Coach Luke’s Top 3 Tips for Getting Better at Gymnastic Movements
By Coach Luke Karsana
1. Focus on the Foundations
How confident do you feel at completing Hollow Rocks, Tight Arches, Hanging on a Pull-Up Bar, or being in a Push-Up Position?
How often do you grunt when you see these holds on the whiteboard?
These are the most necessary principles to think about when thinking about your first steps to making progress on getting better at gymnastic movements. Think about it, how can you expect yourself to drink water out of a flimsy paper bag? You need a solid, reliable, and well shaped cup to drink water out of. The gymnastics seminar on October 23rd for Foundations can be a great place to start!
2. Progress is in the Progressions
What kind of expectations do you have for the timeline it will take to get to your goals? Do you have a coach to consult or map out what it will take to get to your goals?
Sometimes, setting goals for yourself can be very motivating but most of the time they can be daunting. This is because the journey can look so grey when there’s no sense of guidance in the journey. The people who have been the most successful in attaining their goals are the ones who can stay the most encouraged in the process. Who do you need to connect with to feel good about your process- not your outcomes?
3. Strength in Numbers (of how consistent you are)
Have you thought about how consistent you are at training a single movement? If you want to accomplish doing a toes to bar, have you evaluated how often you train doing a toes to bar?
Full Disclosure: Toes To Bar are hard. Heck, I didn’t get my first one until year 2 of training and I came from a sports background. The first concept I had to come to terms with is I needed to respect the time it would take to become better at the movement. The second concept I needed to respect (which I’ll talk more about now) is how consistent I am in making time for “extra-work”. I hired a coach about 2 years ago (7 years into my journey of exercise) and this is the most consistent I’ve been at getting better a specific goals! My coach has made the expectation that I need to make time for X amount of drills X amount of times a week and although it may sometimes feel like there’s a sense of urgency or pressure, deep down, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my training because I finally feel like I’m being held accountable in my journey.
So maybe the question isn’t “How consistent are you?” and maybe it’s “What’s stopping you from being more consistent?”.
Last thing— I know I’ve been talking about gymnastics this whole time but in my opinion, these principles apply to everything we want to accomplish in our lives! If you want to pursue something in the gym, a change in your nutritional habits, or a better work-life balance, ask yourself these 3 questions and I guarantee you’ll feel a lot more clarity over what your next step is.
Hope this is helpful guys. See you at Reason!
Coach Luke
