Gymnasts are among the most flexible of all athletes.

Gymnastics emphasizes flexibility due to the need for gymnasts to adopt certain specific positions in order to perform skills. The flexibility demands of gymnastics are probably the most significant and unique aspects of gymnastics that serves to separate gymnastics from most other sports.

It is believed that flexibility can be an effective aid to the reduction of injury, preventing athletes from forcing a limb to an injurious range of motion. Flexibility can also be overdone when a gymnast relies on an increased range of motion in inappropriate positions, particularly the spine. However, the research on gymnastics' contribution to spine disorders and disc degeneration has been mixed. Care should be taken to ensure that gymnasts develop flexibility in appropriate postures and that appropriate and planned progressions are used in developing new ranges of motion.