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Hello, my name is Heidi Wulff Plumb Graham and I'm a physical therapist and clinic director
for ATI Physical Therapy in Norridge. Today I'm going to be sharing with you four stretches
that are important for every gymnast. As a gymnast, you need to have a strong yet flexible
body in order to safely perform gymnastic moves. Stretching helps prepare your body
for this, and decreases your risk for injury.
The first stretch I'm going to show you is for your hamstrings and your low back. Your
hamstrings run down the back of your leg, they start at your hip and run down towards
your knee. These muscles are important to be flexible to allow you to do your jumps,
leaps and tumbling moves safely. In order to do this stretch, you're going to sit with
your legs stretched out like this, keeping your back and your knees straight you're going
to reach out towards your toes. If you're able to reach your toes, great, if it's painful,
back off.
The next stretch I'm going to show you is to focus on the muscles on the side of your
body, here. Specifically your quadratus lumborum and your latissimus dorsi. From this position,
you're going to want your feet out from the side, until you feel a gentle stretch in the
front of your legs here. You're going to reach up towards the ceiling with your left hand,
and reach towards your right foot. If you can reach your foot, great, you should feel
a stretch from this side, as well in the front of your leg here. With any stretch, you can
hold it for thirty seconds. When you're done, return to the center and simply repeat
to the other side.
Gymnasts put a lot of stress through their wrists during their exercises, so we want
to make sure those are nice and flexible. In order to stretch out your wrists, you're
going to extend your arm straight out. You're going to take your other hand, pull your other
fingers down towards the ground. At this point, you should feel a stretch in here. Remember
you want to hold this for thirty seconds. After thirty seconds, you're just going to
flip your hand around, with your palm up, take your fingers, pull them down to the ground
again. You will now feel a stretch in this area. You would want to do two to three times
on each arm.
Performing these simple stretches, before and after each gymnastics practice and competition,
will help improve your muscles flexibility and decrease your risk of injury, allowing
you to continue to participate in gymnastics. If you do happen to get injured, please stop
by one of our ATI clinics for a complimentary injury screening.