The World of Gymnastics

In womens artistic gymnastics there are four apparatuses: gymnastics floor exercise, uneven bars, vault table, and balance beam.

Gymnastics floor exercise is one out of two events that are competed by both men and women. Out of all the events, floor exercise is favored by most. Floor takes a vast amount of strength, power, endurance, flexibility, grace, and gymnastics dance.

The floor exercise has springs underneath, for this reason many people refer to them as spring floors. The standard size for a spring floor is 12 meters by 12 meters. This size makes it a perfect square.

A spring floor is made out of tons of small springs that are covered by plywood, the plywood is covered by thick foam padding, and the foam padding is covered by carpet. The carpet has four taped lined along the outside, these are called the boundary lines. A gymnast must stay inside these lines when performing his/her routine. If a gymnast steps outside these lines they will receive a deduction.

Levels one through six all have the exact same choreographed gymnastics floor routine. Once a gymnast becomes a level seven they get to pick their very own floor music and have a gymnastics floor routine choreographed to fit her skills and style.

Floor Exercise is where the gymnasts get to express who they are as a gymnast. A gymnast expresses her character and ability through the tumbling, leaps, jumps, skill, turns, etc. she puts into her routine. Her personality also gets expressed though the music she chooses, and the type of gymnastics dance she selects and puts in her routine.

Have you listened to an endless amount of gymnastics floor music demos just trying to find the perfect piece for you floor exercise routine? Are you looking for the perfect song that will display your personality, tumbling, gymnastics dance, and character to its fullest potential? If you have listened to song after song and have not found one you can connect with emotionally and physically or have not found gymnastics floor music that will accentuate your routine and make it stand out from others, don’t give up hope! If you have a great idea for a one of a kind gymnastics floor routine, then you should have your gymnastics music customized. Customized floor music is choreographed and designed just for you and is intended to fit your floor routine perfectly!

Customized gymnastics floor routine music can consist of any type of music as long as there are no words or lyrics. Gymnastics floor music consists of all genres, such as: hip-hop, techno, folk, classical, rap, country, India rock, R and B, etc. that come from from around the world from great places like England, Europe, Germany, Italy, china, Greece, etc. You can also pick your favorite songs, have them strip of all their lyrics, and add extra instrumental parts making it into a remix. They can also cut and splice many different songs and combine them together to make one exclusive gymnastics floor routine music piece!

You don’t have to be an Olympic gymnast to get customized music for gymnastics. Customized gymnastics floor music is available to gymnasts of all ages and levels. All you need is a great idea to start with! One of the great things about customized music is you can have it designed just for your likes, needs, and wants. Plus you will be the only gymnast in the whole world to have this unique, one of a kind piece.

Choosing the right gymnastics floor music is a critical component for a great routine. For this reason, picking out gymnastics floor music is not something that should be done in a hurry or overnight. It should take a lot of thought and consideration. This is the music you will be practicing and performing to for quite awhile. It is essential that you as a gymnast personally enjoys and connects to the music you are going to perform to. The routine needs to stand out from all others; uniqueness and quality are key when it comes to picking gymnastics floor music.

When choosing gymnastics floor music, make sure you select something you really enjoy. You also want to make certain the music you choose displays your personality and talents. If you pick gymnastics music that is inspiring to you, you will have an emotional connection to it, giving you everything you need to get the judges and crowd involved.

Okay, so pick gymnastics music you like, not too hard, right? Well there is more; not only do you have to like it but you also have to be able to perform to it. What I mean by this is don’t pick a hip hop song if you can pop, lock, and drop it. Don’t pick a classical song if you aren’t graceful or don’t have elegant and fluid gymnastics dance with flawless leaps and turns. Make sure your gymnastics floor music matches your style of skills and gymnastics dance. If you are energetic and a powerful tumbler make sure your music accentuates that by having a good beat and fast tempo that sets the tone of your routine.

When people think of gymnastics floor they think about how unique, well choreographed, powerful and graceful the routine is. They definitely don’t think about music, but hey should. Gymnastics floor routine music plays an important and crucial part in having floor exercise success.

Gymnastics floor music is exclusive; it is made specifically with floor routines in mind. You cannot choose a random song you like and make up a routine to it; music for gymnastics floor has precise guidelines.

First, the music cannot contain any vocals whatsoever! If they do, you will receive a HUGE deduction. I don’t care how great the words in the song are, don’t use it, it isn’t worth dropping your floor exercise score. You also want to make sure the gymnastics floor music is1 minute and 30 seconds long (90 seconds from start to finish). Make sure the gymnastics floor routine music has a variety of rhythm and pace. It needs to contain parts that are fast action and piece that are slower for you can catch your breath. Your gymnastics music needs to include three segments of music that standout from the rest; this is where you should put your three tumbling passes. You need to have your first tumbling pass start 10-20 seconds after your gymnastics floor music starts. This will start your routine off with a bang and set the tone for the rest of it. You also want to put a tumbling pass in your floor routine at the end; this will be your grand finally! The other tumbling pass you can insert anywhere between the first and the last.

If your gymnastics floor routine music is set up using these guidelines your routine and gymnastics floor music should fit together flawlessly!

Gymnastics and dance are completely different sports, but a working knowledge and ability to perform each of thesedisciplines are a must to be a great gymnast and dancer. Every gymnastics floor and beam routine includes a vast amount of dance to connect gymnastics skills.

Serious and competitive gymnasts should take dance lessons along side with working out in the gym. Dance is an extremely important part of gymnastics. Gymnastics and dance go hand in hand, for this reason I refer to it as gymnastics dance. Gymnastics dance is crucial to a gymnasts’ success. In every beam and floor routine ever performed, gymnastics dance is weaved throughout the entire piece. You may be a gymnast, not a dancer, but you are going to get judged on the dance you put into your routines. The neatest thing about gymnastics dance is it makes your routine unique and helps it stand out from all other gymnastics routines. Through gymnastics dance you are able to express your personality as an individual and a gymnast. This has a huge weight in your overall score, so make sure you go all out and make every move count. Amazing leaps, high flexible jumps, and perfect turns are a necessity for a high scouring beam and floor routine. Gymnastics dance is used in-between tumbling passes and skills it is the fluidity that ties each part of your routine together making it whole.

Dance lessons will help you master these skills. I cannot express enough how beneficial dance is for gymnastics floor and beam success. It teaches great form, technique, grace, flexibility, fluidity, balance, and posture. Make sure your beam and floor gymnastics routines are choreographed specifically for you and no one else. By incorporating dance, skills, and tumbling passes that show your strengths.

Once gymnasts start to hit the pre-teen years they may start feeling uncomfortable in a gymnastics leotard. When gymnasts hit this stage, many parents buy their gymnasts gymnastics shorts. Is this helpful or harmful for your gymnast in the long run?

Gymnastics shorts are just like bike shorts (AKA mini bike shorts) but much shorter and usually much cuter; they usually come in a verity of colors. They also come in two types of material: lyrca and velvet. Gymnastics shorts are even decorative; they sometimes have rhinestones down the side or across the booty. These mini bike shorts may be cute and comfy BUT there are both positive and negative effects when it comes to wearing them.

First, I will start with the positives. Many girls who wear shorts feel like they need them; wearing them can give them more confidence and make them feel more comfortable with their body. The shorts keep the gymnastics leo in place which helps prevent wedgie picking.

Now for the negatives, shorts are NOT technically part of the gymnastics attire. When working out, the gymnastics shorts tend to twist from side to side. This causes the gymnast to have to stop what they are doing and fix them every time they twist (which is A LOT). Many gymnasts tend to hide behind their shorts. They can’t do gymnastics without them (so they believe). They rely on their mini bike shorts way too much and get very uncomfortable if they are made to take them off. But worst of all, once they are off the wedgie picking doesn’t stop. Without shorts their gymnastics leotards “ride up” even more. For this reason you may think shorts are great because they stop this problem but this IS NOT THE CASE! At gymnastics meets or gymnastics competitions your gymnast CANNOT wear shorts. Since they are NOT use to this, they may forget and pick their wedgies in their routines which will cause them to get a 0.05 deduction for each and every time they do it. This can add up and cost them their placement for an award!

I do not believe gymnastics shorts benefit a gymnast in any way. When my gymnasts ask me about wearing shorts I ask in return, “do you wear shorts over your swim suit when you go swimming”? Of course the answer is always “NO!” Then I tell them, “There is no reason to wear them here either.”

Keep in mind, you should practice the way you compete; this means No gymnastics shorts; at least not for those that participate in gymnastics competitions or gymnastics meets. They can be more harmful then helpful! If you have a correct fitting gymnastics leotard you shouldn’t have problems with picking wedgies anyway.