What to do on home pull up bar?

[mariposa]

Got my DD a pull up bar and it is mounted in her doorway. She wants real bars, but that is not happening, so I compromised with a 12 dollar pull up bar.

She is loving it, but I am wondering what she can do on it for strength/conditioning. I put it pretty high (1. so the little one can't reach, 2 because she was saying she could do her back hip circles on it.) We have a 4x8x2" mat we stack up under it so she can reach. (She can jump up to it when there are no mats.)

So far she does pullovers and glide swings, chin ups and those things where they pull their toes up to the bar.

Anything else she can do? She is constantly on them and asking me to "help her" do things, but I have no idea what else she can do.

She is 5 1/2. Will be moving to level 4 in April.

 

[gym law mom]

I really wouldn't let her do anymore than what she is doing and an adult should be there when she is using the bar. Those bars are not designed to learn skills like hip circles, kips etc. on. Recently heard a mom of one of our pre-team girls ask the head coach about getting a bar for home use and he said absolutely not. Said ok if just to do some of the strength stuff like your dd is already doing, but stressed to this mom that the coaches spend more time correcting skills self taught at home and he would rather they limit any practice on that to the gym where they are using competition quality bars and have coaches to spot and correct things.

 

[mariposa]

i don't want her doing anything except conditioning/strength stuff either. that is why i have told her we can't get bars. (my DH would buy her anything to make her happy). i don't want her learning things wrong or getting hurt. she does pullovers on it, but i have been discouraging that as well. i put it up high on purpose, so she wouldn't be physically able to do other things (she will hit her head).

i was just wanting fun ways for her to play on it, while getting stronger. she hangs on anything and everything and i would rather her do it safely at home than at the park, etc. LOL.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Leg lifts are good. She just hangs from the bar and lifts her legs as high as she can while keeping them straight and together. Don't encourage her to lift the to the bar if she is bending her legs.

Straddle leg lifts are excellent, she lifts her legs up and out to the side and rolls her hips back.

she can hang from the bar and to fast split lifts. Which means she hangs there and then lifts her legs into the splits (like a split leap/jump) and back down. This can also be done with side splits, straddle and tuck. This helps to develop dynamic flexibility which will improve her leaps and jumps.

Simple holds will help her develop strength. Hanging from the bar and then lifting her toes to the bar and trying to hold them there for 30 seconds. Hanging from the bar and lift her legs into an L position and hold that for 30 seconds. Hanging from the bar and holding upside down with a straight body and her hips to the bar for 30 seconds.

Kip leg lifts are good too. She hangs from the bar and lifts her toes to the bar and then keeping her legs straight lifts her body so her hips are at the bar.

Of course there are chin ups, pullovers and so on.

Many coaches do discourage this type of thing at home but for many of these gymnasts if they are not doing it at home they will do it on the monkey bars at school or the top rail of their swing set in the backyard or even worse a tree branch. Allow her to do these things only with supervision so you can make sure she isn't trying anything dangerous like attempting kips.

Avoid her doing skills like back hip circles', cast, kips, dismounts and swings. Pullovers are ok as they are a strength exersize. Never force her to do this stuff at home it should be purely for fun.

 

[mariposa]

thanks aussiecoach. those are exactly what i am looking for. she loves me to count things for her. (i hate that though. i just tell her to do it as long as she can and not till it hurts).

i put it high on the door mainly to make it impossible for her to try anything she shouldn't be doing. (she is pretty adventurous, but she knows her limits as well) i do let her do pullovers since she usually just pulls over, but not all the way up (says it is too high and that since it is metal it hurts her tummy when she gets up all the way). she would hit her head if she tried anything on top of the bar. it is the perfect height for her to do strength and conditioning stuff, which is what she supposedly wanted it for. (Mama, look! I could do pull ups and L holds on it.)

i would never make her do anything, don't worry. i just want to give her fun things she CAN do on it and that she will like doing. i sometimes wish she would stop loving gymnastics as i have so many worries in the sport, but she loves it sooo much that i know i don't really want that. she has no pressure from me to do anything except for have fun!

 

[mariposa]

aussiecoach, just wanted to say thanks again for all those exercises. i have been re-directing her when she wants to swing, etc and telling her she can do these instead. i read them to her and told her those were things she could do on her bar, nothing else. LOL. so far, so good. and i swear, in just a few days, her pullover is beautiful now (she discovered she can't hit her head on the top). she can't wait to show her coach at practice tomorrow. and she loves the kip one. they were just recently introduced to the kip, though they all have to be lifted up to the bar and she is excited to keep doing that exercise.

you are so right about kids practicing everywhere. she was doing shoot throughs and pullovers on a bike rack outside a restaurant once. she is homeschooled (not related to gym, personal family choices) and doesn't get to play on bars except once a week at our homeschool group park day and luckily, there are NO bars suitable for anything there. i would be terrified if she was in school and there were bars. i remember doing very scary things at school on the bars. LOL.

thanks again. i have told her that if she does anything that is not allowed, the bar will be gone for a week the first time, a month the second offense and then forever if she does it again. she loves that bar and i think she will follow the rules to keep it.

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

aw thats cute! I have a pull up bar so I just do pull ups and like L- holds and stuff. I did have a single rail bar that I learned my front hip circle on and kips . I used to practice my back hip circles and mill circles too. It always moved even If I was just doing a backhip circle so I had people stand on the sides. Its too little for me to do stuff on now though. I couldn't be doing free hips or anything on it lol. haha my elementary school had monkey bars and me and a few of my gymnast friends would hang upside down and we would sit on top of the monkey bars and jump off and land on our feet. I don't know how none of us got hurt but we didn't!

 

[Megley]

We have a pullup bar too but have mounted it too high for pullovers. My dd (and my son for awhile) use it for pullups, chinups, leg lifts, toe holds, l-holds and stuff llike that. Even my dh uses it for pullups and chinups. You are so right about kids though. My dd does pullovers on the rail to our treadmill no matter how many times I tell her not to. She does it on pool railings too. On the monkey bars at at school, she does back and front hip circles, no doubt scaring the heck out of the teachers!

Meg

 

[gracefulone]

I also do skin the cats on mine.

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

Our DD has had one for a few years and she works back pullovers, Skin the cats, Casts, She also hooks one leg and tried to get up like from a Mill circle, etc. We have ours mounted near our kitchen so I can watch her while she is doing it. I have to say it REALLY helped her. When we first got it I noticed a huge improvment in her bars over others her age. Now it is more of a conditioning thing she does and for fun. It is getting to the point we are going to have to get her another type of bar so she can do more work.

 

[mac.n.cheese.flipz]

I have one too but I wouldn't encourage actually doing skills such as back hip circles, front hip circles, etc. I always do skin the cats, 30 second hangs in reverse and L grip, windshield wipers, pull ups, and leg lifts.