Why we all should be gymnast.
This past weekend I attended a two day gymnastics course.
I attended for two reasons, to make me a better athlete and a better coach.
Most people think of gymnastics as the fancy stuff in the Olympics. Flying from bar to bar or doing an iron cross on the rings. But did you know gymnastics also includes things like squats and push ups?
I didn’t realize how important gymnastics is for our development as just everyday humans. How we get off the couch (squats) or how we pick ourselves up off the ground (push ups) is a basic skill everyone should have.
On gymnastics sits in the middle of the theoretical hierarchy of development pyramid. Nutrition is the base, you can’t outwork a bad diet. Then metabolic conditioning followed by gymnastics. Weightlifting and sport sits at the top, the smallest section of the pyramid.
Why is gymnastics more important for development? Because we need to learn to walk before we run. We need to squat with our body weight before adding 300 pounds on a bar.
Gymnastics develops our coordination, accuracy, agility, and balance, the four neurological skills from our list of 10 general physical skills. Neurological skills can only be developed through practice.
So practice body weight movements. Learning how to squat, push up, sit up, and pull up with proper form can save you from a lifetime of injuries.