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[gymisforeveryone]

My compulsory gymnasts will have an important testing event in 5 weeks. It's something like your TOPS testing, and the gymnasts have to pass at least 15 of the 20 skills tested. The strength requirements are HARD and some of the girls have to really work their butts off to ever pass it. Some might never pass, but I hope that most will. They won't be allowed to compete on the pre-elite squad or apply to the national camp programs until they pass.

I'm planning on giving the girls a list of conditioning they have to do at home at least twice a week during this 5 weeks period. They normally practice 5 days a week (12 hours) but now we will at least 5 cancelled/modified practices during this time period (because the gym is closed), and I think it's a lot. So 2 home practices a week would be reasonable, right?

The strength skills they are tested on are these:
10 leg lifts in 20 seconds
10 chin ups in 20 seconds
one press handstand
4 m rope climb without feet in 15 seconds
long jump from standing, at least your own height measured from feet to finger tips
5 seconds handstand hold

I'm planning on making them an excel chart with 10 different exercises that they have to test themselves twice a week and mark their score every time. The exercises that I was thinking are:

chin ups (1 min)
leg lifts (1 min)
sit ups (1 min)
push ups (1 min)
V-ups (1 min)
plank hold
handstand hold (the best out of 5 tries)
long jump
press handstands
rope, steps (for those who have a rope, and if they don't they can do this before practice starts any day if they want to)

I'm also planning on giving a reward for those who will do it. Do you think this is a good idea? I know they are pretty motivated to work hard, but a little external motivation never hurts, right? I think they would be more motivated to keep working on the conditioning at home if they saw their progress and how their numbers (hopefully) went up by time.

Also, on a side note, do you think the long jump requirement is a hard one? They just removed the old requirement of 20 box jumps in 15 seconds and added this. I wonder if it's going to be impossible for the taller girls with long arms...

 

[tucktwisttumble]

Also, on a side note, do you think the long jump requirement is a hard one? They just removed the old requirement of 20 box jumps in 15 seconds and added this. I wonder if it's going to be impossible for the taller girls with long arms...

I can't speak for the rest of this - but long jump is very much technique.
Teaching the girls to stretch/open their hips, and then snap their feet in front before landing.
This is also under the assumption the long jump doesnt have to be "gymnastics pretty" so long as it is functional and meets the requirement?

side note... I can almost do this - and I am an unconditioned/ well into retirement athlete measuring approximately 5ft,8 . It is a technique skill in my opinion.

 

[bookworm]

For us , gym stayed at gym ...if my kid was going 5 days a week and was having "important testing " in 5 weeks, but the gym is closed for some of that time so we're supposed to do "home practices, complete with a log"? Sorry , not doing it.

I don't know if there is some disconnect between the scheduler at your gym and the coaches,but you really shouldn't be committing your gymnasts to this intensive testing program , and then bailing on them in the month before by having multiple gym closings...that's unprofessional and not what I'd have been paying you for. If I were one of the parents of a child who had trained for this, I'd be ballistic that the gym was doing this...and probably would be researching options for gyms who stay open through the end of my kid's season!

What you are doing and asking is like our gym getting us through states but in the weeks before Regionals, where there is no margin for error to qualify to JOs , we are told that the gym will be closed for multiple practices and we are to practice on our own for the biggest meet of the year. No thanks.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

I should have been more clear. Closing the gym is not our club's choice, and we all HATE it when it happens. We try to have make up practices at other locations, but that's not always possible and the gym we are practicing is the only gymnastics gym with proper equipment in the city. We don't have private gyms in Finland, so all the clubs practice in community sports centers and if the center is closed we have no say. Now the gym will be closed for a few days around Easter holidays and then almost a week because there's going to be a trade show event... Yup. We'll have make up practices on weekends in a school gym that has two beams, air floor and some other equipment but of course it's not the same as a real gym.

Also, of course we practice for the testing all year, but now I just feel that if we have so many practices cancelled and then maybe someone is sick for a few days, that's a LOT of time off right before testing. I want them to be on their best shape in the testing, and was thinking that the home conditioning might help with that.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I have one thought and it may be completely out of your control but I would be changing the make-up of your practice hours if I could....12 hours over five sessions, that is 4 X 2.5 + 2 hours, not really enough time to warm up and do strength work and get a few good events in. I would be looking at running less sessions for longer. so ideally 4 X 3 hours, with that extra time to work on your strength required rather than another warm up. I know the frequency of training is a bigger issue for our parents rather than the duration. With the cancelled sessions, do you have the ability to make some sessions longer in the short term?

I would not reward for doing it - It should be optional and you can encourage and then try and link improvements you see in the gym to extra effort at home. Making a reward benefit will probably just make your bling loving short sighted athletes lie.

Regarding the long jump - it is something you need to practice - though from experience most kids can jump their own height (without arms up in measure) easily without practice. Our physical testing program was scored 1-10 on this and to get 1 you had to jump your height, to get ten, twice your height. Without practice the range was 2-5, with practice it was 5-8.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

We are not the only club to use the sport center's gym, so we don't have it every day from 3 pm to 9 pm like we ideally would love to. Some days we only have it from 6 pm to 9 pm, and I have optionals to coach also. Oh well, and I work full time for my internship... So it's almost impossible to make any changes. And also, we have very strict rotation schedule because there's always at least 3 different groups in the gym at the same time. Their schedule looks like this:

M 6.30-9.00
T 6.30-9.00
W 5-6.30 (this is just conditioning and running and not in the gymnastics gym)
TH 6-8.30
F 4.30-7.30

We will have 3 3 hour long make up practices, one in the actual gym and two in the school gym. Then they will have 1 practice for conditioning and dance on dance floor, 2,5 hours. We can extend some of the Thursday practices by 30 minutes but I would rather not do that too many times because they are already in the gym 2 school nights until 9 pm. We can't start earlier on any other days because the practices would overlap with optionals too much or the gym is not open for us until their actual starting time.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I expect if the gym is closed to have make ups.

My daughter has suggested conditioning when she is out of gym.

I wouldn’t like it to required. Home time, is home time.

 

[gymisforeveryone]

The parents understand our struggle - they have been in this long enough. The club returns them some money if there are enough cancelled practices. The parents are on board with us. They even come 4-5 times a year to take down and then again set up all the equipment, including the full size spring floor, when there are trade shows or concerts in the sports center and the gymnastics area needs to be cleared. The parents do it happily because this way the sports center allows us to have 1-2 more days of practice time on the equipment because our parents can do the take down at the end of practice and the set up at the beginning of practice in 1-2 hours when the sport center staff would do it in 24 hours... And the sports center pays our club a little for this. So the parents are committed and not a problem at all. The girls are all older than 11 yo so I don't expect the parents to make them do the home conditioning. It would be up to the girls themselves.

 

[bookworm]

Oh sorry, I didn't realize you were in Finland and your gym isn't just your gym....but still for us, home is for home. If I knew about the scheduling issues up front, and that seems how it rolls there, then I guess that goes with the territory there. Good luck with your testing.

 

[sce]

My kids have been assigned home conditiong todosuru g vacations and gym
Closures. They did it happy as they wanted to stay in condition. Offering a small
Reward for the ones who do it seems fine to me.

 

[Lunde]

I would be wary of including conditioning that cannot be done on the living room floor of the average flat and requires parents to install equipment such as ropes/chin-up bars as it sounds like injuries waiting to happen.

Even though your community centre gym and its equipment is not available - could you not rent a school gym for additional conditioning sessions?

 

[sce]

I would be wary of including conditioning that cannot be done on the living room floor of the average flat and requires parents to install equipment such as ropes/chin-up bars as it sounds like injuries waiting to happen.

Even though your community centre gym and its equipment is not available - could you not rent a school gym for additional conditioning sessions?

That is a good point, they should be things that can easily be done at home. Also, make sure they’ve done them all st the gym so they know how to do them

 

[tpMom]

Thinking outside the box here... I don't know your gym, liability insurance policies, or country, but.... if this major test is coming up and a lot of it is strength related, do you even need to practice in a gym? Is it possible to meet at a local park during the week the gym is closed for voluntary conditioning sessions?. Obviously you would need to modify the plan for the area, but if the conditioning list can be done at home, couldn't it also be done as a group in a nontraditional setting?

This way you're getting a chance to check in with your athletes and they're getting the instruction and motivation they can only get from you. It sounds like the parents are fairly open minded and flexible, it might even be a way to avoid having to refund tuition for an extended closure, or to minimize the refund perhaps.

 

[Lunde]

Thinking outside the box here... I don't know your gym, liability insurance policies, or country, but.... if this major test is coming up and a lot of it is strength related, do you even need to practice in a gym? Is it possible to meet at a local park during the week the gym is closed for voluntary conditioning sessions?. Obviously you would need to modify the plan for the area, but if the conditioning list can be done at home, couldn't it also be done as a group in a nontraditional setting?

If OP is in Finland the local park may be under 2-3 feet of snow (70-90cm) at the moment

 

[tpMom]

If OP is in Finland the local park may be under 2-3 feet of snow (70-90cm) at the moment

Lol, that just adds to the level of difficulty for conditioning right?!

 

[gymisforeveryone]

If OP is in Finland the local park may be under 2-3 feet of snow (70-90cm) at the moment

Lol, yes the snow level is just about above my knees right now In the summer and early fall before snow we have done many practices on the playgrounds, it's fun! But in the snow, ice and freezing winter breeze not so much Sometimes we have gone ice skating but it's more for fun that for conditioning.

 

[Flyaway]

Lol, yes the snow level is just about above my knees right now In the summer and early fall before snow we have done many practices on the playgrounds, it's fun! But in the snow, ice and freezing winter breeze not so much Sometimes we have gone ice skating but it's more for fun that for conditioning.

lol! Snowsuit conditioning! That could be pretty funny. lol