4 Common Mobility Issues Gymnasts Should Address

There are certain areas that gymnasts can develop tightness and stiffness in, due to the nature of the sport, how we train, and other factors related to our daily movements. I know as soon as some people hear “gymnast” they assume the athlete has rubber band like mobility all over. Even though there are a lot of gymnasts who are pretty mobile, there are plenty of gymnasts who develop certain areas that tend to wind up.  These same concepts also create excessive strain on other areas of the body that have to pick up the slack, often times becoming an area that breaks down and can become and injury. The lower back may be making up for tightness in the front of the hip during bridging skills, the shoulder may be making up for restricted extending movement in the middle spine during handstand work, and so on. Overtime if these areas are not addressed they can create large imbalances and compensations to occur, which can really throw off a gymnast’s mechanics.

 

Building An Inexpensive Gymnastics Preventative Rehabilitation Toolbox For Your Gym

Over the last few months, I have highlighted a lot of ways that coaches and gymnasts can incorporate preventative rehabilitation (pre-hab) techniques into their every day gymnastics life. I always strive to take exercises, techniques, or set ups that gymnasts can use directly in the gym using equipment around them. I think this is the key to really integrating concepts for preventing injury and keeping gymnasts/coaches safe. Everything has to be functionally useful, have carry over to gymnastics, and easily be added to practices each day. With that being said, there are a lot of pieces of equipment not commonly seen in a gym that pop up in my blog posts for myofascial release techniques, spcific pre-hab drills, mobilization, corrective exercises, and so on. I figured for this week I would walk through this equipment piece by piece and talk about how to get them in your gym without breaking the bank. Just as any other gym, we work on a budget and try to make sure that the pieces of equipment get for our pre-hab program are simple, inexpensive, and effective. Each gym is different and has different needs, but I really believe that finding a way to get these types of tools into a gymnasts daily routines can make a huge impact on their skill performance and safety relating to possible injury prevention. Here is a list of the items we use daily, an example of their use, and how you can get your hands on them for cheap.

Some Pre-Hab Equipment