Top 10 Health Benefits Of Gymnastics For Teenagers

A lack of physical activity can make your teen obese and lethargic. Don’t you want your teen to be healthy, active and agile? Well, chances are, you do! Most of us want our kids to be all of that.

So, if your teen is keen on gymnastics, and you are looking for some information on teen gymnastics before you let your teen pursue her interest, or you are worried about teen gymnastics injuries, consider reading the post below. Because, here we look at gymnastics and how it can help teenagers.

What Is Gymnastics?

Gymnastics is a sport that helps to enhance your teen’s flexibility. The stretching postures help promote your teen’s body and mind development. Gymnastics teaches your teen to twist her body and toughens the bones, and makes the muscles flexible. A typical gymnastics training session involves practicing body stretches, moves and learning the perfect co-ordination skills (1).

Teen Gymnastics-Health Benefits:

Some health benefits of gymnastics that can make your teen tougher, stronger and more confident, include:

1. Boosts Self-Esteem:

• Researchers conclude that teenagers participating in gymnastics or other recreational activities have increased self-esteem and self-efficacy.

• Your gymnast teen learns to be more diligent and follows the instructions accurately as stated by the trainer.

2. Disease Prevention:

• When your teen participates in gymnastics, she remains protected from infectious diseases and several other health ailments.

• Your teen can easily resist some of the common ailments like obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.

• Gymnastics improves condition of your teen’s heart, lungs, muscles, and bones.

3. Healthy Lifestyle Choices:

• Gymnasts have to lead a busy lifestyle, which reduces the likelihood of your teen becoming involved in drug abuse, smoking, or offensive crimes.

• Your teen learns to make a healthy and positive lifestyle choice, which enhances her career aspects in future.

4. Flexibility:

• Gymnastics makes your teen’s body muscles and bones more flexible so that she can easily flip, jump and maneuver her body parts.

• This flexibility allows your teen to overcome accidental injuries like muscle strain or tears.

5. Strong And Healthy Bones:

• Participating in gymnastics helps your teen attain strong and healthy bones.

• Researchers conclude that some of the weight bearing exercises including gymnastics promotes bone density in teenagers.

• Stronger bones help your teen to overcome the risk of developing osteoporosis in her future.

6. Increased Cognitive Functioning:

• Gymnastics not only promotes healthy physical attributes in your teen but also improves her concentration and mental focus.

• Your teen develops excellent problem-solving skills. The physical activity stimulates her imaginations to fights against the evil situation in life.

7. Enhanced Coordination:

• Gymnastics enables your teen to develop better coordination skill and body awareness.

• Your teen learns the ability to keep her body in proper alignment while jumping, standing or walking.

• It prepares your teen to face complex or sudden imbalances in her life enthusiastically.

8. Discipline:

• Gymnastics makes your teen more disciplined and obedient.

• Your teen must possess the self-discipline to stay focused on her daily regime while the trainer instructs the other students.

9. Learn Social Skills:

• Your teen learns the positive social skills like the way of standing in a line, talking to other politely and listening to others.

• Gymnastics teaches your teen to work independently and the proper way to respect others.

10. Improves Muscle Strength:

• As your gymnast teen performs the tumbling, jumping, and static flexing, she tends to develop stronger muscle strength.

• The enhanced muscle strength helps in toning the muscles, posture improvement and improves body balance (2)

[ Read: Pilates For Teens ]

Teen Gymnastics – Common Injuries:

Some of the common injuries that your teen can experience while participating in gymnastics are:

1. Skin Tears:

• The most frequent injury that occurs, when your teen resumes the workout session after a long gap.

• Due to the sudden friction developing between the skin and the apparatus, the skin appears to tear.

• Your teen should keep the skin tear clean and well-lubricates to avoid severe discomforts and pain.

2. Shoulder Injury:

• One of the common shoulder injuries to occur in gymnastics is the supraspinatus strain.

• The still rings can impose high-stress on your teen’s shoulder muscles, and she thereby develops the strain.

3. Wrist Sprains:

• Your teen’s wrist gets subjected to forces that can even exceed twice her body weight.

• The excess strain on the wrist can lead to tendonitis, sprains, and tears.

4. Sprained Ankles:

• Your teen experiences ankle strain mostly during floor routines or sudden falls from the parallel bar or the balance beam.

• When your teen’s ankle rolls outward, the ligament outside the ankle gets stretched and causes the ankle sprain.

5. Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Injury:

• The injury occurs when your teen lands short or over-rotates the fall while dismounting or tumbling.

• The ligament supports the knee and provides stability to the entire body. The ligament gets ruptured when twisted suddenly under high forces.

[ Read: Physical Activities For Teens ]

Avoiding Teen Gymnastics’ Injury:

Here are some of the helpful tips that may help your teen to avoid injuries during her gymnastic session:

1. Proper Preparation:

• Your teen must ensure that she is in a good physical condition before starting the gymnastic session.

• During the off-season, you teen should stick to a healthy fitness program that can comprise strength training, aerobic exercise, and flexibility,

• It is important for your teen to rebuild her strength and endurance level before attempting any complex gymnastics moves.

• Your teen needs to practice stretching exercises, before and after the gymnastic session that reduces the risk of injury.

2. Dress Appropriately:

• Your teen needs to wear the safety gears like handgrips, wrist guards, knee or elbow pads, and braces before getting indulged into the session.

3. Ensure Equipment Safety:

• Your teen should check the equipment, to make sure that the health center maintains them properly.

• The equipment should be placed far apart from each other so that none of the gymnast teens collide with each other while performing the stunts.

4. Focus On Technique:

• Before the teen attempts any new move, it is better to consult the coach. The coach must instruct proper safety guidelines so that your teen can perform the stunt safely.

• Your need should wear the safety harnesses while learning any new, complex skills (3).

[ Read: Workout Routines For Teens ]

Teen Gymnastics- A Word Of Caution:

Today’s gymnastic stunts require excellent instruction following skill and a high degree of acrobatics strength and balance. It is necessary for your teen to follow the basic safety precautions:

• Your teen should acquire the gymnastic training from a licensed and qualified trainer, who has specialized in acrobatics safety training.

• Your teen should perform the stunts only in the designated practice area as they comprise of safe padding or the spring-loaded floor.

• Your teen should never attempt any new or high-risk stunt, without the supervision of the trainer.

Do you have any other information on teen gymnastics? Do you know of any gymnastics for teenage beginners? Tell us here!

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