Standing Stretches for Gymnastics Warm Ups

Video Transcript

"Hi! I’m Heather McCanna from expertvillage.com and in this clip I’ll be discussing gymnastics warm-ups, specifically standing stretches. As soon as you’ve concluded your cardio warm-up, you should go straight into some stretches that involve your body while you’re still standing, as we’ll be continuing to move onto the ground to finish the rest of our stretches. First, you should make your hands into fist and do a torso stretch. Try not to do this too quickly, as it could cause muscle tears, which would not be a good idea if you’re trying to do any kind of gymnastics. Now, you’re going to continue this trying to move your upper body as close to sideways as possible with each motion. This is going to stretch your obliques and your lateral muscles. Now, after you’ve done about 10 to each side, you’re going to bend forward and do the same movement leaning over. This will continue to stretch your side muscles, while also stretching your lower and upper back. After you’ve done about 10 of those leaning over, you’re going to put 1 hand on your hip and reach the other hand over and across to your right or left side, whichever side has the arm on your hip. You can bounce a little bit, just to continue stretching and hold it for about 10-20 seconds. When you’ve done that, repeat it on the other side, bouncing and then holding for 10-20 seconds again. After you’ve finished this, you should also try and put your feet together and lean over as far as possible getting the greatest range of motion you can. If your hands can touch the floor, you should try and put them flat or even behind your body, holding the greatest range of motion position that you can achieve for about 20-30 seconds, squatting down to rest and then going back up one more time. "