape is seen in leaps and jumps. The better the splits on the ground, the better they will be in the air.
Pull-ups are another great exercise for improving gymnastics skills at home. A pull-up bar is installed in a doorway.
Practicing scales at home will help improve balance, flexibility and strength – all which are crucial for gymnastics. What is a scale? Stand on one leg and lift the other leg directly to the front for a front scale or directly behind for a back scale. Stand for as long as possible without loss of balance.
Improve jumps by practicing straight jumps at home. Keep the body as tight as possible and jumping as high as possible while maintaining body position. Practice these jumps: Straight, Tuck, Straddle, Pike, Split, Wolf, Half Turn, Full Turn.
Gymnasts are required to do leaps on the beam and in floor routines. Practice makes perfect and practicing leaps at home makes great leaps possible. Concentrate on keeping straight legs and coming high off the ground while keeping the angles made with the legs even on both sides.
Turns are requirements in both floor and beam routines – just like leaps. Practice turns at home on the carpet or on the kitchen floor wearing socks.
Any conditioning exercises that make muscles stronger will help improve gymnastics skills. Gymnastics is one of the few sports that uses most of the muscles in the body. Push-ups, Sit-ups, calf-raises are all great exercises to increase muscle strength.
It’s best to practice a gymnastics routine at home without the tumbling skills. There just isn’t enough room to do a routine this way. Practicing a routine with just the dance elements is called a “dance-through.” More practice of a routine means that the chance that any details of it will be forgotten during practice or at a meet are greatly reduced. This is another case where repetition is beneficial. Practice, practice and practice again.