The sport of gymnastics requires athletic skill, balance and coordination. Gymnasts perform acrobatic tumbles, vaulting and other maneuvers on beams and bars, while keeping balance and not falling to the mats below. The training and competition involved in gymnastics promotes healthy bones, according to a 2010 study. It also improves strength and flexibility, teaches injury prevention and imparts psycho-social benefits, according to a University of Utah researcher.
Bone Health
Long-term elite rhythmic gymnastics improves bone density and bone geometry in adolescent girls, according to a study published in June 2010 in "The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism." In the study, researchers compared the bone health of elite rhythmic gymnasts and girls with only physical-education-related activity. The study, which included 49 girls between the ages of 9 and 13 years, found increased cortical thickness and bone strength in the gymnasts. ''Given that osteoporosis traits start in childhood, it is possible to speculate that if girls maintain their gymnastic training beyond adolescence, even if their training is less intensive, they may have a reduced risk of bone fracture later in life," said Symeon Tournis, M.D., lead author of the study. Previous studies of adolescents linked weight-bearing exercise to increased bone density and bone strength. Tournis' study was the first to show that training in rhythmic gymnastics significantly improves bone health in adolescent girls.
Strength and Flexibility
Gymnastics produces some of the strongest and most flexible of athletes, according to William A. Sands, of the University of Utah's Department of Exercise and Sports Science.
One of this anaerobic sport's major benefits is that it subjects the body to a wide variety of stimuli. This is because gymnastics is an "acyclic" sport, in which the same movements are not repeated over and over. Though gymnastics performances usually last less than 90 seconds, they are extremely intense.
Injury Prevention
Gymnasts learn to fall and roll as part of their early training. This allows them to spread the force of impact over a large area of the body. Fall training helps gymnasts avoid injury in their sport as well as in other situations, according to Sands. ''Gymnasts acquire a very 'cat-like' ability to right themselves and to fall without being hurt,'' Sands writes in the March 1999 issue of "Technique" magazine.
Mental Health
Along with the physical benefits it provides, gymnastics has psycho-social benefits, according to Sands. Gymnasts of all levels often compete in local, state and regional competitions, which affords them the opportunity to travel, meet diverse people and see places they normally would bypass. Successful gymnasts also acquire the ability to block outside stimuli and focus on their performance, a skill that benefits them in other activities. And female gymnasts often have high self-esteem, as they tend to be ''among the petite and slender females that are often socially most acceptable,'' Sands writes.
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