Today, I’m sharing our home gymnastics setup with you all! I actually used to coach preschool gymnastics several years ago, so I have fun showing my kids different skills. Blair especially loves it, so I decided to set up her own home gymnastics setup as her birthday gift. I spent a long time researching the best gymnastics equipment for home and I’m excited to share these finds with you!
If you make a purchase from this post, I may receive a commission. Please see our Legal page for more info.
As you can see, our home gymnastics setup is in our unfinished basement. So, it’s not exactly the most glamorous of setups, but it gets the job done.
Best Gymnastics Bar for Home
The part my kids love playing on the most is the bar! This is the exact bar we have. They do go out of stock fairly regularly, so if that one is out, this one looks very similar.
I spent hours researching the best gymnastics bar for home. Let me save you some time and share why I chose this style.
Our bar has 8′ legs on it, the same length as our mat underneath it. You can see the legs and cross-bars better in the product listing. This helps keep the bar from rocking as your gymnast grows. The length of the legs is the main difference between most home gymnastics bars on the market right now. Most bars are adjustable in height and have similar weight limits, so the main difference is the length of the legs, which determines how long your gymnast will be able to use the bar.
A lot of bars on the market have much shorter legs, like this one. While this might be beneficial if you need a smaller footprint, a lot of reviews indicate those bars start wobbling as the gymnast starts growing and working on harder skills that involve more swinging.
Something like this popular model could be a happy medium, especially if your gymnast is small. Some parents also extend the life of these smaller footprint bars by adding sand bags to weigh down the legs.
Although my kids are still young, I want a home gymnastics bar that will last a long time. That’s why I chose the 8′ leg bar. And it is, in fact, very sturdy. It even stayed in place while I swung on it a bit.
I’ll share some advice I read from moms of higher-level gymnasts: once your gymnast is training skills beyond a kip (roughly level 4), home gymnastics bars are basically unnecessary. At that level, a floor bar for pirouettes is more useful.
You can also consider a pull up bar for general upper body strength, useful at all levels. And, they don’t take up much space!
One final note on the best gymnastics bar for home: if you want your gymnast to have a “gym-like” experience, I don’t recommend the metal bars like these. The actual women’s uneven bars in gymnastics are fiberglass with wood coating, not metal. So, the feeling and diameter will be off, which can lead to making it even harder for gymnasts to transfer skills from home to gym.
Best Balance Beam for Home
After a lot of research, this balance beam for home was the winner!
It’s the Tumbl Trak Brianna Beam, which I chose for a few reasons. The main one was a gym-like feel, as I discussed earlier with the bars. Reviews said the Brianna Beam’s suede covering is very similar to that of a competition balance beam.
I also like the adjustable height. You can set the beam right on the ground, use the included risers (as I’m doing currently), or purchase another set of risers to make it even taller. (You can see some images with the additional risers in the Amazon customer review images.)
Finally, the Brianna Beam is 8′ long, which is half the length of a competition beam. But, one end of the Brianna Beam is actually velcro-ed on, so you can pull that down and use a dowel rod to attach a second Brianna Beam. That would make a full length competition beam, whereas most other beams I looked at did not have any expansion options. Again, this isn’t a big deal if your gymnast is smaller. But, it’s nice to have the flexibility as your child gets older and begins to work on connecting multiple skills or wants to practice a full routine at home.
If the Brianna Beam is outside your budget, Tumbl Trak also offers the Addie Beam. What’s different about Brianna Beam vs. Addie Beam? Addie Beam is also 8′ long, but does not have the expansion option that Brianna Beam does. The Addie is also lower to the ground than Brianna, and Addie’s height is non-adjustable. That said, I’m confident the Addie Beam would still be an excellent product. If you don’t intend to expand to a full length beam in the future, it might be worth it to save some money and go with the Addie Beam over the Brianna Beam.
If you’re looking for a taller balance beam for home, consider this home balance beam. However, keep in mind that some reviews on those type of beams indicated the beam doesn’t feel quite like the one in the gym. Namely, some reviews said the beam is considerably more padded than a competition gymnastics beam.
One more option–if you’re short on space, consider a folding floor beam like this. Bonus: the rainbow design is incredibly cute.
Best Gymnastics Mats for Home Use
When it comes to gymnastics equipment for home, you definitely want mats to keep your gymnast safe!
We have an 8′ mat under the bar and a 10′ mat under the beam. Because the beam itself is 8′ long, I wanted enough mat to give my kids some room to jump on and off, hence the longer mat.
We also have a couple extra 8′ panel mats for home that we use for practicing tumbling skills. The folded mat at the end of the beam is because Blair likes to jump onto it after she uses the beam. When she’s not doing that, we velcro it to the other panel mat to allow room for more tumbling.
Most gymnastics mats for home use that you find on Amazon are going to be a bit thicker and softer than actual panel mats used at the gym. I don’t mind this, especially with little ones who aren’t as coordinated as older gymnasts. But, if you want a true gym-like experience, get a brand like Tumbl Trak or Resilite, which are brands that gyms often use. Personally, I chose to get mostly cheaper mats so I could splurge on nicer equipment.
Extra Gymnastics Equipment for Home
Depending on your gymnast’s skill level, you might want to consider adding other gymnastics equipment for home.
A wedge mat for home like this one is great for working forward and backward rolls, backbends, kickovers, standing up from a bridge, etc. The folding design is great because it allows for a smaller footprint, plus a wider array of skills.
Another popular option is an octagon mat for home. These are most useful for gymnasts working walkovers and/or handsprings (front and back).
Lots of gymnasts love air tracks! They generally come in 4″ or 8″ thickness, and you’ll want the 8″ unless your gymnast is very small. Otherwise, you risk bottoming out. A shorter length is fine for single skills (like a standing back handspring), but you’ll want to get a longer version if your gymnast wants to train full passes on it.
Shop the Best Gymnastics Equipment for Home Use
I’ve linked all of the gymnastics equipment for home I discussed in this post below. Please leave a comment below or message me if you have any specific questions about our home gymnastics setup!
Pin the best gymnastics equipment for home for later!
Read these next:
