I need a good conditioning regimen

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kgymn

Gymnast
Ok I only have an hour and a half a week in the gym, which isn't enough to make me happy LOL but a lot of skills I used to have when I was younger (and 20 pounds lighter, which I hope to shave down to 10 pounds lighter) are hard because I have lost a lot of my strength. I've been doing some of the conditioning in one of the BHS threads, as well as working on my handstands against the wall. Those are all a great help so far, but I need more things I can do at home. I have somewhat limited space. I have a medicine ball, though it's a soft one if that makes any difference. I plan to add handstands and more ab work, but I could always use more suggestions.

Mostly right now I need ideas to help work on leg strength. Particularly to help with my push off for my back handsprings. The strength is just not there right now. I also have some mild knee issues, nothing big or particularly concerning just annoying so anything easier on the knees is better but I think the knee pain at this point may be related to the weakness in my legs.

~Katy
 
What she said, only unable to do handstands in the house because there's not much space and it'll knock something over, any sort of thunking around makes people think I'm going to destroy the place, it's old... No medicine ball, but I do have a yoga ball. Same amount of gym time, and it hasn't been enough over the summer to help the strength or flexibility much. I've lost five pounds in the last six weeks, but otherwise, haven't gotten anywhere.
 
Gymnastics Workout of the Day DrillsandSkills Workout of the Day. Simply click to see what the workout of the day is.

You can also signup for the drillsandskills/workoutlog and have access to a boatload of workouts and a workoutlog. Simple scroll through the workouts. Some are crossfit or crossfit inspired, with some taking some to no equipment. You could also take a look at Crossfit or Ross Enamait ( really known for no equipment workouts ).

http://us.f13.yahoofs.com/bc/441db652m73dde05a/bc/gymnastics/GetFit.pdf?bfL9QrIBzARz9cK5

This is the Get Fit article by Yoshi Nakayama. It is no longer linked through USA-gymnastics ever since they redesigned their articles. It goes through 9 basic position/exercises, most of which you can do at home or modify through whatever is available at home.

Since you're considered about leg conditioning, I highly reccomend single leg squatting. If you're inflexible with these, take it slow, self spotting with a hand on the wall or holding on to something. I reccomend training the ability to hold the bottom first for 30 seconds, then lowering from a stand to the bottom position and going back up with a self assist. You can also do a candlestick roll into a single leg squat instead of doing it by itself to make it a little easier.

You can do lunges or step ups at first. Find a good sturdy chair. I'm hesisant to reccomend jump lunges or box jumps ( onto the chair ) if you are having knee aches currently. You can also do height jumps off the chair ( stand on chair, jump or step off and stick the landing; jump higher for more load(gravity) when you hit the ground ).

Plie jumps, broomstick squats and deadlifts. Duckwalks are a good one but can aggravate your knees if they are weak or inflexible.

If you are really looking for some awesome " cardio. " Do a tabata set. 8 sets of exercise for 20 seconds full out, with 10 seconds of rest in between. It's good to pair up something like Squats, V-ups(hollow rocks), and pushups. You can also just hold the position during the rest period or just do position holds during the time period. It will kick your butt and make you sweat while giving you all the high intense cardio to burn that fat off and stimulate your hormones.

It's hard to maintain any shape in just 90 minutes a week, 1 a time a week.

With the yoga ball there is a fair amount of stuff you can do. If you don't know, chime in and post a link to a youtube source I thought was thorough enough.
 
I'll have to take some time to go through the exercises at drillsandskills. I had already seem the workout of the day, but was somewhat discouraged by them generally requiring gymnastics equipment (and seeming to be geared towards males, though I'm sure it doesn't really matter as much)

The Get Fit article is telling me server not found, perhaps it's a temporary issue I will try back later on to see.

Thanks for the suggestions for the leg conditioning!! I never realized I was actually doing myself good catapulting off my stairs when I lived with my parents LOL. I'm lucky I never got in trouble, I'd catapult myself off like three steps up, swing around with my hand on the end of the banister, and either do an extra twist or not and stick in front of our front door. I also used to thunder in the stairs 2 at a time, and do a rebound or tuck jump to stick at the top. Too bad I don't live somewhere with stairs.

I wonder how many funny looks I'll get from my boyfriend when he gets back home and I'm moving the coffee table out of the way so I can jump off my chair. Though I'm worried the chair may not be sturdy enough, it's rather old but the only one we have thats not a folding chair.

I hope my parents come to visit soon so they can bring my mini tramp... it's not very springy but I can jump onto and off of it at least, without breaking anything.

~Katy
 
Yeah, I just realized that file cannot be shared unless I upgrade my account. If you want, pm me your email address and I will send it as an attachement. I could also upload it to a free file sharing service but unless I pay for one they typically will expire in 3 months or less, I think. I haven't gotten around to setting up a personal website in years.

A lot of the drillsandskills conditioning is related to men's but then again it's the men who push the strength and conditioning in gymnastics by in large. And of course many of the big moves, too, but let's not go there.

Honestly, it's my opinion that we shouldn't really condition the girls any different than the men except in regard to events like pommel horse. Girls should be using parallel bars, and even rings in for strength/conditioning. We have the boys condition on beams as well, so it's no biggie.

However, you do have to keep track of too much leg hypertrophy in females because of all their time on floor and beam and dance. That's more time on their legs than the men, even with their landings.
 
What do people think of swinging, yes on swings like at a playground LOL, for some light leg conditioning? I used to swing allll the time and notice now when I do, my legs can certainly feel it. And it doesn't bother my knees. Would it be working the legs in an appropriate manor, or would be be somewhat useless as far as helping with my gymnastics?

And yes I am 26 and I still swing at the playground. LOL I'm not ashamed to act like a child still.

~Katy
 
I can flex and extend my arms to " feel " my muscles working, but that doesn't really mean they're subjected to any load that will make them stronger.

Perhaps if I were to do isometrically against a wall, that would be more useful; but it's still a very low load.
 
ive got one for legs...they are called 24's and they are very good for leg condtioning...all you do is 4 sets of 24. each set is a different kind of thing: squats, lunges in place, jumpin lunges in place, and then jumping squats...i made my mom do them one time and she could walk...but considering you still do gym then they probably wont hurt as much...good luck
 
I can flex and extend my arms to " feel " my muscles working, but that doesn't really mean they're subjected to any load that will make them stronger.

Perhaps if I were to do isometrically against a wall, that would be more useful; but it's still a very low load.


I don't mean that I feel the muscles working. I mean that my muscles start to feel the burn, they start to feel tired, and if I swing for long enough my legs will even be a tad bit sore the next day.

~Katy
 
" Feeling the burn " is a common thing said in the bodybuilding world/workouts. I guess, it's better than nothing but I wouldn't get it confused with decent training.

If it's fun and get's you to do something, sure. It possibly is like working a leg extension machine that works predominantly the quad.

However, machines suck in general except for some limited uses such as rehab or the really weak newbies.
 
" Feeling the burn " is a common thing said in the bodybuilding world/workouts. I guess, it's better than nothing but I wouldn't get it confused with decent training.

If it's fun and get's you to do something, sure. It possibly is like working a leg extension machine that works predominantly the quad.

However, machines suck in general except for some limited uses such as rehab or the really weak newbies.

I figure it's better than nothing, and the swinging is similar to gymnastics skills in the fact that it's using the body to move the body. Plus I can jump off the swing and practice sticking, or rebounding since I don't actually have a stable enough chair to jump off of.

~Katy
 

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