When people think of rigorous sports training, gymnastics might not jump to mind. Executed properly, the sport looks to be more about technique than raw strength. According to the Stanford men’s gymnastics team, nothing could be further from the truth. The Cardinal trains intensely for hours and months on end — all for about one minute of competition.

“Practices can last up to four hours,” senior Dylan Carney said. “We warm up and stretch about 45 minutes [for injury prevention], and then generally there are three rotations of about 45 minutes each where we work on basic technique and skills.”

The athletes must strive for perfection every day. The Cardinal men know that one mistake could ruin a meet, a season or even a career.

“When you are working on new skills, it usually takes a long time to get the technique down,” Carney said. “Depending on what it is, it may take thousands of repetitions just to get to the point where you are doing something that merely resembles what you’re trying to do. I’ve spent years and years just working on one particular move.”

Junior Eli Alcaraz points out that other athletes can take mental breaks in practice. That’s not so feasible when backflipping on a balance beam.

“Your mental game must be at 100 percent when you are actually doing gymnastics in practice,” he said. “Otherwise, there is serious potential for injury.”

Practice itself is fundamentally mental, according to Alcaraz.

“Once you are in good physical shape or once you learn a particular skill, then most of the work becomes mental,” he said. “Many factors go into it, like trying to do your routine facing a different direction, or with people yelling at you or while visualizing yourself at the venue you will be competing at.”

Still, the training is physically demanding, and can take a harsh toll on the body. Indeed, gymnasts seem to get injured as frequently as Stanford students spot caterpillars, but the team knows it can usually perform through the pain.

“Injuries, in general, are extremely prevalent,” Carney said. “Our injuries this year are pretty unfortunate, but we try not to let the small ones affect us. It all depends on what type of injury it is and what event you are doing.”

The squad has shaken off its fair share of injuries: Sophomore Greg Ter-Zakhariants so badly dislocated his finger in a meet that it popped through his skin, but was back training less than two weeks later. In addition, he broke his neck during a competition, but still competed in the meet before having surgery. The list of injuries continues, including broken backs, legs,and shoulders that have sidelined some athletes for the season.

Some injuries are so unimportant to competition results that the gymnasts don’t even notice.

“We put our bodies in positions that they were probably never meant to be in,” junior David Sender said. “That’s part of the sport. I’ve always tried to convey to the guys that injuries are 90 percent in your head. If you are strong enough mentally, you can work through just about anything. All gymnasts are constantly battling some sort of injury.”

The Cardinal men have done a pretty good job of working through their injuries this year. Despite being undermanned in events throughout the year, the team has still pulled together high scores and quality wins, leading to its current No. 4 ranking.

Beside the difficulties of training, another little-known fact about gymnastics is how the athletes develop their muscularity.

The team does not train in the weight room and does not lift any dumbbells. Instead, the Cardinal men strengthen themselves through hours on the rings, bars or pommel horse, throwing around their body weight, lifting and spinning it in different directions while maintaining a strong core.

“Lifting weights isn’t really necessary when you spend four hours a day throwing your own body weight around,” senior Peter Derman said. “Most of our strength comes from our event-specific activities. In fact, weight training builds a lot of mass, which can actually hurt us because it weighs us down.”

Gymnastics has more than its share of mental and physical strain, but the difficulty does not hinder the work ethic of the team. No matter the hours or pain involved, the squad said it works as hard as it can, focusing on perfecting and improving its routines.

“I love this sport,” Sender said. “I get to go into the gym every day, thinking to myself, ‘How can I push myself just a little bit further?’ That’s what makes this sport great. That’s what sets us apart from everyone else.”