Every time an Olympic gymnast appears on Dancing with the Stars, predictions fly. “She’s got this.” “Easy winner.” “How can anyone compete with that body control?”

And often – though not always – those predictions prove right. Simone Biles. Laurie Hernandez. Shawn Johnson. Nastia Liukin. The gymnast track record on DWTS is undeniably strong.

But why? The obvious answer – “they’re athletic” – misses what actually creates the advantage. Understanding the real reasons gymnasts succeed can help any dancer accelerate their own learning.

Yes, Gymnasts Have an Advantage – But Not for Obvious Reasons

Let’s address the elephant in the ballroom: gymnasts aren’t better at dancing because they can do back flips. The acrobatic skills that win Olympic medals rarely appear in DWTS routines – and when they do, they’re tricks, not dancing.

The real advantages are deeper, less visible, and far more transferable to regular dancers. In fact, understanding these advantages can help you develop the same qualities – even if you’ve never touched a balance beam.

Advantage 1: Learning Discipline

Elite gymnasts have spent 10,000+ hours learning to learn. They know how to receive corrections without ego. They understand that mastery comes from repetition. They’ve practiced the same skill hundreds of times to gain millimeters of improvement.

This learning discipline transfers directly to dance.

When a choreographer says “your arm is slightly wrong,” a gymnast hears specific, actionable feedback. A novice might hear criticism. The gymnast fixes the arm; the novice wonders if they’re bad at this.

When a routine requires drilling the same section twenty times, a gymnast settles into the repetition. They know this is how improvement works. Someone without that background might get frustrated, bored, or convinced the teacher is wasting their time.

The discipline to receive correction productively might be the single most valuable skill a dancer can develop. Gymnasts arrive with it pre-installed.

How to Build This Advantage

You don’t need a gymnastics background to develop learning discipline. You need to adopt the mindset:

Corrections are gifts. Your teacher sees something you can’t see. When they point it out, they’re helping you improve – not attacking you.

Repetition is the path. The first ten attempts at any skill are warm-ups. Real learning happens in attempts 11-50.

Plateaus require patience. Progress isn’t linear. Sometimes you work hard with no visible improvement – and then everything clicks. Gymnasts have learned to trust this process.

Advantage 2: Emotional Resilience

Olympic gymnastics is a sport of perfection under pressure. One wobble costs medals. One mental lapse ends careers. The athletes who succeed have developed extraordinary emotional regulation.

This resilience shows up on DWTS in ways the audience might not recognize:

When they make a mistake in rehearsal, they don’t spiral. They note it, adjust, and keep going. When nerves hit before a live performance, they have tools to manage the anxiety. When judges offer criticism, they process it without crumbling.

Compare this to a typical adult beginner who’s never performed under pressure. The first mistake triggers self-criticism. Nerves create panic rather than focus. Critical feedback feels like failure. Each emotional spike interrupts the learning process.

Research on psychological resilience shows it can be developed through exposure and practice. Gymnasts have had years of exposure. Dancers can build similar resilience through events – Practice Parties, showcases, competitions – that create manageable doses of performance pressure.

How to Build This Advantage

Seek low-stakes performance opportunities. Practice Parties and Group Classes let you experience being watched without devastating consequences. Each exposure builds tolerance.

Normalize mistakes. Every error is data, not disaster. Gymnasts make thousands of mistakes en route to Olympic routines. You will too.

Develop a reset ritual. When things go wrong mid-dance, have a mental cue that brings you back to the present. Take a breath, feel your feet, continue.

Advantage 3: Kinesthetic Awareness

Gymnasts know where their bodies are in space – what’s called proprioception or kinesthetic awareness. They can feel the difference between a leg at 45 degrees and 50 degrees. They sense rotation without thinking about it. They’ve calibrated their body awareness through years of precision training.

This awareness accelerates dance learning dramatically.

When a teacher says “your hip should be here, not here,” a gymnast can feel the difference immediately. They can replicate the correct position because their body gives them accurate feedback. A novice might need external reference – a mirror, a video, hands-on adjustment – because their internal feedback system hasn’t developed yet.

In fact, much of early dance training is really about building this awareness. You’re not just learning steps – you’re learning to perceive your own movement accurately.

How to Build This Advantage

Dance without mirrors sometimes. Mirrors are useful, but they can become a crutch. Try dancing without visual feedback to strengthen internal awareness.

Close your eyes. In controlled settings (like during balance exercises), close your eyes and feel your body position. This forces reliance on kinesthetic rather than visual information.

Pay attention to sensation. During lessons, focus on how correct movement feels, not just what it looks like. Build a library of correct sensations you can reference.

Advantage 4: Coaching Adaptability

Elite gymnasts have worked with multiple coaches throughout their careers. They’ve learned that different coaches communicate differently – and that their job is to extract useful information regardless of coaching style.

Some coaches are technical. Others are emotional. Some explain in detail; others demonstrate and expect imitation. Gymnasts learn to adapt to whatever style they encounter.

This flexibility shows up on DWTS when a professional partner has a particular teaching approach. Instead of needing the instruction delivered in a specific way, gymnasts adjust to their partner’s style. They’re focused on getting the information, not on how the information is packaged.

How to Build This Advantage

Work with different teachers. If your studio allows, take occasional lessons with instructors other than your primary teacher. Each one will communicate slightly differently, expanding your ability to learn from varied sources.

Focus on content, not delivery. Your teacher might not explain things the way you’d prefer. That’s okay. Extract the useful information and apply it, rather than wishing for different communication.

Ask clarifying questions. If you don’t understand, say so. “Can you show me that again?” or “What should this feel like?” gets you the information you need regardless of initial delivery.

The Great Equalizer

Here’s where the gymnast advantage hits its limits: musicality and partner connection.

Gymnastics routines are set to music, but gymnasts aren’t interpreting music the way dancers do. They’re hitting predetermined marks. The music is background, not partner.

Ballroom dancing requires something different. You must hear the music and respond to it in real time. You must connect with a partner through lead and follow. These are relational skills – and they don’t automatically come with athletic prowess.

Watch carefully when gymnasts compete on DWTS. Their athleticism is obvious. But the judges’ critiques often focus on musicality, connection, and emotional expression – areas where athletic background provides less advantage.

Safe to say, this is encouraging news for non-athletes. The things you might be better at – listening to music, connecting with partners, expressing emotion – are things that matter enormously in dance. They’re not consolation prizes; they’re core skills.

What This Means for Your Dancing

The gymnast advantage isn’t about genetics or natural talent. It’s about developed qualities: learning discipline, emotional resilience, kinesthetic awareness, and coaching adaptability.

All of these can be built. Slowly, through practice and intention, but definitely.

The path isn’t gymnastics training – it’s dance training, approached with awareness of what you’re actually developing. Every lesson that challenges you builds resilience. Every correction you receive productively strengthens learning discipline. Every hour on the floor improves kinesthetic awareness.

You might not arrive with the gymnast’s head start. But you can develop the same underlying capacities. And unlike the gymnast, you might arrive with natural musicality or relational instincts that accelerate your dance-specific progress.

Different starting points. Same destination: competent, confident, expressive dancing.

The Real Question

Does it matter whether gymnasts have an advantage on a TV show?

Not really. What matters is whether you can improve – and you can. Whether you can build the qualities that accelerate learning – and you can. Whether dancing can transform your life the way it’s transformed countless others – and it absolutely can.

The gymnasts on DWTS aren’t competing with you. They’re demonstrating what’s possible when dedicated training meets quality instruction. That possibility is available to everyone willing to show up and do the work.

Your dance journey is your own. The gymnasts are just proof that transformation is real.

Now get to work.