Beth Tweddle

Beth Tweddle was asked by sportsvibe what physical requirements were needed to be a world-class gymnast. The 24-year-old should know, after all, having just been crowned world champion in the floor exercises at London’s O2 Arena earlier this month, to add to her world title in the uneven bars in 2006, her uneven bars Commonwealth and European golds, her floor European titles, and a host of other major achievements.

“Flexibility, strength in all areas, all over stamina, power, balance, co-ordination,” she answered, before adding: “I guess that pretty much covers everything, doesn’t it?”
Of course, the South African-born gymnast who relocated to Cheshire before she was two years old is correct. In order to perform at the highest level in four contrasting disciplines – the vault, the uneven bars, the beam and the floor exercises – a gymnast just about requires every physical attribute.

It begins early. “Flexibility is crucial to any gymnast,” Beth explained. “I started the sport aged seven and immediately underwent incessant stretching exercises. The younger you are the easier it is and the longer the effect, although it’s never too late to start stretching exercises in life. Now I don’t have to do so much but in order to maintain a certain level I tend to sit in splits for a minute or two with my hands in the air, as opposed to helping me balance by placing them on the floor.”

Each of the four women’s disciplines requires specific demands. Take the uneven bars, for example. “I tend to do a lot of hand stands and hand stand turns,” Britain’s greatest ever gymnast, and our first ever world champion, continued. “A lot of training for the bars is centered around “inverts,” where your shoulders are rotated, your arms are up by your ears, your little finger is by your ears and your palms are forward. It’s a very strange position to find yourself in but it covers most of the physical demands of completing a successful set on the bars, including wrist flexibility and body turns, as well as stamina.”

Then there is the vault. “People think it’s all about how fast you can sprint to the vault but if you go too fast you don’t control your entry and that’s where it can go horribly wrong. You need to do a lot of leg exercises in the gym, squat jumps, ankle-raisers and some plyometrics as well, where you use blocks on the floor to jump over or carry out some rebound work to improve your spring. It is all about dynamic power.”

The beam requires a different set of physical skills yet again. “The beam is all about balance and ankle stability. One of the common exercises is to stand on one leg with your eyes closed for a lengthy period of time. Split jumps are useful, as are leg-strengthening exercises for the all-important discount at the end of the exercise. “
The floor exercises require all of the above. “A floor exercise takes 90 seconds which seems like a lifetime when you’re out there doing it,” Beth says. “During one exercise you will need plenty of stamina, flexibility and leg power, because the leaps are very important.”

Unlike many sports, however, gymnasts tend to complete most of their physical requirements by training or competing, rather than working out on specifics. “Performing, whether in competition or in practice, is the best way to get your body right and it’s hard to replicate the physical needs in any other form.

“What gymnasts require physically is so sport-specific that the only real way of ensuring your body is in the right shape is by performing the disciplines. You are full on until the week before a competition  where your conditioning becomes a little less intense in order to stay fresh, but it’s only slightly less because you still need to be working on your skills. Timings are everything in gymnastics and if you are even a slight bit off it can result in an accident.”

Like all gymnasts Beth has had a few in her time, and none of them sound too pleasant. “With the vault and the beam your ankle is in most danger, although dismounts from the bars and the general somersaults in the floor exercises also place a lot of pressure on that area of your leg. The worst accident, however, is when you fall flat on your back or, worse, flat on your face. That comes from getting your timings wrong, and I’ve done it before off the bars and the beam, as have most gymnasts.”

Diet and nutrition also become more important because of this. “If I put on a kilo in weight it becomes 10kilos if my body is coming down from a somersault,” Beth explains. “At the moment I’m 52kgs and that’s about right, but the slightest weight gain or loss can upset my balance and timings, with disastrous results. So I tend to eat my carbs at lunchtime, after a breakfast of cereal or porridge, and this means pasta like a lasagne, rice, potatoes. Dinner tends to be a lot lighter, with maybe some chicken and salad.

“I train six days a week for around five hours a day, often fitting in my training in the mornings and evenings because many gymnasts these days are still schoolchildren. I’m 24 now. I’m an old girl.”
Old girl or not Beth, who has concentrated on the bars and floor exercises since last year’s Beijing Olympics, has no plan to bow out just yet. There is the small matter of more world championships next year and, of course, the London Olympics in 2012.
“By which time I’ll be positively ancient,” she concludes, with a laugh.
Not too ancient to be a serious contender for gold, though, to join the all-time greats of female gymnastics such as Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci.

Beth Tweddle is sponsored by GK Elite and Gymnova.