Skills & Levels

Choose a program and understand your next step.

• Start hereArtistic Gymnastics Moves: A Beginner’s Guide by Event
• Start hereUSAG Gymnastics Levels 1–10: What Changes as Gymnasts Progress?
• Moving From Compulsory to Optional Gymnastics: Level 5 to Level 6
• Xcel and DP Levels: Why There Is No Exact Conversion Chart
• Xcel to JO: How to Smoothly Transition into USAG Development Program
• Gymnastics Age Requirements by Level: When Can Kids Start Competing?
• All-Around vs. Event Specialist: How USAG Optional Gymnastics Entry and Progression Differ
• Is Level 10 Enough? Understanding a Gymnast’s Next Options
• USAG Women’s Mobility Scores: Requirements for Moving Up
• How to Qualify for U.S. Elite Gymnastics: Compulsories, Scores and Next Steps
• Is a Backflip or Frontflip Easier? A Complete Breakdown
• Reading Gymnastics Skill Names: What “Salto” Tells You
• Which is Best for Beginners: Frontflip, Backflip, or Sideflip?
• What Is a Belly Beat in Gymnastics?
• What is the Biles II Move?
• Gymnastics Dismounts: Perfecting the Last Step of Your Routine
• What is a Straddle in Gymnastics?
• The Hardest Apparatus in Gymnastics: Which One Challenges Athletes the Most?
• What Are the 3 Main Types of Splits in Gymnastics?
• PlannedShould My Child Repeat a Gymnastics Level?

  Questions about progress, confidence and preparation to discuss with a coach.

Explore whole-level guides and grouped apparatus requirements.

• Start hereUSAG Women’s Skill Requirements: A Guide to Levels 1–10
• Level 1 Gymnastics Skills: All Four Events Explained
• Level 2 Gymnastics Skills: What Gymnasts Learn on Each Event
• Level 3 Gymnastics Skills: What Gymnasts Learn on Each Event
• Level 4 Gymnastics Skills: Requirements on Every Event
• Level 5 Gymnastics Skills: The Last Compulsory Level
• USAG Vault Skill Requirements (Levels 1–5)
• USAG Uneven Bars Skill Requirements (Levels 1–5)
• USAG Beam Routine Skill Requirements (Levels 1–5)
• USAG Floor Exercise Skill Requirements (Levels 1–5)
• Balance Beam Requirements: USAG Women’s Levels 6–10
• PlannedUSAG Level 6 Skill Requirements

  Explore women’s USAG Level 6 across vault, uneven bars, beam and floor, with links to supported requirements lookups.

• PlannedUSAG Level 7 Skill Requirements

  Explore women’s USAG Level 7 across vault, uneven bars, beam and floor, with links to supported requirements lookups.

• PlannedUSAG Level 8 Skill Requirements

  Explore women’s USAG Level 8 across vault, uneven bars, beam and floor, with links to supported requirements lookups.

• PlannedUSAG Level 9 Skill Requirements

  Explore women’s USAG Level 9 across vault, uneven bars, beam and floor, with links to supported requirements lookups.

• PlannedUSAG Level 10 Skill Requirements

  Explore women’s USAG Level 10 across vault, uneven bars, beam and floor, with links to supported requirements lookups.

Understand the six divisions and how routines are built.

• Start hereXcel Gymnastics Levels: Finding Your Way from Bronze to Sapphire
• What Is Xcel Sapphire Gymnastics? Requirements, Skills & Scoring
• How Start Value Is Calculated in Xcel Gymnastics (Bronze to Sapphire)
• PlannedXcel Bronze Skill Requirements

  Understand the Bronze division across the four women’s events and explore reviewed event requirements.

• PlannedXcel Silver Skill Requirements

  Understand the Silver division across the four women’s events and explore reviewed event requirements.

• PlannedXcel Gold Skill Requirements

  Understand the Gold division across the four women’s events and explore reviewed event requirements.

• PlannedXcel Platinum Skill Requirements

  Understand the Platinum division across the four women’s events and explore reviewed event requirements.

• PlannedXcel Diamond Skill Requirements

  Understand the Diamond division across the four women’s events and explore reviewed event requirements.

• PlannedHow Xcel Routines Are Put Together

  Understand how requirements and personal strengths shape an Xcel routine.

Recognize body shapes, rotations and tumbling combinations.

• Start hereFrom Rolls to Roundoffs: A Beginner’s Guide to Tumbling Skills
• Cartwheel vs. Roundoff: Why the Landing and Next Movement Differ
• Walkover, Handspring or Aerial? How to Tell Gymnastics Skills Apart
• Tuck, Pike and Layout: How to Recognize Gymnastics Body Shapes
• Flip or Twist? How to Tell Gymnastics Rotations Apart
• The Hardest Women’s Floor Skills: Biles II, Moors and the H-Rated Contenders
• How Gymnastics Floor Music Works: Compulsory, Optional and Elite
• Women’s Floor Exercise Explained: Tumbling, Dance and How the Routine Fits Together
• 10 Best Upbeat & Sassy Gymnastics Floor Music Ideas for 2026
• How to Make Your Own Gymnastics Floor Music from Scratch
• Planning a Floor-Music Timeline: Match the Cues to the Routine
• Gymnastics Floor Music Showdown: Best Websites Ranked (2026)
• Compulsory Floor Music for USAG Levels 1–5: Finding and Using the Official Tracks
• Choosing Floor Music for Optional Gymnastics: From Shortlist to Meet Day
• The Pike Position in Gymnastics: Recognizing the Shape Beyond Straight Legs
• What Makes a Gymnastics Skill a Layout? Reading the Stretched Shape
• What Is a Full-Twisting Back Layout? Shape, Rotation and Skill Credit
• Half, Full and Double: How to Read Gymnastics Twist Names
• What Music Adds to Women’s Floor Exercise
• PlannedHow Gymnasts Put a Tumbling Pass Together

  See how gymnasts combine entries, connecting skills and finishes into one tumbling pass.

• PlannedWhy Do Gymnasts Add a Whip Between Flips?

  Recognize a whip salto and understand its place between other tumbling skills.

• PlannedHow to Spot a Double Back and Count Its Twists

  Learn what to watch when a double somersault also includes twists.

Follow the balances, dance, acrobatics and dismounts.

• Start hereBalance Beam Skills: What to Watch from Mount to Dismount
• Dance Skills in Gymnastics: Leaps, Turns and the Movements Between Them
• The Wolf Turn in Gymnastics: What Makes It So Special?
• Beam Mounts Explained: Entry Types, Difficulty and Routine Choices
• Seven Difficult Beam Skills Compared: Mounts, Acrobatics and Dismounts
• PlannedHow to Tell Gymnastics Turns Apart

  Use body position and rotation to recognize turns on beam and floor.

• PlannedWhen Do Two Beam Skills Become a Series?

  Understand what connects two beam skills into a series.

• PlannedFront Aerial, Side Aerial or Side Somersault? Spot the Difference

  Compare direction, body position and hand support to distinguish these beam skills.

Get to know swings, circles, releases and transitions.

• Start hereHow to Follow an Uneven Bars Routine
• How to Recognize Uneven-Bars Transitions
• Tkatchev, Jaeger and Gienger: A Guide to Recognizing Bar Releases
• 7 Basic Uneven Bars Skills for Beginners
• A Comprehensive Guide to Bar Circles in Gymnastics
• Uneven Bars Release Moves: Names, Types and Examples
• The 8 Most Difficult Uneven Bars Skills (2025–2028 Code of Points)
• PlannedWhat Does a Cast Do in a Bars Routine?

  Understand why a gymnast pushes away from the bar before the next skill.

• PlannedHow Gymnasts Swing All the Way Around the Bar

  Recognize giant swings and how they fit into a bars routine.

• PlannedWhat Changes When a Gymnast Changes Grip?

  See how changing hand position changes the movement around a bar.

• PlannedFrom Flyaways to Double Flips: Uneven Bars Dismounts

  Recognize the shapes and rotations used to finish an uneven bars routine.

Start with the entry and compare vault families.

• Start hereGymnastics Vaults: How to Recognize the Names and Families
• The Basics of Gymnastics Vault: How Beginners Get Started
• Tsukahara vs. Yurchenko: How to Recognize the Entry and the Complete Vault
• The Hardest Vaults Ever Performed in Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics
• Yurchenko Double Pike: Simone Biles’ Record-Breaking Vault
• What Makes Biles’ Yurchenko Double Pike Vault So Hard?
• Gymnastics Vault Families: The Five FIG Groups Explained
• PlannedYurchenko Full, Double or Amanar? Watch the Twists

  Count the twists to tell these related Yurchenko vaults apart.

• PlannedCheng vs. Amanar: How to Tell Them Apart

  Compare the entry and flight of the Cheng and Amanar.

Explore men’s levels and learn what to watch on each event.

• Start hereMen’s Gymnastics Levels: Where Beginners Start and How They Progress
• Start herePommel Horse for New Fans: Circles, Scissors and Travels
• Start hereStill Rings Skills: Holds, Swings and Dismounts to Recognize
• Start hereHow to Follow a High Bar Routine
• Start hereWhat to Watch in a Parallel Bars Routine
• Learning Circles and Flairs: How Coaches Build Pommel-Horse Progress
• Men’s Floor Exercise Explained: Tumbling, Transitions and the 2025–2028 Rules
• Why Still Rings Demand So Much Strength—and More Than Strength Alone
• Which Gymnastics Event Is the Hardest? (WAG vs. MAG Breakdown)
• Watching Pommel Horse: Circles, Flairs and the Details That Change a Skill
• Reading Difficult Men’s Floor Skills: Five Examples Beyond the Twist Count
• Men’s vs. Women’s Floor Exercise: Key Differences Explained
• Classic Still Rings Positions Explained (Beginner to Advanced)
• Magyar and Sivado Explained: How Pommel-Horse Travels Work
• Uneven Bars vs. High Bar: Equipment, Skills and Routines Compared
• Men’s and Women’s Vault Compared: Height, Skills and Scoring
• Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics Events: What They Share and Why They Differ
• Pommel Horse vs. Rings: How These Men’s Gymnastics Events Differ
• PlannedThe High Bar Release Moves Worth Knowing

  Recognize the main high bar release families and what sets them apart.

• PlannedChoosing a Men’s Gymnastics Path: Club, National or Elite?

  Planned guide to men’s domestic programs, with requirements checked against the applicable USA Gymnastics manual.

• PlannedHow Men’s Compulsory Routines Work

  Planned guide to men’s domestic programs, with requirements checked against the applicable USA Gymnastics manual.

Follow useful connections across Gymnast Gem.

• Balance Beam Basics: 5 Essential Exercises for New Gymnasts
• The Most Difficult Gymnastics Moves in MAG and WAG (2025–2028 Code)
• The Hardest Gymnastics Routines: Women’s vs. Men’s Events
• Banned Gymnastics Moves: What’s Really Banned, and What Just Disappeared
• Learning to Walk on a Balance Beam: Foot Placement, Pace and Control
• Learning a Kip on Bars: Timing, Drill Purpose and Signs of Progress
• 5 Essential Bar Exercises for Gymnastics Beginners
• How Do Gymnasts Get a Move Named After Them?
• Simone Biles’ Signature Moves and Other Famous Skills Named After Gymnasts
• How Gymnastics Judges Decide Whether a Skill Gets Credit
• Gymnastics and Dance: Which Skills Transfer—and Which Need New Coaching?
• Mushroom vs. Pommel Trainer vs. Full Horse: When to Progress
• Four Core Turning Skills on the Mushroom (Pommel Horse Basics)
• What Is the Thomas Salto, and Why Is It Banned?
• Iron Cross vs. Maltese: Body Position, Difficulty and Training Demands