There is no excuse

Hi All,

Alright, today I’m going to talk a little about side stations. My general philosophy (if I’ve got the gym set-up the way I like it), is that there is NO REASON you should not be working. This includes, all events. This means that gymnasts should always HAVE something to do on an event, ie. rehab/pre-hab, side stations, drills etc. and that they should KNOW what they are supposed to be doing there and what the expectation is. I think a lot of coaches get stuck in the “we don’t have enough beams” or “we just don’t have enough equipment thing” which, while TOTALLY legitimate sometimes, there are ways around it, and it shouldn’t be an excuse for your kids not to be working. The following drills are just a couple side stations you can add to your work-out to keep your kids productive and working.

This first one is GREAT for leaps. Mind you, it’s hard for kids to do correctly at first. I would start it on the floor. Make sure the leg is staying at horizontal and do it on both legs. But it’s a FANTASTIC side station, or even to add to your complex (they can be done on the beam).

This second one is another really good one. It obviously doesn’t have to be a ring. You can start with switch leaps (even into the pit for your first timers), and then move to the more advanced stuff. Great side station though. Idea: have your gymnast do a tumbling pass, then do this across the edge of the floor, then go to the next corner and do their next pass. Now you’ve decreased the wait time between passes, and your gymnasts are also working dance.

Train hard!