Stretchable Hotties *2*

Conditioning is one of the most important (and sometimes least fun) aspects of gymnastics. Being strong and flexible makes gymnastics easy right? Wrong, it does make gymnastics significantly easier and safer to learn but gymnastics can ever be referred to as "easy". Generally if gymnasts are enjoying what they are doing they will work harder, perform better, and improve faster. The best way to keep conditioning and stretching fun is to keep it varied. Variety in a conditioning program not only makes it more interesting but also makes it significantly more effective. What follows is a list of exercises and conditioning sets that can be used to develop strength for gymnastics, other sports, or just for general fitness. I have left out numbers of reps and sets because those numbers will be determined by the individuals fitness and strength level. A good basis is you should be able to do 2-3 sets of the same number of reps. Ex: if at the end of 3 sets of 10 leg lifts the last few are done with great difficulty or with assistance, then 10 reps is a good number. More or less reps can be done, or weights can be used to change the difficulty. Be sure to lower through the motion slowly, as the negative is more effective for building strength than the positive motion. Most of the exercises contained here are for general gymnastics conditioning.

Many terms are used in gymnastics that can be confusing to those not involved in the sport, or who have only been involved in the sport for a short time or even those involved in the sport from a different region. The following is a clarification on the meaning of these terms on this site. If you find a term on the site that you'd like clarification on please use the form at the bottom of this page and it will be added to the list shortly. Please do not ask for clarifications on skill names. The scope of this list is to clarify global terms, body positions, jargon, etc.

In a tuck a gymnast is bend at the hips and the knees. Sit on the floor with your legs in front of you. Bend your knees so that your knees are touching your chest and your feet are "tucked" in close to your body. A variation on the tuck is called a "cowboy" tuck in which the gymnast pulls their knees out to the side somewhat in order to compress the tuck further. This enables faster rotation.

CrossFit is the principal strength and conditioning program for many police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists, and hundreds of other elite and professional athletes worldwide.

Our program delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. Our specialty is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. We've used our same routines for elderly individuals with heart disease and cage fighters one month out from televised bouts. We scale load and intensity; we don't change programs.

The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Our terrorist hunters, skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.

Thousands of athletes worldwide have followed our workouts posted daily on this site and distinguished themselves in combat, the streets, the ring, stadiums, gyms and homes.

We also publish the CrossFit Journal designed to support the CrossFit community detailing the theory, techniques, and practice used by our coaches in our gym, in essence bringing your garage or gym into ours, making you a part of the CrossFit family.

Stretchable Hotties

The main key to gaining flexibility is dedication and consistency. No matter what method you use, if you do not stretch regularly, you will not gain flexibility.

Competition set parallel bars are 195 cm high and 350 cm long. Width can be adjusted to the preference of the gymnast. Typically close to the length from the elboe to the tip of the fingers. A routine will be constructed of primarily swing and flight elements, with strength elements commonly included. A routine must include a swing element above the bars, a swing element below the bars and a skill that involves releasing and regrasping both bars.

The high bar stands 275 cm tall, 240 cm long and 2.8 cm in diameter. A high bar routine must include a release move in which both hands release and regrasp the bar, a swing element in el-grip or german giant position and an "in-bar" skill (like a stalder circle). The key to high bar is a tight body and good timing.

The higher of the uneven bars is set around 228 cm, and the low bar is set around 148 cm. The distance between the bars can be up to 150 cm.

Floor involves a 40 foot by 40 foot spring floor. It is typically constructed of wood or composite mounted on springs. Covered with closed cell foam, which is in turn covered by carpet.

A men's floor routine consists of tumbling and connective elements. It must contain both forward and backwards tumbling elements as well as a single leg or arm balance (scale).

A women's floor routine is performed to music and consists of gymnastic, acrobatic and dance elements. The routine is between 70 and 90 seconds in length.
Note: The floor skills and drills page is based on the mens code values. The techniques are applicable to womens gymnastics just the code values may be different.

Vault generally has more to do with the run and takeoff then the flipping after contact with the horse. A gymnast must run fast, and explode off the board to generate as much height and rotation as possible.