3 different ways to teach gymnasts giants

Hi All,

So I’ve talked about giants a lot on this blog. It’s definitely one of the skills I have the strongest feelings about. But today I thought I would share a wider range of views on giants. I have my preferred method, but I think it’s worth looking at many different ones.

The 3/4 Giant: This is my personal preferred method. I think overall it creates good shapes, is a good progression, and leads to kids being able to pirouette well out of their giants.

Low Bar Bent Kneed Giant: A lot of coaches prefer starting with a bent knee low bar giant. This can be for any number of reasons from building confidence on a lower rail, to the fact that bending the knees shortens the gymnasts axis.

Giant from Horizontal: Some coaches seem to really like giants from horizontal and some seem to hate them. A lot of coaches use them because they feel it helps teach their gymnast how to tap efficiently, personally I agree with this view, but I think I would use this as a later progression.

Train hard!

Photo Credit: Alyssa Baumann’s Website