Parents P.E. classes at school

[emandelsmom]

With the weather turning warm and the rain stopping, Emma's school has had the kids outside for PE classes. I think this is awesome, but we hit a problem this week. They have lots of jungle gym bars, and the walking tracks, and the outside gym that you see next to walking trails.

Her gymnastics classes are focusing on lots of strength building lately esp working the abs to help the girls get their kips. Well, at school, her pe coach has been working core muscles as well. PE is 2 hours a week. Gym is 7 hours a week with small coach student ratio(4 or 5 girls to a coach). PE classes have been things like chin ups, sit ups etc set up in a circuit training. The coach knows what he is doing as he is personal trainer and body builder. Her gym coaches are the same.

My gymnast was in tears last night from sore abs. I had her soak in a bath and gave her some advil. She woke up sore this morning. I gave her some advil and on her gym coaches advice sent her to school with a note asking her pe coach to excuse her from exercises that work the abs.

How do you all handle the soreness in your gymmies when they are getting double doses from school and the gym? I think if she can get past the initial soreness it will make her stronger in the long run. She already has a great 6 pack and well defined muscles. But wow, she is very sore today.

 

[MdGymMom01]

Wow! How much ab work is she doing in PE class??? My dd has PE about 2 hrs a week and they don't do anything too strenuous. They usually have the Fitness-Gram tests twice a year that measure the kids fitness, but she has never come home complaining that she is sore. Maybe it is the type of ab work that made her sore? If she already has a six-pack, then I doubt a little abwork at PE would cause her to be so sore. She probably gets a workout 10 times over PE from her gymnastics practices.

 

[gym law mom]

Hard to tell if the sore abs are coming from the gym workouts or PE or a combination. 2 hours/week of PE shouldn't cause your dd too much pain---my guess is its a cumulative thing from gym/PE.

My gymmie thinks PE is rather silly---she just shows interest to beat all the boys in whatever they might be doing--push ups, sit ups, running. She's in middle school so has PE for 1/2 the year and they do it every school day. Actually I like the idea that she's at least exposed to other sports. My guess is the school PE will move on to other activities and the ab conditioning won't be much of an issue.

 

[emandelsmom]

I know. I thought the same thing, but I guess the answer is a lot. Her pe coach called me and told me he let her sit out today. Through our conversation I learned that he is focusing the kids on building core muscles. So it appears that in an hours time she is doing tons of sit ups, running, chin ups, going across the monkey bars(they have 4 sets and they do all 4 a couple of times), and other exercises to gain core strength. Plus all the exercises they are doing at gymnastics to work the same areas. He said that even running and walking help with core muscles. Her's are just over used right now.

I do feel grateful that she actually has a great pe coach. He seems very nice and caring.

Emma is just sore from it all. I think by the end she will be lots stronger from it.

 

[emandelsmom]

Hard to tell if the sore abs are coming from the gym workouts or PE or a combination. 2 hours/week of PE shouldn't cause your dd too much pain---my guess is its a cumulative thing from gym/PE.

My gymmie thinks PE is rather silly---she just shows interest to beat all the boys in whatever they might be doing--push ups, sit ups, running. She's in middle school so has PE for 1/2 the year and they do it every school day. Actually I like the idea that she's at least exposed to other sports. My guess is the school PE will move on to other activities and the ab conditioning won't be much of an issue.

I totally agree. It started Monday with an hour of pe followed by 2 hours of gymnastics, and one hour of tumbling. Her coaches have been working them really hard at the gym and then it appears her pe coach is working them really hard at school. Our school district is really into fitness and healthy life long habits right now and feels like the school should be active in teaching good habits. I totally agree. I think Em just got a double dose this week.

Em also likes the beat the boys too! Here they are getting ready to wrap up the school year. Field day is May 16. School gets out a week later. So I think this is it for the rest of the year in pe.

 

[cathiann]

Sheesh--Beth had gym every day and never comes home sore from it!

 

[MamaofEnS]

When my dd was in level 5, she was excused from P.E. everyday. She was working at the gym 16 hours a week at that time. It was nice, because she was released from school an hour earlier, and had time for homework, etc. Then the principal changed his mind, and said that a gymnast had to compete at nationals to skip P.E. So, now that my dd is level 7, she has to go to P.E. for 5 hours a week, and do gym for 20 hours. They do some core exercises, but she likes trying other sports like volleyball, basketball, etc., since all of her experience is with gymnastics.

MamaofEnS

 

[emandelsmom]

I wish she were trying other sports instead of just exercising. During earlier times this year, she was learning boxing, and basketball, soccer, and kickball. Right now, it is just exercise.

 

[hunde2]

Same here. PE does not even touch my daughter.Our school does not exempt anybody from PE.Even though DD goes to gym 20 hrs/week.

 

[Gymdad2]

Same here. PE does not even touch my daughter.Our school does not exempt anybody from PE.Even though DD goes to gym 20 hrs/week.

Our school district does excuse team gymnasts from pe, so dd has not been to a pe class since 1st grade (jr. in hs now). She was allowed to attend a study hall instead and it it a great help to her since she commits so much time to the gym. I really don't see much point in having gymnasts take pe!

 

[AGM78910]

Off Campus PE

Here in Texas we have the option for "Off Campus PE" starting in middle school. The kids have to do a sport for at least 15 hours a week to qualify. I know other states have that type of program as well but a lot of parents do not know about it. It also counts as their PE grade. It has to be an approved USAG program. The school district inspects the gym and make surprise visits to ensure that the gymnasts are really there. We had several gymnasts at our gym get injured doing regular PE. One broke her finger playing basketball.

 

[hunde2]

That's nice.

Our school district does excuse team gymnasts
from pe, so dd has not been to a pe class since 1st grade (jr. in hs now). She was allowed to attend a study hall instead and it it a great help to her since she commits so much time to the gym. I really don't see much point in having gymnasts take pe!

 

[NotAMom]

Here is my take on this...

I understand that health is important and kids in this country in general are in sad physical shape. But, demanding such strenous conditioning/exercise from eveyone is really unrealistic. In order to for a gymnast to feel pain from PE, it takes much more than a normal school exercise program. If it's hurting your child so much, just imagine what it's doing to the less-than-fit kids. Unless, your gymnast is just determined to put in much more than what's required of her. That is so common and understandable as we all know how our gymnasts are.

 

[emandelsmom]

Not a Mom=When I spoke to her pe teacher, he mentioned that she had been working so hard and doing a great job. I imagine she has been doing a little extra and that contributed to her soreness.