Best Gymnastics Apparatus

The Yurchenko 2.5, commonly known as the Amanar vault, is an elite gymnastics skill demanding exceptional power and coordination. It involves a round-off start transitioning into a back layout with two and a half twists. This complex maneuver is performed by competitive female gymnasts seeking to ma...

The Maltese Cross is a demanding strength and flexibility exercise performed on gymnastic rings. It involves maintaining a horizontal position with arms outstretched, resembling a cross shape. This hold tests exceptional core stability, upper body power, and ring proficiency. It’s typically practice...

The inverted cross ring apparatus represents a significant challenge in men’s artistic gymnastics. It requires athletes to maintain a completely inverted position on the rings, utilizing maximum upper body strength and control for a sustained hold. This complex skill is primarily practiced by elite...

The Thomas flair, or Thomas circle, is a gymnastics skill performed on the pommel horse consisting of simultaneous leg swings combined with a full-body rotation around the horizontal axis. It is named after American gymnast Kurt Thomas, who first performed the skill internationally in the late 1970s...

The Def is a named release element performed on the parallel bars in men's artistic gymnastics. It consists of a backward flyaway with two saltos and a full twist before the gymnast catches the bars again, requiring substantial height, rotation, spatial awareness, and precise hand placement. The ski...

The Russian Flair is a specialized element performed on the pommel horse in men's artistic gymnastics. Similar to the traditional Thomas Flair, this maneuver involves continuous leg circles but requires the gymnast to maintain an inverted body orientation during the swing phase. Named for its origin...

Continuous circular travel movements along the full length of the pommel horse, named after Hungarian gymnast Zoltán Magyar, who dominated the event with multiple World and Olympic titles in the 1970s–80s.

The aerial walkover on beam is an advanced acrobatic gymnastics skill performed on the balance beam. In this flight element, the gymnast executes a backward or forward walkover without their hands touching the apparatus, relying entirely on momentum and spatial awareness. It requires significant fle...

A back flip on the balance beam is a backward salto performed above the beam and landed on its narrow surface. Unlike a back handspring, the skill includes a flight phase without hand support and may be executed in tucked, piked, or laid-out form depending on the element and routine. It requires pre...

The Spindle is a skill performed on the pommel horse in men's artistic gymnastics. During the element, the gymnast executes a full 360-degree longitudinal rotation of the body while maintaining continuous support on the hands, with the legs extended and held together. The skill requires coordinated...

The Ezhova is a women's artistic gymnastics uneven bars skill featuring a clear hip circle with a 180-degree turn, named after Russian gymnast Galina Ezhova.

A balance beam turn named after American gymnast Amy Chow, a 1996 Olympic silver medalist on uneven bars, recognized as a named element requiring specific body position and rotational criteria.

A balance beam or floor turn performed in a squat position on one leg with the other extended, requiring the gymnast to complete one or more rotations and valued for its difficulty when performed in multiples.

A classic pommel horse element where the gymnast swings alternating legs in a scissors-like pattern while supporting on the hands or pommels, one of the oldest codified pommel horse skills.

The Cartwheel is a fundamental acrobatic element performed on the balance beam in women's artistic gymnastics, requiring the athlete to pass through a vertical handstand sideways.

The Cat Leap on beam is a women's gymnastics dance element where the athlete jumps from one foot, bringing one bent knee up while extending the other leg outward in flight.

A leap on balance beam or floor where the gymnast switches legs mid-air, transitioning from one split orientation to the other, and is valued based on the degree of split angle achieved at peak height.

The Stoop-In is an uneven bars skill in women's artistic gymnastics where the athlete executes a forward glide swing beneath the bar before transitioning into a kip.