Parents Is strength a deal breaker?

[ary]

Hello! I've really appreciated all the insight I've gotten from these forums as a fairly new parent to the sport. My daughter is almost 6 and is on a pre comp team (4 hrs/week). She is crazy flexible but has always struggled with upper body strength (I blame my genes). Took her longer than the other girls to get her pullover, slowest on the rope, etc. They've started doing more and more conditioning and it's becoming even more obvious and she gets extremely down on herself when she can't do things as well as the other girls (she's VERY competitive and it's heartbreaking). She's the youngest in her group, which probably doesn't help. I was going to ask the coach if she can maybe suggest exercises we can do at home but I'm always wondering if it's worth trying so hard if her lack of strength will always get in her way. They selected her for this team so I'm assuming they see something in her but I would love if they'd be honest and just say, look she's great but she can only go so far with those pipsqueak arms lol. I was a competitive athlete in another sport so I know what it takes and I'm happy to put in the time/money/etc if it's the right sport for her but at some point is it possible that a kid just isn't built for this? Thanks so much in advance for any advice.

 

[mommyof1]

My kid started gymnastics as a scrawny little girl with zero strength. Thanks to conditioning, her best event is bars, she can climb the rope with scissor legs, and she can beat her friend who is a boy gymnast at pull-up contests. When she was trying to get her pullover, just a little work on a doorway pull-up bar helped a whole lot. If she keeps working hard, you may be amazed at how well your daughter can keep up with conditioning in just a few months.

 

[ary]

My kid started gymnastics as a scrawny little girl with zero strength. Thanks to conditioning, her best event is bars, she can climb the rope with scissor legs, and she can beat her friend who is a boy gymnast at pull-up contests. When she was trying to get her pullover, just a little work on a doorway pull-up bar helped a whole lot. If she keeps working hard, you may be amazed at how well your daughter can keep up with conditioning in just a few months.

This gives me hope!! Thank you!

 

[1canadiangymmom]

If she is a hard worker the strength will come with a good conditioning program at her gym. Extra pull ups, leg lifts, handstands and push ups never hurt anyone either.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

She is 6 going 4 hours a week. She has plenty of time to get stronger.

My daughter tends to be last to accquire skills. She is doing OK currently L6/7

 

[Lizandkatiemama]

Strength will only become more necessary as she progresses. But it will happen w/more hours & more conditioning. Helping to build strength at home is easy w/a few exercises she can do a few times a week. No need to write off her future in the sport at 5. Most 5 year olds have pipsqueak arms!

 

[cadybearsmommy]

It's very common to be either strong or flexible at first, many kids are not both. My dd was the opposite; strong but not so flexible. She had to work at the flexibility but now she is decently flexible for her age. It seems like building strength comes naturally with all of the conditioning. As she goes up in hours at the gym she will make more progress. Some kids will be stronger than others but a lack of strength at her age is nothing to worry about.

A good durable pull up bar is a good way to build strength at home, as well as push ups, hollow holds and sit ups. Don't worry she will be just fine!

 

[caligymdad]

Get a pull up bar that hangs in a doorway. We have never had to tell my DD to do pull ups but having one in the house near the family room just lead to pull-ups and leg lifts being done in the house all the time between her and my son that doesn't even do gymnastics. The worst thing you can do, in my opinion, is attempt to force her to do more work outside of gym but if she has the tools at home and decides to put extra work in, it will help.

 

[trampolinemom]

Four years ago DS was rejected at 6 (nearly 7 ) for artistic pre team because of lack of strength. He was and is very flexible but did not have not much natural strength at that age and 1 hour a week rec gym didn't build much strength either. He than turned to trampolining because he wanted more than just rec, and was just (really just on the edge) admitted to pre team there. He is now 11 and an (FIG B) youth elite level trampolinist. His strength has come along well with lots of conditioning. No one would guess now he was once rejected because of strength issues. So yes, it can change.

 

[Lilou]

It seems it's either strength or flexibility... to make it fun, have her do wheel barrows walks and races with you, siblings or friends. That way it's fun and she's getting stronger. At 6 it has to be fun... for example, when my daughter needed to work on splits, I told her I'd do them with her. She laughed watching me try to get down and it was quite comical, but it made stretching fun for her to see mommy try to do the stretches she does. And even if she needed to work on them, boy, was I much worse than her.... (we laughed about it).

 

[Flyaway]

Get a pull up bar that hangs in a doorway. We have never had to tell my DD to do pull ups but having one in the house near the family room just lead to pull-ups and leg lifts being done in the house all the time between her and my son that doesn't even do gymnastics. The worst thing you can do, in my opinion, is attempt to force her to do more work outside of gym but if she has the tools at home and decides to put extra work in, it will help.

I concur. My dd is not naturally very strong. She is the smallest in height and slightest in weight on her team. We really didn't start to see her put on muscle until she started going 12 hours a week. We hung a pull up bar in the house but never MADE her do it. On days she was internally motivated, she'd ask to use it. Otherwise we ignored it.

 

[CuriousCate]

My ODD also struggled with rope climb and her teammate with pull over when on pre-team. Coach told them and us (parents) that it was really more core than arms for both of those. She also mentioned that since at that age they grow inches in months and then nothing for months, that the strength would come, get lost with a growth spurt and have to be rebuilt again. And that has definitely been the case.

 

[John]

I concur. My dd is not naturally very strong. She is the smallest in height and slightest in weight on her team. We really didn't start to see her put on muscle until she started going 12 hours a week. We hung a pull up bar in the house but never MADE her do it. On days she was internally motivated, she'd ask to use it. Otherwise we ignored it.

I have a theory that once a gymnasts starts practicing 3 times a week (9 or 12 hours) is when the skills begin to come more quickly. The body of the gymnasts starts to change muscle begins to visually develop as strength is gained.

Anyone else recognize this type of trend?

 

[M2Abi]

My dd has more flexibility than strength. She was one of the last to get her pullover when she was on pre-team. She is now training Level 5/6 and doing just fine.

 

[SHELOVESGYM]

My DD was just like yours -naturally flexible but not strong when she started preteam at age 6.5. She's now almost 10 and I'd like to say it's all evened out, but unfortunately this is not the case. Despite increasing hours and conditioning she has not been able to keep up with her group and I (and her coaches) feel this is b/c she just hasn't built strength at the same rate as the other girls. That said, she is the strongest kid in her entire grade at school (determined by state PE testing) so it's not as though she hasn't built strength -she has, just not at the same rate as the other girls. It's been tough watching her not make various cuts (placements at meets, qualifying for states, moving up a level) over and over and over again. She's still at it and seems to still like the sport but honestly, were I to go back in time, I would try to direct her towards a sport more suited to her natural abilities. I'm still hopeful that it will all sort of start to click and that her strength will improve at some point -I'll let you know!

 

[Aussie_coach]

In gymnastics, yes, strength is a deal breaker. You need lots of it to be successful.

But, at six years old there is no such thing as a deal breaker. Kids at this age haven't shown you their capacity yet. Often it's not a lack of strength but they haven't yet developed the ability to access that strength.

 

[Jaks]

Dd moved into a development squad just after she turned 7, she was more flexible then strong back then, (I guess she hadn't found out she had untapped strength as doing an hour a week rec didnt bring it out like conditioning did in squad training), but as the years went by she gradually increased her strength, she has a love for conditioning and is one of the strongest kids in her group (she is 10), she is now not so flexible and seems to have more natural strength then flexibility and this was picked up on as she is quite stiff and was told recently by a coach who didn't know how that thrashing she was so stiff was because of her strength (never heard of that before), she gets by on the flexibility side as she has her best leg splits and her bad leg splits after stretching and has flexible shoulders, her back isn't that flexible though.

 

[rosettasmom]

Agree with others above. Mine was the weaker more bendy one for what seemed like ages. Now she's the strongest bars on her lvl 7 team. It all evens out eventually! They just have to be willing to work a bit harder for it!

 

[Teammom]

My daughter is almost 6 too. The pull-up bar has been amazing. She loves doing pull-ups before bed. Tonight she did 2 sets of 5 on her own. I'm worried she's going to get too bulky!! She's heavy as a rock!

Get the pull-up bar on amazon tonight I think it's helped set her apart from the other girls. Just a few pull-ups a night has gone a long way. Still don't know why it's fun to her!!

 

[duyetanh]

Once you get to where optionals loom before you, strength is a biggie.
And its not just for gymnastics per say....it's for preventing injury.
That core strength can make or break you at optionals when it comes time for those bwo/bhs on the beam....