Rolling toes under?

[eeyoretumbles]

Hello!

The other day I was watching the gymdogs vs. UCLA. On beam they did a close up on a gymnast who was standing on the beam, and with one foot she rolled her toes under her foot, like cracking her toes. I hope that made sense.. haha. But the commentator said, "You always can tell a gymnast when she does that with her toes." Then I realized, I do that too all the time and so do my gym friends, and my non-gymnast friends always ask me why I do that. And I don't know.. Why do we do that? haha. Is that because we don't want it to be uncomfortable?

 

[gymkat]

It's funny that you mentioned that-- I just had a doctor's appointment to look at my feet (unrelated), and he asked me why I had such weird callouses on my toes. Yep-- from toe grinding! I wonder if it's a semi-conscious thing because of the pointed toes aspect of gymnastics. I do it the most before beam and floor routines, but I definitely do it on bars as well, and I guess I think the most about my feet on beam and floor.

 

[eeyoretumbles]

Haha that's funny! Yeah I kind of have them too. I guess I do it before I mount the bars, or tumble on floor. Or vault. I guess before everything haah. Haha wierdd.

 

[chel☆sea]

i never really thought of it as a gymnast thing but i know ive always done it and now that i think of it all of my gym girls do as well. lol gota love the things that make us stand out from others :applause:

 

[gymdog]

I have a compulsive habit of doing this. I had a romanian coach when I was younger who stretched my feet a lot and I had to point them down to the floor in pike. I can easily stand with both toes rolled under. I'm not sure it's good for my feet (I obsessively stretch them like that) but I do it all the time anyway and have for more than 10 years now, so I'm going to assume it's not that bad.

 

[-CRAYOLA?]

I always do that too ! I think its when you have like really flexible feet.
Like we always get out toes pushed down to the floor . So when people at our
gym stand thats just like natural xD

 

[nicci1999]

I never realized it until you mentioned it, but I do it too! I think it is a habit I actually developed from ballet though, not gymnastics. It just feels good to stretch them. Maybe that is why I hate sneakers so much lol

 

[Robindq]

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm another one who does that too.
Like eeyoretubles said, I mostly do it before mounting. Especially before my beam mount and before I vault. I'm not sure if I do it before bars...most likely though. lol it's subconscious i guess. And i believe I do it once in my beam routine as well...haha I don't even know cause I never really think about it when i do it.
hha that's cool though. Something most gymnasts have in common

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

I do it all the time too and I can stand like that and walk like that too. lol

 

[Robindq]

I do it all the time too and I can stand like that and walk like that too. lol

ah that's crazy you can walk like that!!
haha, I'd probably kill myself...or I'd crash into someone else and kill them

 

[eeyoretumbles]

Thanks for the responses, this is crazy, I guess we all have something in common haha

 

[Catya]

Wow, it never occured to me that toe-grinding was a gymnast thing. I do it all the time, now that you mention it. I think for me it's a habit I gained from back in my ballet days. And I think I unconsciously do it on the beam to make sure it's there under my feet. And it just feels good!

 

[tumblerK]

I do it to stretch my toe point.

 

[marie83]

I do it too! Not too sure why, always before I tumble though!

 

[jasmine196]

I haven't been a gymnast in a good 15 years, but I still do that. And I do it all the time when I'm not wearing shoes. In fact, I'm doing it right now while I sit and type this. Its just one of the habits I picked up from being a gymnast. I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

[gymluvr33]

As I was reading this, I realized that I do this ALL the time!!! Especially at a meet, right before I go on any event, I will just randomly do that. Glad I'm not the only one.

 

[GikiGirl]

guilty....

 

[LiveLaughTumble047]

I always forget that i do this until i do it outside of gym and someone points it out, or asks why..or says ouch doesn't that hurt lol! and i'm always like huh? oh my toes. its funny some of the quirks gymnasts have.

 

[eeyoretumbles]

It's so weird, after posting this I found a picture of Shawn like that :Photobucket | shawn Pictures, shawn Images, shawn Photos

The other day, I found one reason I was rolling my toes under. Do you ever get those REALLY bad foot cramps. Sometimes when you land off of bars, or your just sitting pointing your toes, adn you can feel your foot about to lock up and you have to grab it with your hands to like, sort of undo the cramp? Well that was about to happen to me when I started to tumble, so I rolled my toe under, and it went away. Maybe that's why we do it? haha