The Greek word ‘œGymnasein’ means to exercise and the sport of gymnastics has been a widely held sport since Olympic times. The gymnastics bars are a type of equipment gymnasts use to show off their various skills and agility and gracefulness.

Some athletic facts which are common about all kinds of gymnastics bars are:

• Gymnasts wear leather straps or grips to maintain a firm grip on the bars or they put chalk to ensure their hands are less slippery.

• Olympics have 3 bar events: uneven, parallel and high bars. Only women compete in the uneven bar event, which started in 1936 with only Czechoslovakian participants braved to participate in it at that time.

• The gymnasts bar events include showing off several antics like circling, pirouettes, twists and turns without touching the floor.

• In ancient times, Gymnasts used the backs of bulls as ‘œbars’.

• Parallel bars are usually 6 ft 4 inches in height, 16 to 20 inches in width and 11.5 ft in length. A horizontal bar is 9 ft in height, 1 inch diameter and 8 ft in length.

• Uneven bars have 6 ft space between them. The lower bar is 5.4 ft in height and the higher bar is 8 ft in height.

• There are many types of activities done on the bars. For example, handstands: where the person balances upside down on his/her hands on the bars, back and front tuck: which is flip in the direction as mentioned, glide and glide kip: where the gymnasts toes glide under the bar and/or move upwards toward the ceiling; pull over: the gymnast takes a semi circle around the bar to come back to position; front hip circle: circling the bar starting from the top; pirouette: Swing around the bar from handstand position; fly away: A gymnast swings over the bar, draws her knees to her chest and completes a back tuck off the bar; twists: The gymnast adds a twist while executing a tuck; tap swings: The gymnast hangs from the high bar and then swings her body by arching it.

• Since there are various possibilities of a gymnast getting injured, there are certain guidelines made by the International Organisation of Standardisation which need to be followed. For examples, The ISO 379:1980 specified the rules for horizontal bars.

• Budding gymnasts wear a spotting belt attached to the ceiling when learning new tricks on the bars in case they lose balance and happen to fall.

• Some points to remember before trying acts on a bar or watching someone on a bar are to ensure that the bars are stable, not to go too close to someone who is on the bar and never try something you are not comfortable with.

Like ballet, a lot of strength and coordination is needed for gymnastics especially those done on a gymnastic bar as a gymnast is just balanced on either of the limbs. It takes years of training and a gymnast usually starts young before they can show off their skills on a gymnastic bar.