What Is a Rod Floor in Gymnastics?

Although women's gymnastics comprises the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise and men's gymnastics includes the vault, floor exercise, parallel bars, high bar, pommel horse and still rings, gymnasts and coaches worldwide use a variety of different equipment to master new skills. Among these is the rod floor, used most frequently for tumbling.

  1. Rod Floor

    • A rod floor is a piece of gymnastics equipment made of metal or wooden rods rather than springs. Like a spring floor, a rod floor is covered with a foamy tumbling carpet so the gymnast can flip and twist on an even surface. While a competitive gymnastics floor exercise mat should generally measure 42 inches by 42 inches, rod floors are often longer and thinner so the athletes can use them to learn new tumbling moves or participate in tumbling competitions.

    Advantages

    • Rod floors are less bouncy than spring floors, so gymnasts will learn to depend on their own power for tumbling rather than on the piece of equipment. They are also longer, providing the athlete with more space to run into a new move. Because of their narrowness, gymnasts will learn to tumble in a straight line, rather than in a zigzag. Finally, they are often placed right next to a foam pit. That way, the gymnast can perform risky tumbling elements into a soft surface without the fear of getting hurt.

    Disadvantages

    • Rod floors are somewhat stiff. This means the impact of a gymnast's landing will be stronger and potentially painful. This can result in breaks and sprains or even overuse injuries like stress fractures. The narrow surface area is also not suitable for performing advanced gymnastics routines, since the athlete hardly has room to complete leaps, jumps, turns and dance choreography. Rod floors are also complicated to assemble. If assembled incorrectly, a gymnast could get hurt.

    Uses

    • Athletes use rod floors to learn new tumbling skills or to practice those that need more height or an improvement in technique. Beginner gymnasts can try basic skills like handstands, cartwheels and back and front walkovers, as these require no bounce or spring. In power tumbling, rod floors are used for competitions. These athletes must perform intricate, risky tumbling passes on the equipment.