While sports such as football and rugby can easily be practiced at home in the garden with just a ball, becoming proficient at gymnastics can be slightly more difficult. Mastering the art of gymnastics can be demanding and as such requires hours and hours of practice. The sport of gymnastics requires participants to be able to perform routines on many specific pieces of apparatus. This makes to have gymnasts train anywhere other than at the gym or their club unless they have the correct equipment.

However, the nature of gymnastics apparatus means that unless you have a large house or garage it’s difficult to fit some parallel bars or a balance beam into your home. So, are there any pieces of gymnastics equipment that have been designed specifically for home use? In this article, we thought we’d have a look at a few of the options available to the budding Olympians out there. 

Floor Balance Beam 

The beam is an exercise that can be quite scary, especially for beginners, I mean balancing several feet above the ground on a narrow piece of wood is not easy even for accomplished gymnasts never mind someone new to the sport. A floor balance beam is the perfect piece of equipment to help athletes start to feel comfortable and learn to perform basic turns along with more complicated routines such as splits, cartwheels and walkovers in complete safety. Because of their make-up floor beams can be easily folded up and stored away at home then just brought out when needed, and used anywhere there is a bit of space. 

Incline Cheese Wedge Mats

 Incline cheese wedge mats come in several different sizes and are useful for practising a range of activities such as forward rolls, dive rolls, back rolls, back extension rolls, and handstand forward rolls safely. Perfect for young children who are just starting on their gymnastic journey, as it helps build confidence while providing hours of fun. As the young gymnast becomes more skilled the incline mat is perfect for working on more complicated moves such as back handsprings, bridges, walkovers and vaulting practice. Incline wedge mats take up very little space and as such is perfect for home practice to help gymnasts train. 

Cartwheel Mat 

The cartwheel is a move that you will see gymnasts perform time and time again usually as part of their floor routine. But how do you get good at it without hurting yourself? It is also a skill that requires hours of repetitive training so it would be useful to have a piece of equipment that not only helps hone their skills but is fun to use. A cartwheel mat is marked to show young gymnasts exactly where they should be putting their hands and feet, which removes any guesswork when they are learning the basic skills. 

Handstand Mats 

The ability to perform a handstand is a vital part of many gymnastic routines such as uneven bars, the beam, and any floor routine. However, it is not the easiest skill to master and can be quite intimidating when you first start. I mean it is slightly unnatural to balance on your hands turning yourself upside down. Something like a tumble track handstand mat is the perfect tool when it comes to helping you master this important skill. This type of mat helps provide support for the hands and wrists and can hook onto a door. This has the bonus of protecting your walls which often take the brunt of the practice if you don’t have a mat. 

So as you can see there are lots of practice tools on the market that can help young gymnasts train and master their art in complete safety, without costing you a fortune or taking up valuable space in your home.