The most common question gymnasts are seeking from club gymnastics through NCAA Gymnasts are ways to improve your gymnastics mindset. My follow up question to them is if you were to divide success in gymnastics up into a pie chart, physical and mental, how would you divide it up…
Most, not all, lean towards the pie chart having a large chunk on the mental side. So then why do so few actually train their mentality when deep down they know this is the answer.
For many it boils down to a few reasons…They have no idea where to start or most common they do not have a repeatable system that works over and over again. On top of that if there is a system they found out there it’s SUPER COMPLEX and makes trying to improve your gymnastics mindset feel overwhelming
Spending the last handful of years working as a mental performance coach with some of the country’s top college gymnastics programs including Minnesota, Auburn, Alabama, TWU, Oregon State, and Nebraska my skillset isn’t the invention of new earth shattering ideas, it’s making things simple and repeatable.
Those programs have gone on to win 3 National Championships, 3 Conference Championships, and break numerous program records — including Minnesota making their historic first-ever Final Four appearance just this past weekend. None of that happens unless you improve your gymnastics mindset.
Here are the three pillars I return to with every athlete and every program I work with.
Improve Your Gymnastics Mindset 01: MISSION
In the beginning working to improve your gymnastics mindset, most gymnasts I work with make the same mistake when I first meet them: they show me a long list of goals and wonder why it doesn’t feel like they are creating much momentum.
There is a massive difference between movement and momentum. And most people are really good at moving versus creating momentum.
So why not a long list of goals? My first question is asking them what is their greatest resource…
And most think it’s “time” and so I ask just because you do gymnastics another year does that mean you got better? And they respond “No.” So “time” would be number 3 on the list.
The order of your greatest resources are:
- Attention
- Energy/Effort
- Time
Where you give your attention is where you give your energy. So if you give your attention to ONE thing for an entire year your energy is going to be better directed!
The next most important part of pillar one and improving your gymnastics mindset is the ability to make decisions.
“The word ‘decide’ comes from the Latin decidere to cut off. A real decision means cutting off every other option.”
There is a big difference between making a decision and making a choice. When you choose something you are picking something which means you can pick one thing today and pick something different tomorrow.
But when you make a decision today on what your mission is tomorrow it’s still the only option left! Making decisions becomes your superpower!
Choosing one dream outcome, your mission, and directing your full attention toward it is how elite athletes generate real momentum.
When I work with NCAA gymnastics programs one of the first things we do is get clear on that single north star. When you are truly decided, you’re not juggling possibilities.
What This Looks Like in Practice:
- Identify one single dream outcome. Not three. Not a list. One.
- Ask yourself daily: does what I’m doing right now move me toward that mission?
- If you’re not certain about your direction, be curious instead. Chaos is the only other option and chaos doesn’t win meets.
There are two worlds you can live in: chaos or certainty. And if you’re not certain, be curious. This is the foundation to improve your gymnastics mindset.
Improve Your Gymnastics Mindset 02: IDENTITY
Part two to improve your gymnastics mindset is expanding who you are. Here’s something I tell every athlete I sit down with: you don’t get what you want, you get who you are.
If who you are right now could produce your dream outcome, you’d already have it. The gap between where you are and where you want to go isn’t just a skills gap, it’s an identity gap.
It’s your perspective of the world! This does NOT mean that you crumble everything up about yourself, throw it away and start all over. There are already many incredible things about your right now and those will carry over…
But there are pieces that must be upgraded. The fastest place to start to noticing the beliefs that you have about yourself and your potential that are holding you back.
What labels are you giving yourself that aren’t serving you that are forcing you to play small compared to what you’re actually capable of!
You must grow from your version 1.0 into your version 2.0. The gymnast who achieves the mission isn’t who you are today, it’s who you’re becoming.
I’ve seen this play out at every program I’ve worked with. The athletes who break program records aren’t just training harder; they’ve fundamentally shifted how they see themselves.
Inside this pillar, two things matter most: your state and your story.
Tony Robbins has built an entire philosophy around state management, the idea that your physical and emotional state in any given moment determines your output.
High level gymnasts don’t leave their state to chance. They know their most powerful state and they learn to access it deliberately, before competition and before training.
Identity Work to Start Today:
- Ask: who is the version of me that achieves my mission? Write that person down in specific detail.
- Notice the story you tell yourself about your ability. That story is shaping your identity whether you’re paying attention to it or not.
- Identify your most powerful state and build a consistent routine to access it before you compete.
Knowing who you are right now is not a limitation, it’s data. It tells you exactly where the growth needs to happen. Expand your identity, and your performance will follow. This is the most critical part to improve your gymnastics mindset.
Improve Your Gymnastics Mindset 03: PROOF & EVIDENCE
The third and final part to improve your gymnastics mindset is stacking proof! This is the pillar that surprises people most. Confidence is widely misunderstood.
People think it’s a feeling, something that shows up on its own when things are going well.
Over the last handful of years I’ve come to define it differently: confidence is having undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. When that proof isn’t there yet, the answer is simple stack evidence.
Don’t trust your memory to do this job for you. The brain is wired to hold onto fear and forget wins. Build systems that keep your proof in front of your face.
Most people struggle to reinforce how badass they actually are. They struggle to have their own Sportscenter Top 10 reel that they can play whenever they want.
You must have these things in front of your face at all times! When it’s for you personally it could be writing things in your journal that you can go back and reference.
I have seen teams hang things in their gym so that their gymnasts see it every single day to the point that it would be unreasonable for them to not win!
The antidote is making your wins visible, tangible, and impossible to ignore. This isn’t ego it’s a system!
Ways to Stack Proof:
- Keep a win log, a daily record of moments where you showed up as the version 2.0 athlete.
- Use physical reminders: notes, phrases, or images placed where you’ll see them before training and competition.
- Review your proof deliberately. Confidence compounds when evidence is revisited, not just collected.
- Get creative video clips of your best routines, handwritten notes from coaches, breakthrough moments written in your own words.
If you don’t feel confident right now, that’s a signal not a verdict. Build the proof. Review the proof. Live as the person the proof describes.
The work to improve your gymnastics mindset never really stops but it starts with these three pillars.
Get clear on your mission so your attention has somewhere powerful to go. Shift your identity so the person you’re becoming can actually carry you to your dream outcome. And stack proof relentlessly, because confidence isn’t given it’s built.
I’ve watched these principles help athletes and programs do things they never thought possible. The question is simple: are you willing to do the inner work that makes the outer results inevitable? Improve your gymnastics mindset now!
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