BACK TRAINING WITH DUMBBELLS: THE BEST EXERCISES FOR THE GYM AND AT HOME.
In today's society, despite the fight for equality in many areas of life, labels are still being distributed that declare something as male or female. Also, in the world of sports, stereotypes and prejudices often prevail. Bodybuilding, in particular, is predominantly perceived as a very male sport, closely followed by football, basketball, and ice hockey, although the number of female players is steadily increasing.
On the other hand, there are also a number of sports that are seen as typically feminine. Gymnastics, in particular, falls into this category. Artistic gymnastics, apparatus gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and much more are often seen as sports for girls. However, we want to prove here that gymnastics is not only a sport for women but also presents a demanding challenge for men.
A brief history of origin
Initially, gymnastics was primarily aimed at the "physical education of German male youth in old Prussia." At the beginning of the 19th century, gymnastics gained more and more importance and quickly became recognized as an organized sport and integrated into physical education in schools. However, due to the Napoleonic Wars and the Hitler regime, gymnastics veered in the wrong direction and became militarized. It is likely that even today there are male youths who perceive a touch of militaristic traits in gymnastics and, therefore, are less inclined towards this sport compared to girls. But this is only a speculation.
The fact is that this unfortunate period in the history of German gymnastics caused a lot of damage. Gymnastics should regain the image of a performance and high-performance sport that it used to have. Since the beginning of the 20th century, gymnastics, in its various forms, has been included in the Olympic competitions. Today, a total of 14 competitions take place at the Olympic Games: four apparatus finals for women, six apparatus finals for men, women's all-around, men's all-around, and women's and men's team all-around.
Success through body control and strength
Gymnastics is a competitive sport that requires the use of the entire body. The fundamental principle of each training session is targeted strength training with full-body exercises. In its early days, gymnastics and apparatus gymnastics were mainly characterized by static and strength-holding elements. Today, many acrobatic exercises, somersaults, jumps, and rotations are included, transforming the once very static sport into a dynamic one. Professional male and female gymnasts are power athletes, acrobats, dancers, and sprinters all in one – or in other words, high-performance athletes in which strength, speed, body control, flexibility, and maximum coordination play crucial roles.
Conclusion
To be successful in professional gymnastics, hard training and a lot of discipline are the keys. Whether you are male or female, it doesn't matter because gymnastics is not a gender-specific competitive sport. Instead, some exercises and difficulty levels differ in championships due to purely anatomical reasons. At the Olympic Games, men and women compete in different areas of artistic gymnastics. Women compete in the disciplines of uneven bars, vault, floor, and balance beam. Men compete in the disciplines of rings, pommel horse, floor, parallel bars, high bar, and vault. Outside of competitions, it is not uncommon to try out different exercises, regardless of gender.
