Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, balance and grace. Artistic gymnastics is the best known and most popular of the gymnastics sports governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Artistic Gymnastics, typically involves the women's events of uneven parallel bars, balance beam, floor exercise, and vault. Men's events include floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, and high bar. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks, that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, and from circus performance skills. Other forms of gymnastics are rhythmic gymnastics, various trampolining sports, and aerobic and acrobatic gymnastics.

Gymnastics is most recommended for children!

Gymnastics is one of the oldest and most popular sports of the world. Perhaps it is one of the most natural sports in the world today which usually involves activities people often do beyond the gym class or competitions. Gymnastics includes running, climbing, jumping, tumbling or swinging. As a sport, modern gymnastics include the performance of a series of movements and usually featured in many prestigious sports events such as the Olympics.

To perform the gymnastics exercises properly, one needs to exhibit a considerable amount of physical strength, coordination and agility. Some of the exercises which add to gymnastics include floor exercises, balance beam, uneven bars, vault for women and high and parallel bars, vaults, floor exercises, pommel horse for men. Gymnastics is said to have evolved from the exercises performed by the ancient Greeks who used these skills for the mounting and dismounting of horses and also circus performance skills.

Gymnastics, however, is one of the most dangerous sports as the athletes who perform the exercises are exposed to constant risk of injury. The risks are usually in the form of the height of the apparatus, the speed of the exercises and the basic effect it has on the athlete's joints, muscles and bones. Many of the athletes who perform gymnastics have sustained serious and often long lasting injuries and even paralysis after serious accidents being occurred during a gymnastics performance.

Today, gymnastics can be categorized according to six different disciplines. These include artistic gymnastics, rhythmic and general gymnastics, sports aerobics and acrobatics and trampoline work. Of these six, the artistic along with the rhythmic gymnastics are the two most popular and are a part of the summer Olympic games which are held every four years.

Apart from being one of the major sports in the world today, the gymnastics is also a sport that people of different age groups and ability can attempt. The gymnastics also helps people master self discipline and independence. It helps in building strength and increasing both physical flexibility as well as agility. Gymnastics is highly recommended for children as it helps in developing a healthy mind as well as body.