Quick Tip: Even more leg tightening

Hi All,

Today I wanted to do a quick tip on even more things you can do for leg straightening and tightening. This type of drilling can often seem mundane or boring, but it is OH SO NECESSARY. The more ways we have to do this stuff, the more ways we can mix it up for our gymnasts, but however we choose to do it, it simply MUST be done.

This first exercise is one that I always, always, always put in my warm-ups. It is in my non-negotiable category. Here is what I want. I want the gymnast sitting up straight and tall, sometimes I let them have their arms down, sometimes I want them up. And I want them pointing their toes and straightening their legs as much as they can. I want them pushing the backs of their knees against the ground to the point that their heels come off the floor (some of them won’t be able to do this at first). This does a number of things. It emphasizes the difference between “straight” and STRAIGHT. It also helps with the muscle fatigue. Legs get tired if they haven’t been conditioned to maintain straightness and this helps build it up.

This second one is a quick exercise that I’ll throw in just about anywhere. I do this one less often but generally still about once a week. I’ll either throw it in on beam as a side station, or after oversplits when the panel mats are still out.

Train hard!