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Learn the Language of Gymnastics
Gymnastics has a unique vocabulary filled with specialized terms used in training, competition, and coaching. Whether you’re a beginner, a parent, or an advanced athlete, understanding these terms is essential for improving skills and following routines.
Below is a comprehensive glossary of key gymnastics terms and their definitions.
Artistic Gymnastics: The most common form of competitive gymnastics featuring events like floor, vault, bars, and beam.
Dismount: The final movement a gymnast performs to finish a routine, usually ending in a landing.
Execution: The quality of how well a gymnast performs a skill, considering form, technique, and precision.
Form: A gymnast’s body position during movements, which judges score for precision and alignment.
Spotting: A coach or trainer physically assisting a gymnast to ensure safety during skill development.
Sticking the Landing: Completing a skill with a controlled and balanced landing, with no extra steps.
Routine: A choreographed sequence of gymnastics skills performed in competition.
Fundamental Floor Exercise Movements
Back Handspring: A tumbling skill where the gymnast jumps backward onto their hands and pushes off into a standing position.
Cartwheel: A sideways rotation of the body over the hands, landing on one foot at a time.
Round-Off: Similar to a cartwheel but ending with both feet landing together, often used to gain power for tumbling passes.
Front Tuck: A front somersault in a tucked body position.
Aerial: A no-hand cartwheel or front flip, performed mid-air.
Layout: A fully extended flip with a straight body position.
Twisting: A flip with an added rotation around the gymnast's vertical axis.
Vault Table: The apparatus used for vaulting events.
Yurchenko: A round-off entry onto the springboard followed by a back handspring onto the vault.
Tsukahara: A vault entry involving a half-turn before flipping backward.
Amanar: A highly advanced vault consisting of a Yurchenko entry with 2.5 twisting rotations in the air.
Front Handspring Vault: A vault where the gymnast executes a handspring over the table with a direct landing.
Beam Skills & Techniques
Split Leap: A jump performed on the beam where legs extend into a split position mid-air.
Back Walkover: A controlled backbend where the gymnast steps over one leg at a time.
Aerial Walkover: A back or front walkover performed without hands touching the beam.
Dismount: The final move in a beam routine, typically a flip or twist to land on the mat.
Connection Value: Extra points awarded for connecting multiple difficult skills together.
Giant Swing: A full rotation around the bar in a stretched position.
Kip: A transition move that brings a gymnast from a hanging position to a support position on the bar.
Cast Handstand: A strength move where the gymnast pushes into a handstand from a support position.
Release Move: Letting go of the bar to transition into another skill before catching it again.
Pak Salto: A backward release move from the high bar to the low bar.
How Gymnastics Scores Are Calculated
Start Value: The maximum possible score for a routine based on difficulty.
Execution Score: Points awarded based on technique, form, and control.
Difficulty Score: Points awarded for the complexity and risk level of skills performed.
Deduction: A penalty subtracted from the final score due to mistakes such as wobbles, falls, or poor form.
Artistry: The overall presentation, including rhythm, expression, and originality.
Skills like the Triple Double, Biles Vault, and Amanar are among the hardest due to complexity and difficulty.
A backflip is typically tucked or piked, while a layout is a fully extended flip.
Judges calculate a Difficulty Score (D-Score) and Execution Score (E-Score), subtracting deductions to determine the final score.
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Flipping Expectations. Inspiring Confidence. Redefining Futures.™
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469-242-1752
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Basic Terminology Every Gymnast Should Know
Fundamental Floor Exercise Movements
Mastering the Vault
Beam Skills & Techniques
Swing, Release, and Catch
How Gymnastics Scores Are Calculated
Your Gymnastics Glossary Questions Answered
Skills like the Triple Double, Biles Vault, and Amanar are among the hardest due to complexity and difficulty.
A backflip is typically tucked or piked, while a layout is a fully extended flip.
Judges calculate a Difficulty Score (D-Score) and Execution Score (E-Score), subtracting deductions to determine the final score.
135 S Main St, Irving, TX 75060
469-242-1752
Programs | Testimonials | StrongGirls.com
Flipping Expectations. Inspiring Confidence. Redefining Futures.™
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