In my last blog, I introduced you to the fear of failure. I mentioned that this fear is a natural part of sport and is an “unacceptable” fear. This is because there is nothing at risk except for your personal pride. The fear of injury is also an inherent part of gymnastics, but this fear can be classified as “acceptable.” This is because it is more important to consider the realistic risk of being injured, as a serious injury could end your season or even your career. Therefore, if attempting a skill that you are not ready to do, the risk of injury may be too high, in which case you should listen to that fear. However, if you are simply progressing to the next step and it is a logical progression, then you may be afraid, but the risk of injury is much lower and is a smarter risk to take.

In other words, if the risk of injury is too high, then you should reconsider attempting the skill and determine if there is a way for you to progress more slowly and therefore reduce the level of risk. Gymnastics is a dangerous sport and risking injury is an everyday occurrence. The trick, however, is assessing the level of risk (high or low) and determining whether or not you are willing to accept that level of risk.

The best way to decide if the level of risk is acceptable or not is to determine whether or not the risk helps you move closer to your goals. If your goal is to be the best gymnast in the world, you will have to take on more risks than another gymnast who simply wants to be competitive on a smaller, more local level. Simply put, the need to advance into more challenging skills and take more risks is higher for the athlete who aspires to reach higher goals.

The best way to work through a mental block related to injury is to reduce the risk involved in learning the skill. Usually, a gymnast is most afraid on their first attempt. This is because there is so much uncertainty – you have never done it before, so you don’t know what will happen. As I mentioned earlier in this blog, to help lower this risk, you need to progress more slowly. Examples of progressing slowly include using a spotter, attempting a skill on the floor before doing it on the beam, etc. With the help of a spotter, you can feel more comfortable knowing that they will help you complete the skill successfully. Also, by removing the risk of falling off the beam by first doing the skill on the floor, you can attempt it with more confidence and do it with 100% effort.

The concept of progressing slowly is not new, but sometimes athletes forget that learning a new skill takes time and a lot of hard work in practice. Great coaches know that you build confidence by successfully completing the skill – even if you have a little help at first. The more confident and comfortable you become with the new skill, the closer you can move to competition-like situations, such as incorporating it into your routine in practice so you can up the degree of difficulty and start value of your routine in competitions. Remember, you should start slowly and learn how to execute the skill properly, then practice it until you feel comfortable adding other skills around it, then progress into including it into your full routine, and finally do your routine with the new skill in competition. Following this type of progression allows you to continually learn new skills in a safer, more enjoyable environment and helps to reduce the risk of injury (as well as the fear of injury).

As a gymnast, you will have fears related to failure and injury. However, you must learn to face those fears in order to progress your abilities and career. I encourage you to reduce the risk of injury whenever learning new skills and battle through fears of failure by remembering that you have to risk failure in order to succeed!

We had some great responses to the last blog, so please keep leaving comments and questions to let me know if you like these topics or if you want more information about a topic. Also, if you have a different topic in mind that you would like me to discuss, let me know and I’ll be sure to address it in upcoming weeks! These blogs are all for you, so I want to talk about what you are interested in reading. Have a wonderful week and stay safe in training!