Looking for some easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard to impress your friends? Good, you’ve come to the right page. First things first, there are no ultimate easy moves when it comes to gymnastics, as all depends on a person’s individual flexibility and strength. I have some experience in yoga, and I am very well aware of the fact that what is easy for some people is very hard for others. Genetics and our life style determine what parts of our body are going to be more or less flexible. For example, I have naturally very good flexibility of my hips, and my back, which allowed me, very soon, to master two yoga positions – butterfly, and pigeon. The latter one is especially hard for most of the people, and it was harder for me too than the butterfly. I was very surprised to notice how hard is the butterfly for many, and how high their knees are when they start practicing. And, I was also surprised to see other people enjoying yoga poses that I found very difficult. All this helped me understand how different our bodies are.
Even though yoga and gymnastics are not the same things, both disciplines demand great body flexibility, which helped me realize that there are no ultimate easiest gymnastics moves, and that it all depends on a person to person. Of course, there is a group of moves that is easier for many, and we’ve already covered some of them in our article on 10 Easiest Gymnastics Moves and Trick to Do at Home for Beginners. Today we’ll be focusing only on easy gymnastics moves that look hard and that are done on the floor. Before we explain how we chose easy gymnastics skills for our list, let us tell you something more about the history of this beautiful and elegant sports discipline that you are starting to get interested in.
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This sport has a long history, and like almost every discipline that is amazing it was developed in ancient Greece. One must wonder – where would we be if there were no Greeks? They brought us everything that is of great importance – philosophy, math, sports, to name a few; we are still learning so much about life from the philosophical works they’ve created. In a way, they were ahead of us. So, it is no wonder that this beautiful sports discipline was invented by the Greeks who were known for a specific way of life – one that includes a person’s development in three levels – intellectual, spiritual and physical. The modern form of gymnastics, with the additions of bars, beams and jumps, was developed around the late 1700s. What is interesting is that traditional gymnastics events included wrestling and weight lifting also, which was later removed. The form became the most important part of the discipline, and not the rivalry. And now, in today’s amazing gymnastics world, I don’t think there is a single person who doesn’t admire the bodies and skills of gymnasts; their amazing strength, flexibility, speed, and elegance.
Mastering basic gymnastic skills is something that would benefit all of us, our physical, but also mental health, as these exercises demand great concentration, calm mind and discipline. That is why we have decided to find some easy gymnastic moves that most of us can master in a short period of time.
To tell you the truth this was no easy task, because of the things said above – it is impossible to define the ultimate easy move, one that would be easy for any person, while also making sure it looks hard. So, what did we do? First, we found basic gymnastics tricks list, that lists only basic moves for the floor. On the site these moves and tricks are divided into four different categories – Rolling skills, Handstands & Walkovers, Cartwheels & Round-offs and Handsprings. We’ve wanted to include at least one move from every category, but unfortunately, we didn’t find many sources that recommend handsprings as the easiest moves. Yes, they do look hard. And that is probably because they are.
So, after we found those basic moves, we wanted to check how to do gymnastics for beginners at home level 1, so we searched for the moves every level 1 gymnast must be able to do on the floor. In case you don’t know, level 1 is the first level in Gymnastics, non-competitive level. And a must know moves on the floor for this level include ¾ handstand, and forward roll among the others. Hence most of them can be found on our list. We really tried to stay away from any advanced gymnastics moves (which for the floor include straddle jump with 120 degree split, front handspring to two feet, back extension roll, back walkover, among others), so perhaps not all of the moves on our list will look hard to some of you. But, if you are looking for the basics you can’t expect us to recommend you tricks that gymnasts practice for years. In any case, we are sure that your friends, who probably can’t even bend over to touch their toes, will be impressed with these. Sources that helped us create our final list were Gymnastics HQ, Grade Infinity, Active SG, and some practical YouTube videos (see also how children can train for gymnastics at home).
Still want to know how to do gymnastics at home for beginners? Great, let’s start with our list of the easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard!
11. Candlestick
This is probably a gymnastics move that all of you have been doing as kids. The only difference is that you probably didn’t do the full version when you don’t support your back with the hands. Mastering this position will help you build up strength and work on your balance, because without the hands holding your back it takes a little bit of practice to lie on your shoulders, with your legs straight in the air. Maybe it doesn’t look that difficult at the first sight, but anyone who tried it, knows it takes a bit of practice. Nevertheless, it is definitely one of the super easy gymnastics skills, that are being taught first.
10. Full turn on one foot
OK, we admit it, when it’s done right this move, being elegant as it should, doesn’t look that hard. But, if we are to think like that, then all the moves done by pros seem easy, right? So, picking the easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard is not an easy task. In any case, full turn on one foot done by a gymnast looks beautiful, and it is going to impress. To do this turn, you should stand on the ball of your one foot, with your entire body in a straight position. The other foot should be lifted at the ankle or at the knee. If you want something more impressive the other foot can be lifted straight in front of you (this will be somewhat harder to do, but it will also look harder). Arms should be in a curved position in front of you, or in a crown position over your head. And you should simply turn 360°.
9. Forward roll
Yes, there are many moves on this list of easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard, that we all often did as kids. What makes a great impression here is the ending of a roll when you stand up without using your hands to push off the ground. More details about how to perform a perfect forward roll are in the video below.
8. Backward roll
After the forward roll, we naturally suggest the backward roll. Going backward is what makes it tougher for some. But for the little girl in the video below that gives a great demonstration and useful tips, is definitely super easy. Go ahead, try it.
7. Splits
For some, splits are something you can just do, you don’t have to practice it at all. That’s why we put it on the list of easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard. But, unfortunately, for us normal mortals many hours of stretching is needed to master this gymnastic move. This little cute girl gives us very useful stretch exercises that target the right muscles and hamstrings that should allow us to master splits in a short period of time. And no matter what some may say, splits always look impressive to most of the people who just can’t imagine having that much flexibility in their legs.
6. Split Jump with 30 degree Leg Separation
If you want to call yourself a gymnast of level 1, you must master split jump. But don’t worry, your legs should be separated only 30 degrees for starters, which is not that much, but still looks amazing.
5. Bridge
We come to my favorite exercise on this list of 11 easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard – bridge. I have always been able to do a great bridge with no special effort. That is probably because my back is naturally flexible in that way (that explains mastering yoga position pigeon as well). To impress people around me, I would often lift up one leg or hand, so these are some ideas to make this simple position harder. But don’t try doing that until you are fully stable in the basic position, until you really master it. How to do bridge is nicely explained in this video below.
4. Back Band
Once you master bridge you’ll know you are flexible enough to try practicing back band, one of the easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard from our list. It is basically a fall into a bridge. It doesn’t only look harder, but it is really harder. Still, it is one of the basic skills you will learn when you start doing gymnastics. Check this video to learn what you should do. It is great because it also reveals the exercises that you should be doing to strengthen the right muscles that you’ll need for the back band.
3. 3/4 handstand
We didn’t want to go with the full handstand, even though some find it easy, instead, we wanted to include a simpler version, which is definitely much easier, yet it also looks hard, when done correctly. Don’t believe it? Just check how elegantly this little girl in the video is doing. So, let’s see what’s next on our list of easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard.
2. Elbow stand
If the previous move was too simple for you, try mastering an elbow stand. It is a stand position that really looks amazing and difficult to perform, yet gymnasts say it is much easier than the regular handstand.
1. Cartwheel
Believe it or not, we recommend a cartwheel. I think that everyone will agree that this move doesn’t look easy, right? Yes, but still it is considered one of the beginners skills. This video tutorial should help you master it very fast.
We really hope you’ve enjoyed our list of 11 easy gymnastics moves on floor that look hard, as we really tried to include both simpler and more impressive moves, to make some balance. We also tried to include a little bit of everything, both jumps and stands, rolls, and stretches. If you have some other suggestions from your personal experience, please leave us a comment below, as we would really love to hear it, and extend our list.
