Are practice beams a good idea?

[Uglybetty]

DD is hassling me to buy her a low practice beam from ebay. They seem very similar to the floor beams they use at gym but much shorter. They're quite expensive and I can't see much point in getting one shorter than 8ft (although I've no idea where to store it....will worry about that later). Does anyone have views on whether they're helpful ( or god forbid dangerous)? We have a crash mat already if that makes a difference.

 

[vbbf]

My dd has a 8ft floor beam at home. She uses it for skills like cartwheels, walkovers, tick tocks, split handstands, split jumps, straddle levers to handstand and russian levers. She also practises routines on it before a competition. I think they are helpfull and not dangerous if you only do the skills you are used to doing at gym

 

[MaryA]

I bought one that folds in half at a yard sale a number of years ago. DD used it some, back when she wasn't already spending 20-25 hours a week in the gym and when the skills she was doing were relatively safe. Now the cats think it makes a great scratching post and, earlier this year, when my husband was going through physical therapy for a rotator cuff injury, he would lay on it in its folded-in-half position to stretch his shoulder. So I guess I'd say we got our $15-worth out of it. Some people on this site swear by just a line of masking tape on the floor (or maybe on her mat?).

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

My dd has a folding 8 foot "floor" beam. The plan was for it to reside behind the door in her bedroom. Reality was that for 1 1/2 years it "lived" in my living room! (Wish Santa had picked some color other than pink!) Now that she is in the gym more, it is used less frequently...but still comes out on occasion. It is not elevated at all..and was not terribly expensive. ($120) She practiced cartwheels for a year...and once they started working on them in class, she had hers on the high beam in a one week. She practices skills like jumps, leaps, turns, back walkovers, and handstands. She also uses it to practice routines before a meet. She will even take it outside on a pretty day and find a flat area in the yard. My friend's daughter "retired" from gymnastics 6 years ago, and she still gets hers out when she is home from college.

 

[billise]

My DD (level 3) also has a folding floor beam. It's great for handstands, leaps, jumps. We just stash it behind the couch when she's not using it.

 

[Gymdaddio]

No, they are a waste of money. Do you want to buy ours??? Please. Barely used. Like new. How about a foldable panel mat?

 

[SignHere]

Gymdaddio! LOL!!!!

My friend's DD has a folding one that she still uses a lot (level 8)... We even had to haul it in my minivan to a travel meet last year ! The girls had a ton if fun playing on it all weekend long. It is a folding beam.

 

[mimi]

If you buy one, don't spend a lot. Ours is collecting dust in our guest room and the amount of time spent on it did not correlate with the money spent on it.

 

[billise]

I got ours on eBay for $60. It's from the beam store but I actually purchased it from someone else.

 

[cbifoja]

I bought one for my daughter five years ago. It had been a beam, the wings of a plane, a tree limb, and a pirate shop plank. I paid $100 for out so it has more than paid for itself.

 

[sshreed]

Gym at gym, leave home for home!

 

[Uglybetty]

Thanks girls....I might let Santa deliver a folding one.....the one she really wants doesn't fold at all so I can see we'd have a storage problem. I think she would use it - she's forever on her crash mat practising handstands, bridges etc. Initially she used to only practice at the gym but since she's started taking it seriously she doesn't stop practising....sometimes even after doing 3 hours in the gym. The gym sometimes encourage them to practise safe things at home - bridges, splits, cartwheels etc. she'll say "my coach says I need to practice X".

I was given the crash mat by someone I know....it was being thrown out by a gym who was replacing their matting. Although its huge and thus a pain in the *** to store....I'd much prefer her to fall on that than the floor! Despite asking her to keep safe, as soon as i turn my back she's at it....I cant even go to the loo for fear she'll break her neck. I caught her doing a back hip circle on the A frame of our swing the other day. She came out of gym yesterday having shown her coach what she'd taught herself and said the coach was shocked (in a good way) that she'd been able to do it. Not complaining too much though...someone who'd done gym at a very high level once told me that the difference between the kids who make it to the top and those who don't is that they eat, slept and live gym skills.....you can't stop them practising all the time. I think she was basically saying the drive to do gym is their own, not their mums!

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

Thanks girls....I might let Santa deliver a folding one.....the one she really wants doesn't fold at all so I can see we'd have a storage problem. I think she would use it - she's forever on her crash mat practising handstands, bridges etc. Initially she used to only practice at the gym but since she's started taking it seriously she doesn't stop practising....sometimes even after doing 3 hours in the gym. The gym sometimes encourage them to practise safe things at home - bridges, splits, cartwheels etc. she'll say "my coach says I need to practice X".

I was given the crash mat by someone I know....it was being thrown out by a gym who was replacing their matting. Although its huge and thus a pain in the *** to store....I'd much prefer her to fall on that than the floor! Despite asking her to keep safe, as soon as i turn my back she's at it....I cant even go to the loo for fear she'll break her neck. I caught her doing a back hip circle on the A frame of our swing the other day. She came out of gym yesterday having shown her coach what she'd taught herself and said the coach was shocked (in a good way) that she'd been able to do it. Not complaining too much though...someone who'd done gym at a very high level once told me that the difference between the kids who make it to the top and those who don't is that they eat, slept and live gym skills.....you can't stop them practising all the time. I think she was basically saying the drive to do gym is their own, not their mums!

Exactly! I have never ONCE told dd she had to practice... Trying to keep her from doing "tricks" would be as futile as telling the sun not to shine. Every piece of furniture in my home has been an apparatus at some point. She has a daybed, and did front hip circles into the bed on the side rails for months. Thank goodness she is not a natural "risk taker", so I have never worried about serious injury. Her coach encouraged the floor beam, as well as splits, bridges and handstands at home.