25 gymnastics goals for the floor, bars, beam and your season

Gymnastics goals for beginners

Beginner goals are the basic shapes everything else is built from.

• Go to class once a week for a full term.
• Do a forward roll and stand up without using your hands.
• Do a cartwheel on both sides.
• Hold a handstand against a wall for 20 seconds.
• Hold a bridge for 10 seconds.

Floor and tumbling goals

Floor goals follow a clear order, and each skill is the first step of the next one.

• Hold a free handstand for 10 seconds.
• Do a round-off with a rebound.
• Do a back walkover.
• Do a back handspring without a spot.
• Link a round-off and a back handspring.

Bars, beam and vault goals

Apparatus goals are mostly about repeating a skill until it is boring, because that is when it is safe.

• Do a pullover on the low bar.
• Do a kip.
• Walk the beam forward, backward and sideways without a fall.
• Do a full turn on the beam.
• Stick 5 vault landings in a row.

Strength and flexibility goals

Strength goals are trained beside the apparatus, and most of them are shared with calisthenics goals. The rope and the bars need grip, which climbing goals train as well.

• Do 5 pull-ups in a row.
• Do 10 hanging leg lifts with straight legs.
• Hold a hollow body position for 60 seconds.
• Do the splits on both legs.
• Climb the rope to the top.

Season and practice goals

Season goals count practices and clean routines, which are yours to control whatever the judges say.

• Do a full routine 5 times in a row in practice without a fall.
• Learn one new skill a month for 6 months.
• Raise your score on one event by 0.5 this season.
• Compete in every meet of the season.
• Practise handstands 10 minutes a day at home for 30 days.

What is a good gymnastics goal?

A good gymnastics goal is one skill with a clear test. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals lead to higher performance than being told to do your best. "Get my kip" is close. "Do 3 kips in a row by the first meet" is a goal.

Scores are worth wanting, but they make weak goals on their own. A review of 27 studies of goal setting in sport found that process goals, the ones about how you carry out a skill, had the largest effect on performance, ahead of goals about scores and far ahead of goals about placing. "Tight legs on every cast" is a process goal.

Every big skill is a ladder of small ones. A back handspring starts as a bridge, then a back walkover, then a spotted handspring. Breaking a goal into smaller ones is how the sport is already taught, so use the same steps on your goal sheet.

How to track gymnastics goals

Tick off every practice, and write down what you worked on. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that recording it beat keeping it in your head.

Practices are a day count. Repetitions are an amount: 100 handstands in a month adds up one attempt at a time. Many fitness challenge ideas work the same way and suit the strength side of the sport.

A skill can take a whole season to arrive. A picture that fills up one practice at a time shows the season was not empty.

Frequently asked questions

What are examples of gymnastics goals?

Hold a free handstand for 10 seconds. Do a back handspring without a spot. Do 3 kips in a row. Stick 5 vault landings in a row. Do a full routine 5 times in practice without a fall.

What should go on a gymnastics goal sheet?

Three goals for the season: one skill to learn, one skill to clean up, and one count of practices. Add the small steps under each skill, so there is something to tick off before the big one arrives.

Can adults set gymnastics goals?

Yes. The beginner list is the same at any age: a forward roll, a cartwheel, a wall handstand, a bridge. Take them in order, and add strength goals beside them.