There are many reasons to incorporate gymnastics into your workout routine, even if you’re an adult.
Besides the obvious fun factor, adding gymnastics movements to your fitness regime can help you build muscle and strength, improve flexibility and mobility, and increase your balance and coordination.
Gymnastics movements also teach you how to better control your body as you build strength and balance, which can help prevent falls as you age or as you recover from an injury.
If you’re looking to stay in shape without having to go to a gym, gymnastics might be a great alternative.
The health benefits of gymnastics include:
Increasing your strength and endurance
Improving flexibility and coordination
Reducing stress and anxiety
Improving posture and overall body awareness.
While doing activities like these can improve physical health, they can also positively impact mental health as well, all while learning new skills.
By focusing on your form, working hard on each individual move, and practicing good breathing techniques while completing an activity, it is possible to get into the zone or flow state where many people report feeling happier and more energized by their activity.
When you are able to get into a flow state with an activity, it is important to remain mindful of keeping up good breathing habits throughout the experience.
This will help keep blood pressure steady while improving oxygenation levels in the blood.
To learn more about the health benefits of the sport of gymnastics, and how doing a couple of gymnastics classes can lead to a more healthy lifestyle, read on!
Physical Health Benefits
Physical health benefits of gymnastics include improved flexibility, strength (especially core strength), coordination, and balance.
It is an activity that can be practiced by people with all levels of fitness—and is done regularly by young children, teens, and adults alike.
While many associate gymnastics with tumbling skills used in cheerleading or acrobatics, it also encompasses physical exercises like tumbling rolls, cartwheels, and handstands.
The bulk of these activities are designed to improve body awareness and focus on controlling one’s body movements.
All of these factors combine to make gymnastics a great workout for both your body and mind.
Improved cardiovascular health is another major benefit that comes along with practicing gymnastics regularly.
This sport requires you to constantly move while balancing your entire body weight.
Even during rest periods between routines, you will often continue performing specific stretches to maintain good posture throughout your practice session.
All of these factors combine to give you a solid cardiovascular workout while simultaneously improving coordination skills through pushing yourself physically outside your comfort zone.
Gymnastics Increases Your Flexibility
Flexibility is an essential aspect of gymnastics, as those who’ve been involved in some type of gymnastic training will tell you.
But you don’t have to be a world-class athlete to reap flexibility’s benefits:
Research suggests that stretching and moving your body through its full range of motion can improve your overall health and alleviate tension—great news for those with desk jobs.
Incorporate more stretches into your life by paying attention to how you feel after prolonged sitting or standing; if it feels like something is off, then try slowly moving through a few stretches before going about your day.
You may also want to include more mobility exercises into your workout routine by visiting a yoga class or looking up tutorials online; these movements use controlled ranges of motion to build strength and relieve tightness throughout various parts of your body.
Improves Bone Health
Exercise strengthens bones, and it’s not just weight-bearing exercises that do so.
In fact, you can strengthen your bones just as effectively with non-weight-bearing exercises such as gymnastics.
Who would have thought you could improve bone density!
Think about it: many gymnastic moves involve nothing more than your own body weight, but they’re still incredibly effective at building muscle mass.
As a result, these moves also provide a good amount of resistance for building bone strength. It’s really a win-win!
It’s important to note that gymnastics programs are not exactly identical to weight-bearing programs.
For example, pushups do build muscle, but they also put a lot of pressure on your hands and wrists.
That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do them—it just means that you should take care to avoid moves that hurt your joints or place unusual amounts of pressure on specific parts of your body.
The best way is to make sure you warm up properly first, healthy bones lead to a healthy body!
Develops Greater Coordination
In a 2013 study published in Computers and Biomedical Research, researchers found that participants who practiced gymnastic skills for 12 weeks exhibited superior levels of physical strength and balance compared to those who exercised using conventional strength-training exercises.
In addition, participants reported greater coordination after performing gymnastic movements.
Whether you’re just getting started or have been practicing for years, gymnastics is a natural way to improve your physical fitness—all while having fun!
Aids In Disease Prevention
According to a study in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, kids who do gymnastics have been shown to have higher bone mineral content and lower body fat than non-gymnasts, which reduces their risk for osteoporosis and obesity.
In fact, I’d argue that you can train with gymnastic movements without doing a sport at all!
Incorporate gymnastic movements into your workouts—they’re great for building strength and endurance—and see how healthy you feel.
Improves Coordination
It might seem hard to believe that a single sport could improve coordination, but consider that gymnasts spend hours and hours perfecting their physical movements.
By spending so much time working on improving their hand-eye and body control, gymnasts build reflexes and strength to improve their coordination and fine motor skills.
The result? They become better athletes across all sports!
Want proof? See what happens when you ask a former gymnast to toss a frisbee or play table tennis.
Gymnasts Are Incredibly Strong
For years, gymnasts have been known for their ability to perform acrobatic feats with ease and grace.
It’s no secret that these athletes are in great shape.
But what does gymnastic strength training do for us—and why should we try it?
On average, women who consistently train aerobically will gain 1 lb. per year; for men, that number jumps to an average of 2 lbs.
By working out regularly, you can increase your muscle mass without adding body fat.
Being strong is important at any age: Muscles burn more calories than fat even at rest.
If you weigh 200 pounds and add 20 pounds of lean muscle, it’ll be easier to maintain a healthy weight—no calorie counting required!
The upper body strength in professional gymnasts is actually insane and I’m not saying we need to go train like an Olympic gymnast, but adding some recreational gymnastics in your training routine will give you crazy strength gains.
A big reason why former UFC champion Georges St Pierre was following gymnastic routines for his strength and conditioning even at the height of his career.
Check out the video below where I review one of his home gymnastics products.
So How Do We Reap All These Benefits From One Sport?
Start with resistance moves like pull-ups and push-ups.
Because they use so many different muscles, those two exercises alone will give you more fitness bang for your buck than anything else.
When done correctly, they also help build upper-body endurance, which is crucial for increasing flexibility and stability during handstands or splits.
Once you’ve mastered those moves, start doing bodyweight squats and lunges every day.
They won’t strain your joints as much as traditional weightlifting would (meaning less risk of injury), but still, deliver big results by boosting power and stamina.
And don’t forget planks—they might just be our favorite movement ever.
You’re looking to spend about 10 minutes on each exercise (doing 4 sets of 8 reps) 3 times a week.
Every workout session should include 5 minutes of aerobic exercise like running, biking, or dancing to raise your heart rate and warm up your muscles before strength training.
Mental Health Benefits
According to research conducted by Ohio State University, gymnasts often display higher levels of mental health than those who do not engage in gymnastics.
The study found that high school and college-aged female gymnasts demonstrate fewer depressive symptoms, fewer suicidal thoughts, and greater resiliency than non-gymnasts.
This means that you could possibly improve your overall well-being just by adding a little gymnastics into your routine.
Sure, getting super ripped is nice—but maybe it’s not so important if we can maintain our mental health along with it?
Of course, you should consult with your doctor before trying anything new—you don’t want to start exercising and injure yourself!
Encourages Focus
It takes a lot of focus to successfully do gymnastic movements.
This exercise teaches your brain to stay focused even when you’re performing an activity that’s physically challenging.
You’ll end up with better focus and more mental stamina, both at work and in other areas of your life.
While most traditional weightlifting moves focus on one or two specific muscle groups, gymnastic moves require whole-body training.
They incorporate multiple muscle groups (legs, arms, back) into each movement.
Whole-body training is ideal for burning fat efficiently.
It increases calorie burn during your workout while also maintaining it after you leave the gym.
It Breeds Determination
If there’s one thing that people who take up gymnastics do, it’s become very determined.
Whether they’re training for a competition or just trying to master a particular move, dedication is often an attribute that defines success in gymnastics.
In addition to its physical benefits, regular participation in gymnastics can have a positive impact on mental resolve and character.
By encouraging discipline and perseverance, gymnastic lessons help kids improve their skills by fostering determination.
Those two traits don’t always come easy; determination takes effort to develop.
But if you want to learn how to persist through challenging times, look no further than your local gym!
With hard work and dedication, you could be able to stay focused no matter what curveballs life throws at you.
Builds Personal Discipline
Most people say they don’t have enough time to work out; but truthfully, it isn’t that we don’t have enough time, it’s that we can’t force ourselves to do things we hate.
Exercise is something many people put off due to a lack of discipline.
Do you find yourself being lazy?
Do you find your mind always wandering when trying to focus on exercises?
A good way to build your own discipline is through gymnastic movements. Regularly incorporating these moves into your fitness routine will increase strength and flexibility while improving mental focus and stability.
These are two key ingredients in building your own personal discipline.
Try incorporating some physical gymnastic challenges into your morning routine or after work before heading home for dinner.
Increased Self-Esteem
You might think that gymnasts are just good at rolling around on a balance beam, but they’re also some of the most confident people in sports.
A study from 2017 found that female collegiate athletes had higher self-esteem than both non-athletes and male collegiate athletes.
Perhaps that can be attributed to how hard it is to be successful in gymnastics.
There’s a reason so few people make it to the Olympics—which might give you a lot more confidence when facing down your own daily challenges!
Social Benefits
One major benefit of gymnastics is that it allows kids to make friends.
After all, who doesn’t want to be around other children who love flipping and tumbling just as much as they do?
Kids can enjoy a range of social benefits from gymnastics such as improved communication skills, improved listening skills, improved attention span, and improved self-confidence.
The more confident your child becomes, then their ability to succeed in life will improve.
Gymnastics Improves Politeness
You’ve heard about how gymnastics teaches kids to be more flexible and agile.
What you might not have known is that it also helps them learn discipline, respect, and courtesy.
It may seem a little odd at first glance, but think about it: a gymnast must follow specific directions from her coach in order to perfect her routine.
She must listen carefully because she needs to execute his commands without error or risk of getting hurt.
In short, gymnasts develop what could rightly be called good manners.
And these manners benefit both children and adults alike—learning to respond appropriately sets a good example for others as well as being respectful toward yourself.
This makes it possible for even adults who haven’t been part of a team since childhood to reap benefits from regular workouts at their local gym.
So if you want your kid to learn some manners, sign him up for tumbling classes today!
Gymnastics Intsills Compassion
There’s a phrase many people use when talking about sports:
It takes a village.
When it comes to gymnastics, that couldn’t be more true.
In order to live out their gymnastic dreams, Olympic athletes—in all disciplines—have a team of coaches and trainers who guide them from start to finish.
These mentors teach young athletes everything they need to know about their sport in order to get strong and compete at the top level.
Their job is not only key for training but also crucial for building character.
Because when you spend long hours on hard work, pushing your body beyond what might seem possible, you learn things like discipline and grace in failure; most importantly though, if your coach or trainer does his or her job well, you learn how important empathy is by watching how he or she treats others with compassion.
Conclusion
So there are our 16 reasons why gymnastics is a great way to be training and why you should think about getting your children involved at least at a recreational level.
I’ve been incorporating gymnastics movements into my training for the last couple of year and the strength gains I’ve achieved in such a short period of time is nothing short of amazing!
Another element of my training I encourage you to bring in for yourself is working out with resistance bands.
And to help set you on the right path I wrote my FREE EBook. Train wherever the f*ck you want.
It has everything you need to know about training with resistance bands So what are you waiting for?
Quit the gym for good and start training when and where you want!