How to do a Bridge Stretch for Gymnastics

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Mandy Butler on behalf of Expert Village. I'm going to take you through a gymnastics class stretch and warm-up. Now we're going to do bridges. Bridges are very essential to stretching your back and your shoulders. Without a good bridge you're not going to be able to do a back handspring because that's essentially jumping into a bridge from a standing position. So, start by lying down on your back having your knees tucked and facing the ceiling. These are bridge feet I tell my athletes so they remember. I'm going to bend my elbows and put my hands behind me. I call this pizza hands because it makes my athletes understand that they're holding something. Their hands and their palms have to be flat and I tell them to squash their pizza against the floor. Once I have my proper body position for a bridge, I'm going to push my head off the floor. It's very important that you don't let your athletes keep their heads on the floor because this puts a lot of stress on their necks and could cause injuries. I'm going to push my stomach and my hips and my head up toward the ceiling into a bridge position. And that's a bridge."