Why Introducing Your Kids to Gymnastics Is A Fantastic Idea

It is becoming increasingly difficult for parents to limit their children’s usage of hand-held gadgets. As a result, children have become less physically active and often suffer from mental and developmental issues. Figuring out the best sport or exercise routine for your child and ensuring that they pursue it can help them become stronger, more active, and confident. Gymnastics has several benefits for children, including keeping them fit and productively occupied.

A popular after-school activity, gymnastics is a comprehensive exercise regime that can improve the physical and mental wellbeing of children. It is often taught from a young age and is the basis for all sports and physical activities. Gymnastics is based on a holistic approach to development. It helps instill and improve a wide range of skills in children, including flexibility, physical and mental strength, balance, speed, coordination, and determination, among others.

Even though gymnastics offers unparalleled advantages to children, many parents still hesitate to get their children to learn gymnastics. But, if you’re one of them, here are some of its benefits that may make you reconsider:

Development of Strength and Flexibility

It’s no secret that gymnastics helps develop better physical strength and flexibility than many mainstream sports. Gymnastic exercises help develop upper body strength, lower body strength and core strength and improve flexibility in a way that limits injuries.

Development of Cognitive Skills and Better Concentration

One of the biggest benefits of gymnastics is that it helps develop both physical and mental abilities. Because they require a high level of discipline and concentration, gymnastic routines are great for developing spatial awareness and cognitive skills in children.

Improved Mood and Emotional Stability

Like other forms of exercise and sports, gymnastics helps to improve the mental wellbeing of children and adults. Since most gymnastic routines require extensive physical and mental work, they help release endorphins, otherwise known as “happy” hormones, which help stabilise the mood and stimulate happiness and positivity in children.

Improved Confidence

Gymnastics is all about achieving small goals and improving oneself day by day. As your child starts improving with each routine, they become more confident in their strength and ability to do better each time. Every achievement brings them closer to becoming the best versions of themselves.

There are three main types of children’s gymnastics:

Artistic gymnastics – The most common type, this where gymnasts perform short routines on different apparatus such as parallel bars, balance beam, floor or vault.

Rhythmic gymnastics – In this type, one or more performers combine dance routine and use apparatus such as rope or ribbon and is judged competitively on coordination and aesthetics.

Trampoline gymnastics – This is more of an aerodynamic sport where the trampolinist performs complicated twists, turns, tucks and somersaults while jumping.

Kids and Gymnastics

All kids love learning how to do cartwheels and doing headstands, even toddlers love physical play and there are plenty of classes around that start lessons for three years and up. For young kids, emphasis in these beginner classes is based on fun with lots of forward and backward rolling, headstands using kids sized apparatus and generally based around games and music.

During lessons, kids learn how to warm-up properly and also begin to understand key elements of the sport including flexibility, balance and control and body awareness.

As children progress in age and ability classes then vary. Once the basics are learned, kids can begin to develop technique practicing on the various apparatus used such as the balance beams or vault. Typically, as kids progress classes are divided into male and female as different mode of apparatus is used. For boys, horizontal bars, rings and horse are performed on and girls focus on floor exercises, balance beams and vault. However with both genders the emphasis is on a full aerobic workout.

Parkour or freerunning, which uses elements of gymnastics to run over ground in the most efficient way, has also become extremely popular amongst teens in recent years and gymnastic schools are also offering classes to teens interested in this developing sport.

Gymnastics is a challenging and competitive sport where kids can learn how to achieve goals and overcome fears; it builds determination and self discipline.