Coaches Conditioning

[gymnastike30]

This is very important to me. I believe we should condition atleast the first 20 min of our 2 hour workout. Other coaches think otherwise. We do not condition at all. I've been told that the actual workout is conditioning enough. Does this make sense? I feel like I should sneak off and condition the girls. These are low level gymnasts. Thoughts?

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[bogwoppit]

Conditioning is key to strong skills and low injury rates.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

There is nothing more frustrating than not having the physical strength to achieve skills/perform with ease. If they are conditioning and working shapes with great form they will not take long to learn skills correctly from the start.

 

[gymnastike30]

Thank you...I didn't think I was crazy!

 

[aerialriver]

Can you maybe sneak some in? A lot of our low level girls do not do regular conditioning but instead will do leg lifts in between turns on bars, pushups or lap running in between turns on floor, jumps up onto a panel or higher mat during vault, v sits between turns on beam etc. maybe you could try that?

 

[gymnastike30]

I'm pretty sure I can today. I'll be coaching L3s today. I'll be sneaking some good stuff in. Thanks for your help.

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[iwannacoach]

Condition a child one day, and she'll be sore tomorrow.

Teach a child how to condition at home, and she'll get a little stronger each day.

The other coaches are wrong, but given a longer workout they might choose to put conditioning in the schedule, so extend the practice time with at home basic exercises.

 

[GymMom67]

I'm not a coach, but my DD is a Level 4. They do what aerialriver suggested....they kind of sneak it in among all the other stuff. On floor, they have a contest to see who can hold the handstand the longest, emphasizing that the key to that is staying tight. The thing I see it most on is vault. After they do their vault, they'll have them do lunges, or some other conditioning type thing on their way back down the to the other end of the runway. Then their practice time is 45 minutes longer on Wednesdays than the other days, and they use that time on tumbling and conditioning. Sometimes just one of those things, sometimes both. The optional girls at our gym condition for the first hour of their practice time, but they are there a lot longer than my DD is.

 

[JBS]

Conditioning is important. Whether it is done in the first 20 minutes or as side stations at the events is not as important.

We like 50% of our workout time at the lower levels to be what we call "physical preparation"...this includes...

• Warm-up: This prepares the body for the days workout
• Strength...Flex...Shaping: This prepares the body for the future

We do strength and shaping at the beginning of workout and there are event specific stations during each rotation for compulsories.

We do event specific strength and shaping during each rotation for optionals. We also do major strength at the end of workout.

Flex is incorporated at the beginning and end of workout for all levels. We also have permanent shoulder flex stations by bars and beam.

 

[iwannacoach]

JBS....... I occasionally preach that gymnastics is easy if you follow a few simple guidelines with maniacal discipline. It looks like you've got this particular mania down to a science, and a good thing you do, as gymnastics is only as easy as an individual's body shape awareness, flexibility, and strength will allow.

It looks to me you're doing it the easy way!

 

[JBS]

JBS....... I occasionally preach that gymnastics is easy if you follow a few simple guidelines with maniacal discipline. It looks like you've got this particular mania down to a science, and a good thing you do, as gymnastics is only as easy as an individual's body shape awareness, flexibility, and strength will allow.

It looks to me you're doing it the easy way!

Haha...everything looks good on paper...it is definitely starting to show results though.

 

[JBS]

The event specific exercises at each event have really become key with us. As soon as the kids get to the event...they start with those exercises. There is no down time. If the coach has to set bars or move mats...the gymnasts are already working...not waiting.

What used to be down time is now an extra 30-60 minutes of event specific drills/conditioning per week...even more if they are with a less experienced coach.

 

[CreateMagic]

The event specific exercises at each event have really become key with us. As soon as the kids get to the event...they start with those exercises. There is no down time. If the coach has to set bars or move mats...the gymnasts are already working...not waiting.

What used to be down time is now an extra 30-60 minutes of event specific drills/conditioning per week...even more if they are with a less experienced coach.

I've just started implementing something like this also. As soon as my kids get to bars, they have specific conditioning to do. Because they are little and most can't read beyond "The cat ate grass." I have pictures with numbers. If its something timed, I have a stopwatch pictured also with the number. It's working great so far!

 

[iwannacoach]

haha...everything looks good on paper...it is definitely starting to show results though.

keep the faith baby!!

 

[Kiwi]

Can you maybe sneak some in? A lot of our low level girls do not do regular conditioning but instead will do leg lifts in between turns on bars, pushups or lap running in between turns on floor, jumps up onto a panel or higher mat during vault, v sits between turns on beam etc. maybe you could try that?

Our girls do regular condtioning, but often do more conditioning as stations in their apparatus circuits. For example, on bars they will have a circuit that includes stations for leg lifts, chin-ups and tricep dips.