Gymnastics drills at home for 15 year olds

At a glance

At 15

53 gymnastics drills the app opens for a 15 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 50 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 75 minutes for a 15 year old.

How often

At most 5 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 15 hours for a 15 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: mat (26 of the 53 drills), floor (7), soft mat (7), wall (4), music (2), open floor (2), tape or floor line (2), wall or chair (2). 1 drill needs nothing but space. 6 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

53 at-home drills

Gymnastics drills for 15 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for a 15 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

balance & control

Balance & Control

• Half Turns on a Floor LineAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Handstand Against a WallAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Scale and HoldAges 11 and up · 10 min

flexibility

Flexibility

• Pancake Fold with a StrapAges 14 and up · 10 min
• Shoulder Stick Pass-ThroughsAges 14 and up · 8 min
• Bridge from the FloorAges 11 and up · 8 min

form

Form

• Floor Dance ElementsAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Jump Shapes on the FloorAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Partner Mirror ShapesAges 11 and up · 8 min

strength

Strength

• Wall WalksAges 14 and up · 10 min
• Floor L-Sit PrepAges 11 and up · 8 min
• Plank Shape CircuitAges 11 and up · 10 min

swing

Swing

• Banana and Superman RollsAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Floor Tap Swing ShapesAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Hollow RocksAges 7 and up · 6 min

A 40-minute session

A home gymnastics session for a 15 year old

A warm-up, 3 drills and a cool-down, 40 minutes in all. Do it up to 5 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Gymnastics Warm-Up, Ages 14 and UpA 12-minute moving warm-up for gymnastics players 14 and up: moving stretches, strength, single-leg control, cuts and build-up runs, then gymnastics moves at practice speed.12 min
2. 2Hollow RocksBanana shape, rock as one piece.6 min
3. 3Floor Line Beam WalksTall head, eyes on the end of the line.8 min
4. 4Passe Balance HoldSqueeze your belly, hold still.6 min
5. 5Gymnastics Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 14 and UpA 8-minute cool-down for gymnastics players 14 and up after training: stretches for the legs, hips, wrists and sides, each held 20 to 30 seconds, never to pain.8 min

At 15

What changes in gymnastics training at 15

From 15, a home session can run to 75 minutes and the plan can have 5 training days a week, up from 60 minutes and 5 days at 14.

The app opens the same 53 at-home drills at 15 as at 14; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 15 hours for a 15 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting gymnastics into a week at 15

At 15 the limit is 15 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 5 sessions of 50 minutes is 4.17 hours, which leaves 10.83 for team practice and games. Even 5 days at the app's longest, 75 minutes, is 6.25 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 13 to 15 are the "specializing years", after the sampling years of 6 to 12.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers