Published by: Julia
Simone Biles Gymnastics Masterclass is what every budding gymnast needs. The four-time Olympic gold medalist covers everything from technique to mindset in this masterclass. It is a great course for parents as well as budding gymnasts.
Learning gymnastics from Simone Biles
If you want to become a better gymnast, there is no doubt that you can learn a lot from Simone Biles. This young artistic gymnastic had already won 14
She is also a surprisingly good teacher. For someone who has never done anything like this or held an official coaching role, she has made an exceptionally good course. Her style is engaging, she gets to the point quickly and does not pad her videos out with waffle. At just 17 videos, this is quite a short masterclass. But, she packs a lot in, so actually ends up offering excellent value for money.
By the way, we recommend purchasing Masterclass for more than just one single course. The value comes when you take several. If you want to read our review of the whole platform, check out this Masterclass review article.
If you want to just find out what some of the best masterclasses are, this is the article for you.
Who is this gymnastics masterclass for?
Before I dive in and tell you more about the contents of this course, I thought it would be handy to share with you who I think could benefit from taking it. I am not a gymnast myself, too old and clumsy.
So, I got a bit of help with reviewing this course from friends. Specifically, two teenagers who have competed as gymnastics at amateur level and their parents. They had bought and taken the course already. So, they were able to explain to me who they thought could benefit from this masterclass.
- Artistic gymnasts at beginner to intermediate level
- Other kinds of gymnasts at beginner to intermediate level
- The parents of young gymnasts
- People studying for a sports-related career
- Gymnastics fans
- Anyone who wants to learn about self-motivation and becoming successful
Now, I know some of you will be wondering why they did not conclude it was a course for advanced athletes, as advertised. Basically, the girls, who are themselves quite advanced felt that they already knew all of the techniques Simone shared. But, despite this, they still said they enjoyed the course, would watch it again and recommend it to others.
As I mentioned earlier, I also took the course, so I could tell you more about the content. Below, is my overview and observations of the course.
Let Simone inspire and motivate you
As a non-athlete I was not really expecting to take a lot away from the course. But, I was dead wrong there. Simone’s is an incredible story. She had a tough start in life, spending time in foster care before living with her grandfather and his wife on a permanent basis. But, this definately did not hold her back in anyway.
Her’s is an inspiring story. So, get the full-story by watching the whole course. I was particularly interested to learn how she found the motivation to reach the level she has in her sport, so far. Throughout the course, she shares numerous tips on this very subject. For example:
“Every year I actually try to write down my short-term and long-term goals…. Really dial down and try to accomplish what you want.”
Simone Biles Teaches Gymnastics Fundamentals – Masterclass.com
Mastering the basics
Simone starts by explaining why you need to master the basics. If you are the parent of a child who is not convinced this, is necessary, just get them to watch this video first. I suspect that when they hear Simone tell them it is essential, they will find the motivation to work through the boredom and lay a strong foundation for themselves.
During the rest of the course, for example in the bars basic video, Simone shares some of the things she struggled with. Surprisingly, this included mastering the basics. In that video, she explains how she managed to overcome that issue. So, if you do have a kid who is struggling or are finding it hard to grind through the basics yourself, watch that video too.
Uneven bars basics and advanced classes
In these videos, Simone focuses on the following elments:
- Rhythm
- Swing
- Form
I found it helpful to slow the video down to half speed and put the subtitles on for the bars videos, particularly for the form section. This enabled me to really study the form and positioning Simone described and guided you through.
As you can see from my full masterclass.com review, the ability to slow down, speed up and use subtitles is a feature of all of the courses. Most of the time, I do not choose to use this facility. But, for this gymnastics course, it came in very handy.
To me, the drills Simone provides seemed to be comprehensive. You get 18 basic bar skill drills and 8 advanced ones. Most of the advanced drills combine some of the basic skills she covered in the basic video.
Throughout both videos, she explains how the forces of gravity, muscling up and doing too many reps can impact your ability to accurately perform the movements. Importantly, she also shows you how to counter all of these potentially negative factors and how to recover and cover up the mistakes you will inevitably make.
Finally, Simone brings everything together nicely, by taking you through footage of her bar work in her 3rd video. This is an approach that works really well. It is great to see her in action while you review what she has just taught you.
Plus, the workbook covers each exercise, drill and technique in a clear, concise and easy to understand way. The still pictures and precise instructions really help to clarify things.
It is a resource you can use to quickly find what you want. personally, I would also make a note, in your workbook, of the points in the video where you can see each drill demonstrated. That way you can easily find the relevant footage again and watch it over.
Overcoming fear as a gymnast
Before moving on to the floor drills, Simone speaks about how to overcome your fear. All gymnasts struggle with this, including Simone. There are moves that feel impossible and dangerous. You almost cannot help but be afraid to do them. It is a natural human instinct, in that situation.
Fear can be a huge roadblock. One that virtually every gymnast has to overcome. In this video, Simone explains how she overcame the fears she had.
Floor exercises – basic and advanced
I loved watching this section. Again, to me, these 2 videos looked pretty comprehensive.
In them, Simone takes you through 10 different floor drills. As she goes she shares tips to help you to overcome errors you may make. Towards the end of the video, she again covers keeping your nerves under control and using your energy in a measured way.
How to give your best performance on meet day
There is no point in putting all that hard work if you can not perform well in competitions. So, it is good to see this subject covered too. Simone goes through the following:
- What to eat
- Why grooming matters
- How to use selective listening to help you to perform
- How to maintain your concentration
- Why superstitions are a bad thing
Balance beam drills – basic and advanced
To me, the balance beam looks to be the most difficult to master. The kicking drills looked impossible. They were demonstrated by a 9-year-old gymnast called Paislee. She was amazing.
I was really impressed with the way Simone explained each movement. She explained how to avoid making mistakes and how to correct if things go wrong. The addition of clever graphics made it even easier to follow these videos.
How to get the most out of working with coaches
Simone clearly loves working with her coaches Laurent and Cecile. She says that good communication is key and explains the different ways you need to communicate.
Basic and advanced vault exercises
This is an action-packed section of the course. Simone goes through the following drills:
- Front handspring drill
- Yurchenko preflight drill 1
- Yurchenko preflight drill 2
- Basic landing drills
- Postflight drill
- Off the vault drill
Once again, her instruction is in-depth. But, delivered in as concise a form as possible.
Setting goals and maturing as a gymnast
Simone finishes her masterclass by discussing setting yorself goals and progressng as a gymnast, athlete and performer. She explains how to pace yourself through the year.
Her approach is to set herself both long and short-term goals. It was interesting to me that not all of her short-term goals were steps to enable her to meet her long-term goals.
Simone Biles’ gymnastic fundamentals workbook
I liked Simone
It was good to see her including drills in her workbook. They were all extremely well illustrated and the explanations were all well-written and very concise.
You will also find details of how to carry out the visualisation and mind techniques Simone uses, in the workbook. I am terrible at visualisation, I’ve got no imagination at all. But, oddly I found that Simones body scanning technique enabled me to visualise, at least partially. Something I had never been able to do before. So, I found this to be particularly helpful.
Should I buy Simone Biles masterclass?
In my opinion, the answer to this question is a resounding yes. It would make a fantastic gift for any budding gymnast, or the parents of one. Anyone who is a fan of Simone or gymnastics is sure to enjoy it too. I really enjoyed it too and I don’t fall into any of those categories.
However, I do have one slight concern, which is that the community is very quiet. But, that could be because I watched this masterclass just a few weeks after it had been released.
At that point, I suspect not that many people had realised the course was available and signed up. But, there were 2 questions in the community section that had not yet been answered. There is clearly someone there looking after the community. They had already set up several potentially interesting and helpful threads. So, it is weird that they had not answered the questions, especially because some of the questions that were posted under the videos had in fact been answered. Hopefully, this aspect of the course will improve as more people take the course and get involved in the community.
If, like me, you have bought the all-access pass for $180 you would be daft not to make Simone’s one of the courses you take. After all, for the price of 2 masterclasses you have automatic access to all of the 60+ courses the world’s experts have already produced for the platform. So, why not do what I did, mix things up a bit and take some of the more unusual courses. It is a great way to broaden your horizons, a little.
Also, if you want to take Simone’s class and do not have an all-access pass, I suggest that you consider buying one. Access to an individual masterclass costs $90. The all-access pass costs $180 and you get access to all 60+ classes for a year. Personally, I’ve found the all-access pass to be the best option. View The Course Here.