Gymnastics Fundamentals

Videos outlines

1. Meet your new instructor:

four-time Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles. She’s ready to inspire your gymnastics training by demonstrating fundamental and advanced skills and by giving you tips for setting goals and working with coaches.

2. Learning New Skills:

Discipline and focus during practice are necessary for gymnasts to safely execute drills. Simone encourages you to master the basics, which are the foundation for learning harder skills and routines.

3. Uneven Bars Basics:

With eight-year-old Mia demonstrating, Simone walks you through the basics of the uneven bars. Some of the drills include glides, drop kips, tap swings, and floor handstands.

4. Uneven Bars Advanced:

Simone demonstrates and explains advanced skills on the uneven bars, including cast to handstand, giants, and more.

5. Playback: Studying Simone's Meets On Bars:

Simone reviews and deconstructs footage of some of her most notable performances on bars, including her top-scoring routine from the 2018 World Championships and her routine from the 2018 U.S. Classic.

6. Overcoming Fear:

Even the most decorated World Championship American gymnast of all time can feel nervous. Simone offers tips for getting out of your head during moments of fear and shares what confidence means to her.

7. Floor Basics:

With help from nine-year-old Leah, Simone breaks down the basics of floor, including skills like cartwheels, roundoffs, front handsprings, pike fronts, and back handspring back tucks.

8. Floor Advanced:

Simone demonstrates advanced floor skills, including layouts, double doubles, a combination pass, and, of course, the Biles.

9. Competing On Meet Day:

It’s important to give yourself time to prepare for a meet. Simone reveals her preparation routine, shares how to use selective listening during a performance, and tells you how to let go of mistakes while competing.

10. Balance Beam Basics:

Requiring a combination of acrobatics and dance, the balance beam is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one. Nine-year-old Paislee demonstrates as Simone discusses skills like handstands, cartwheels, walkovers, and back handsprings.

11. Balance Beam Advanced:

Simone demonstrates advanced skills on the balance beam, including a front handspring, front aerial, handspring layout, split leaps, and a double-double dismount.

12. Working With Coaches:

According to Simone, communication and trust are the two most important pieces of the athlete/coach relationship. In this chapter, she explores how to work effectively and cohesively with your coaches.

13. Vault Basics:

With eight-year-old Jurzie demonstrating, Simone walks you through the basics of vault, including feet to seat, high knees, deer runs, sprints, and front handspring flatback.