The purpose of this study was to clarify, through interviews, the instruction philosophy of university gymnastics instructors from lesson contents. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight instructors (four male and four female) who have been teaching gymnastics in university physical education classes for over 10 years, and the content was analyzed based on the Modified-Grounded Theory Approach. The gymnastics instructors’ views on teaching were found to consist of four elements: 1) physicality (confronting the exerciser's own body and mind), 2) competence (eliciting the exerciser's "can do" attitude), 3) autonomy (To support an attitude toward exercise in which the exerciser takes the initiative), and 4) relatedness (relating to others). The results suggest that university physical education gymnastics classes are places that bring awareness about the value of exercise, not in comparison with others, and satisfy basic psychological needs (competence, autonomy, and relatedness).

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