If you have ever watched gymnastics then you have seen what amazing things can be done on the 4” wide balance beam. One important part to mastering the following top 10 gymnastics moves on the beam is to video yourself doing them so you can see where you need to improve at.

1. Round-Off Back Layout Salto With Full Twist Mount

This is one of the most difficult mounts that there is for the balance beam, so it should come as no surprise that it is rated as a level G mount. This mount requires a little bit of a running start towards the end of the beam along with the use of a springboard.

After a few steps of a running start, the gymnast will do a round-off landing with her feet onto the springboard and facing away from the beam at that point. Without a pause the gymnast must use the momentum to do a back salto in the layout position. Perhaps the hardest part of this is doing a full twist at the same time in order to land on her feet on the end of the beam facing away from the rest of the beam.

2. Round-Off Arabian Salto Mount

This move, even though its name might not be as long as the name of the previous mount, is just as hard and is also rated as a level G mount. Like the last gymnastics move on my list, the gymnast doing it needs a little bit of room to start with as well as a springboard.

At first this one starts off with the gymnast doing a regular round-off onto the springboard which has her facing away from the beam. From there she does an Arabian salto which, like the round-off, will also have her change the direction that she is facing in so that she lands on the end of the beam facing the rest of the beam.

3. Free Aerial Round-Off

This might be easy enough to do on the floor, but an aerial round-off done not on the floor but on the beam is difficult enough to deserve its E skill rating. For this move on the beam the gymnast has to start on one end of the beam and facing the rest of the beam in order to have plenty of room.

Starting with her arms in the air, the gymnast takes only one step forward in before throwing herself forward and down. Meanwhile, first one foot is going into the air, followed by the other in order for the gymnast to land facing the opposite direction than she was when she started the round-off.

4. Aerial Cross-Beam Cartwheel

This move looks almost impossible when it is done right. It is rated as an E skill, and it certainly deserves that rating. In order to do it the gymnast starts on the beam facing one side and standing on only one foot with her other foot only slightly raised to the side of the bar where she is facing.

Once in this position she throws her head down and towards the beam as her free leg swings back and up. The leg that she is standing on follows when the first leg gets to near vertical and follows the other leg all the way around and lands on the bar after the first one. If this is done properly the gymnast will land on the same exact spot on the beam and facing the opposite direction than what she was before she started this move.

5. Layout Back Salto With Full Twist

This extremely difficult gymnastics skill is considered to be a level G skill when it is done on the balance beam, partially because of how hard it is to do a backward flip of any kind and still land on the beam at the end of it. To get into position for this move the gymnast must be near one of the ends of the beam and facing away from the beam.

Once here the gymnast is then supposed to flip backwards while keeping her body as straight as she can in the layout position which has both legs pressed firmly together. As she does this she also does a full twist so that when she lands with both feet still together she is facing the same direction that she was before.

6. Double Turn With Leg At Horizontal

This turn on the balance beam is hard enough to be given an E skill grade since, while it is pretty self-explanatory, it is very hard to do without becoming off balanced. To get into position for this gymnastics move the gymnast faces the side with the feet placed separately on the beam and her arms held horizontally in the air.

From there the gymnast swings one leg up into the air horizontally to help get some momentum in order to do two full turns so that she ends facing the same direction that she was when she started. Meanwhile her arms get pulled in so that they do not slow her momentum down, going back out to horizontal at the end to help with balance.

7. Switch Split Ring Leap

This is a leap that can be done on the balance beam and there should be no surprise that it is difficult enough to warrant being a level E skill on the balance beam. The gymnast starts off near one end of the beam and facing the other end of the beam.

Form here she takes one step as she swings one leg forward to horizontal and then back to past horizontal while her other leg goes forward to make the splits. Meanwhile her head and torso tilts back in order to make a ring shape with her body. She lands on the foot that was the last to lift off of the beam.

8. Round-Off To Double Pike Back Salto Dismount

This dismount is an E level difficulty and if done right it should take up basically the whole length of the beam. Starting at one end and taking a couple of steps for the sake of momentum, the gymnast starts off by doing a round-off towards the other end, trying to land on her feet as close to the end of the beam as possible.

Without a pause the gymnast then goes straight into a backward salto in the pike position, flipping end of end two full times to land on her feet facing the beam that she just jumped off of.

9. Round-Off Into Stretched Back Salto With A Triple Twist

This is another gymnastics move that looks amazing and it is just as hard to do which is why it is a level H skill. The round-off on the balance beam is a difficult but fairly common thing that you might see if you watch gymnastics, but doing the stretched back salto with a triple twist is where the real difficulty comes in.

While the gymnast does not need to start on the opposite end of the bar for this move, she does need enough space to round-off towards the end that she plans on using. Once there she does a backwards flip, not turning end over end in the air but instead twisting around in the air three complete times.

10. Back Walkover To Backflip To Back Double Tucked Salto With Double Twist Dismount

This gymnastics dismount not only has a very long name, but it is also so difficult that it is ranked as a level H skill because it is so hard to do. This takes up every available inch of the space of the balance beam as the gymnast starts at one end and saltos off of the other end.

The gymnast starts at one end, facing away from the rest of the beam and goes into a back walkover. Form there and without pausing she goes straight into a backflip, her feet here land as close to the end of the beam as possible. From there she does a backward tucked salto so that she flips twice in the air and rotates around twice as well.