Gymnastic Planet’s Christmas Gift guide!

Gymnastic Planet’s Christmas Gift guide!

There’s nothing better than seeing someone’s face light up when they open a present you’ve given them, but sometimes present buying feels like mind-reading and can be overwhelming. For the gymnasts in your life, it’s a safe bet that Gymnastic Planet has the perfect gifts for all circumstances right here. We’ve compiled a handy guide, plus a few puns, to help you sleigh at gift-giving this year and turn any resting Grinch face into a smile.

1. The bar necessities of life: Handguards, wristbands, loops and gloves.

Stockings are a great way to re-stock (haha) on all those important bits and bobs we need (socks anyone, or were we just not Santa’s favourites?). But don’t forget about the sporting essentials, especially when most gymnasts probably consider their guards more crucial than underwear.

Remember that we strongly recommend always having two pairs of handguards worn in and ready to use, just in case your primary pair gives up the Ghost of Christmas Present unexpectedly! You can’t have grips without wristbands, and the pair stuffed in the bottom of every gymnast’s handguard bag are likely getting a bit crusty and developing a peculiar smell right about now… time for a fresh pair! Crucial to comfort and perfectly squidgy to fill out the toe of a stocking, our cotton wristbands are a classic choice, but if you’re shopping for a gymnast who’s been particularly nice this year, why not treat them to a luxurious set of Drybands instead? Both have a range of colour options, and patriotic present-seekers will love our Home Nations styles.

Metal / shiny bar work is such a great tool for learning new skills, and the equipment you wear makes a big difference to your comfort and endurance when using it. Our superior metal bar gloves are designed to prevent friction injuries on wrists and keep you swinging all the way. We have a handy loops & glove bundle to get you started, or our new soft padded loops for a touch of luxe.

Image 1 Many gymnastics essentials make ideal stocking-fillers, secret Santa gifts and under-the-tree presents!

2. Panda Paws / Tiger Paws

Ever popular, our Panda Paws wrist supports are essential for older gymnasts, tumblers and cheerleaders working high-impact tumbles and vaults to alleviate wrist strain and provide an extra feeling of protection and confidence. Ideal for both those looking to prevent injury and those coming back from wrist injury, our wrist supports come in 4 sizes, a neutral colour suitable for competitions and with the additional option of foam or plastic inserts to customise the level of support you need. We also have vegan panda paws available!

Image 2 Panda Paws are a favourite wrist protection product for many gymnasts

3. Personalised Water Bottle.

There’s nothing worse than forgetting to take your water bottle to training. And second to straight knees and pointy toes, it’s probably the thing coaches remind everyone about most often! Made from aluminium for a light-weight, durable and leak-proof design, our water bottles have a 600ml capacity. Contact us ahead of time to have these personalised with your favourite colour.

4. Elf-ercise conditioning aids, all under £10!

Get a jump on feeling stronger than ever and ready for those new-year upgrades with our range of conditioning and flexibility products, which are conveniently light-weight and take up little storage space but have a big impact. More than half of a Gymnast’s training focuses on maintaining fitness, and it’s important to try new things to keep our bodies in tip-top shape. Gymnastic Planet resistance loops, power bands, core sliders and weighted skipping rope are great for some extra at-home strengthening, and our finger-strengthening tools address those often-forgotten smaller muscles to develop grip strength. All these items also make ideal and affordable secret Santa presents!

Image 3 Many of our strength and conditioning products are affordable and space-saving

Image 4 Tools like resistance tubes, power bands and resistance loops are great for building strength and dynamic flexibility

5. Give the Gift of Flexibility

Balance out all that strengthening by incorporating our massage balls into your stretching and show hard-working muscles some TLC. These make great stocking fillers and satisfyingly tricky-to-guess shapes when wrapped. But wait, there’s myrrh: if you weren’t born with the gift of being naturally bendy and must work extra hard for it, try our stretching solutions like the ProStretch, which can help alleviate numerous aches related to muscle tightness, or the Superior Ankle Stretcher – just what the coach (and judge) ordered for gymnasts looking to improve their leg and mistletoe elongation.

Image 5 Need some new straight legs and pointy toes for Christmas? Try the Superior Ankle Stretcher!

6. Chalk

You can never have enough of it and most importantly, whether you opt for individual blocks or boxes of 8, they’re a nice simple shape to wrap. Phew. Expert gift-wrappers, our convenient liquid chalks are the challenge for you.

7. Gym-nice-tics elf-care.

Ok sure, ‘Smellies’ like fizzy and creamy bath things are nice, but a gymnast’s top skin concern is their hand calluses: hard-won badges of glory and occasional pains in the – er – hand. Our Sandbar callus file and salve kit, paired with our working-hands care cream are the ultimate tools to look after your hands. If your calluses aren’t quite cutting it and gritty bar sessions are causing rips, a pack of our WOD and DONE tape handguards are the best solution for an extra layer of protection. Perfect for all bar-workers. Yes CrossFit champs, we see you too.

Image 7 Proper callus care is important for healthy hands. We recommend the Sandbar callus file and salve.

Image 6 WOD and DONE tape handguards prevent rips from occurring or worsening during long bar sessions.

8. A little something special

If you’re looking for a small token or special little something to elevate a gift bundle, check out our range of charms, perfect for adding to bracelets (especially BFF ones), necklaces or keyrings as a beautiful memento of your favourite sport. All super affordable at just a few pounds and super stylish paired with a jewellery gift bag.

Image 8 Our range of gymnastics-themed jewellery charms are so pretty! Especially in an organza gift bag.

9. It’s the most wonderful time for a new leotard

We are so excited to have recently embarked on a new, unique partnership with TURN and ERIN Europe, adding a new aspect of gymnastics apparel to the extensive range of gymnastics goods and services we offer. TURN gymnastics is the only brand dedicated solely to the sport of Men’s gymnastics, and ERIN gymnastics embodies pure gymnastics, with their ethos to ‘magnify athleticism, mind-body connection, agility and power’. Head over to their websites via the hyperlinks above to check out their incredible range of sportswear, or even design your own!

Image 10 TURN Gymnastics is the only brand dedicated solely to men's gymnastics.

Image 9 Erin Gymnastics leotards aim to magnify athleticism, agility and power, designed with both style and comfort in mind.

10. Ultra-Wow gifts

For gymnasts who have been very good this year and want to get even better, we have some top-of-the-range gifts they’ll be ecstatic to find under the tree. Our timber parallettes in both long and short options are perfect for gymnasts who just never stop and like to live upside-down, enabling them to work handstands, levers and planches to their hearts’ content without putting unnecessary extension strain on the wrists. Our single floor bar is also a great option for working handstands and pirouettes! For the relentlessly bouncy personalities, our Air Tumble Tracks for home use are the ultimate present and come in a range of colours and sizes, or if you’re needing to be space-conscious, an AirBoard is the perfect alternative with all the same benefits in micro size (and on sale!). But be quick as our AirBoard stock is limited!

Image 11 Our range of short and long timber parallettes are the perfect 'wow' gift.

Image 12 Imagine how thrilled any gymnast would be to receive an air track for Christmas!

We hope we’ve given you some tree-mendous gift ideas but if you still can’t find that perfect present, feel free to contact us for tailored advice. Be sure to also keep an eye on our Instagram for special offers and content! For UK-based customers, we recommend purchasing any Gymnastic Planet orders wanted in time for Christmas by 16^th of December to enjoy free 2^nd class delivery, and by 19^th December if using 1^st class signed-for delivery, to allow for planned Royal Mail strikes.

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, from the entire Gymnastic Planet team!