L4 boy's coaches - how many events per day and routines per event/week?

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BlairBob

Just wondering how many events per workout and routines per event? I generally try to go over a key point they all need to hit and then do routines, 3-5x per event.

Generally, HB or SR, FX every day (3d/w), PH and MR split into different events but every day, V 1-2x per week and PB 2-3x per week. We have 9 hours per week and they want a 15m break each day but I give them just short of 10 preferably. I'd prefer 5-7 instead of 10-15.

I've been spending a lot of time getting their HS up to par as many cannot even kick HS and come back down in a lunge, that lever and push off the hands to get their chest up in the first CW series or RO. 2 of the 3 have BHS into pit or with a spot, so if their RO were worth a darn I could train them connected. I cannot even train snap down-BHS on a cheese because of their HS. I figure it will carry over towards a lot of strength building in their upper body and improving their tumbling and maybe the L4 bonus dismount.

As well, #3 has a poor HeS, but his press to HeS is coming along so at least it's momentary. Kick to HS forward roll can be hit and miss as their legs aren't always tight and extended up enough. One can barely seem to get up a candlestick due to not working it much while the other has to frog it ( quite weak ).

Thoughts?
 
*bump* Geoffrey Taucer please respond. I think that's the only other men's coach around here.
 
Hello Blairbob...I am just a parent but I can tell you what our boys coach does in our YMCA in Fl. if it is of any use...
3 boys L4.....4 boys L5.....1 boy L6....all come 3 days total 9 hrs. Coach is old school Russian.

During regular season, they start out running 1/4 mile...(3-5 min) then 30 minutes of tumble track. This is when they do BHS, FHS, tucks, straight jumps etc.
Then they stretch for 20-30 min....then floor. If coach has them do 'actual' floor routines, then they stay here for 30 min. or so and work through HS, presses etc. and then to routines about 4 or 5 times. Floor usually is 2ce a week.
The days where there is no floor, coach stops after presses and HS (about 10-15 min) and moves.

Usually Floor, PH,SR, HB some days and Floor- HB- V-PBars and SR other days. He usually alternates Monday 1, Wed. 2, Fri 1, Mon 2 etc.......He adds or subtracts time and events depending on the event everyone is having the most trouble on. Vault usually gets the least time...1x per week.

Usually 30-40 minutes on each event....3-5 kids...sometimes has L4 on one event and L5&6 on other events at the same time....no breaks (except for H20).
2 weeks before competition, all events, every practice....coach eliminates Tumbletrack.

The last 20 minutes, condition, push-ups/dips/chinups...something that looks like an inverted chin up on the bars. Lsits, rope climb. Sometimes a little less conditioning and more running....

The recent additions to the team just joined in with the rest of the team. They suffered for about a month but now they are totally fine. I think the newer ones hate the streching the most...(so do the older ones come to think of it!)

Obviously I can't tell you any of the methodology or theory here....maybe you can read into it more than I can...:)
 
Thanks. I vaguely remember what we did at the club I was at before I coached the boy's last season and the club before that. Honestly, I coached in the girl's compulsory way more than the boy's team ( which was small ). I've been coaching again about a month and a half after a 6 month break so some things are still hazy.

Last year when my lil l4 started staying all practice instead of just 1.5h, there was quite a bit of crying during front splits. Actually the other L4's cried too come to think of it.

I prefer a min of 3 routines to 5 routines. sometimes we do first half or thirds but it will depend or did last year. Sometimes we do some basics as a warmup to routines ( like swinging to HS on PB or swing 1/2 turns, stride swing and cut, turnout on rings in back swing, reverse punches on vault or drills basically besides CW progressions and back ext rolls ) Last year I split the squad into L5 on one area and L4 on another at times, especially in preseason when training to learn routines.
 
*bump* Geoffrey Taucer please respond. I think that's the only other men's coach around here.
Haha, sorry, didn't see this thread until now.

My L4 boys practice 6 hours a week (that's 2 3-hour practices). They have, at the very least, 15-30 minutes of basics on pommels and p-bars every single practice. Not counting this, we try to hit 3 events per day, though if they seem to be having an exceptionally good workout on a particular event and making progress I don't want to interrupt, sometimes I'll stay on that event longer (if it's open) and only get to 2 events that day.

As for number of routines, it really depends. I have 2 level 4s. One of them has pretty strong form and with the exception of pommel horse, has the routines pretty well nailed. I usually have him do 1 or 2 routines, and spend the remaining time on that event working his level 5 (and in some cases level 6) skills. The other, however, still struggles a bit on his routine skills on some events and has some confidence issues to boot; I generally have him do 3-5 routines.

For next year, I'm hoping I can rearrange the schedule a bit to have the level 4 boys have 3 practices a week of 2 hours; for these, I'd definitely hit 2 events per practice.
 
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What I do think works great is having the boys stretch already warmed up....really warm... The progress my DS made stretching after 30 min off tumble-trac was amazing.

They all cry....I have been watching them cry for 2 years with the exception of one kid made of super rubber ...(lucky!) others are made of wood, one was made of metal but he did not last long....He could not even sit on the floor with his legs extended straight in front without leaning a bit back!

Most of the kids in our group have been doing this awhile so they can take the constant training....

When my son was 6, he still did 3 hrs, x 3days but he had lots of down time in between ....We also made sure to keep it fun early on otherwise he would have quit....

Now the boys have fun working.....I guess that is the way it is supposed to be....I always ask him if he is having fun and he says yes, and never wants to quit....
 
thanks, Geoffrey. Some years back I would have preffered 2x1.5h/d+1x2-2.5h instead of 2x2.5h/w because our gym was very much rec oriented with tumultuous team ( sometimes the owners were all for it and other times they'd flip positions ). Frequency more than duration being the key. It's nice to know that I'm probably getting enough routines in as I think sometimes that we are not getting enough in.

I try to limit practice days to one swinging event, either HB or SR per day. It kinda gets muddled when they have to swing under the bar on PB in L5 and L6.

I should test my boy's flexibility ASAP so I know where they are starting from under me to where they are monthly. It's been a month and a half or maybe a month under me. Hmm.

2 hours is really tough as it's so short after WU, basics, and stretching at the end. It helps to have lots of apparatus versus one apparatus. It's still hard to hit floor and vault as much though some of our apparatus is in the same area so we can hit PB and PH at the same time. Training L5 skills hasn't even really been in my mind as it seems I'm still trying to refine their basics and L4 skills to get them up to being able to train L5 skills ( like kicking into a HS from a lunge and landing ).

Last year, my lil guy who started training for L4 wasn't even 6 during the preseason till October. Some of the time I understood if he was bouncing around the equipment and not doing as much as the other boy's. Sometimes I just have to limit what I expect out of my boys who are on team less than 6mo or a year versus 2 or 3 years on team.
 

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