Zoom workout motivation/boredom

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GymnastMomX2

Proud Parent
My 9 year old daughter is so OVER her team zoom workouts, and conditioning list. How hard should I push her towards doing it?

A little info, her coaches have Zoom meetings 3x a week in the afernoons for ~3hours; this is split into 3 rotations, conditioning, bars/vault and beam/floor. (they use a floor bar for drills, and low beam for basics). They also have a conditioning list sent home to do on their own, recommending 4-5x a week. A small subset of parents have a 2x a week video chat where the girls do the list together twice a week. We’ve been doing that once a week. So she’s doing the 3x a week w/ coaches plus the extra day w/ a few of her friends.

She’s at the point now where she doesn’t really want to do any of the conditioning. Its hard, its boring, she came to me sobbing earlier this week mid-workout asking to stop. I’ve asked her if she wants to quit gymnastics and she is adamant that she doesn’t saying she just wants life to go back to normal and do real gymnastics, and she still talks about big goals of being a level 7 next season. (she was level 4 last fall, and was supposed to score out of 5 this fall and compete 6 or 7 in the spring). I think even getting to 6 will be a long shot now, but haven't said that to her of course, and I'm not worried about levels at all.

We’ve explained that if she doesn’t put in some of the work now, going back in the gym is going to be really really hard, but she’s 9, I don’t think she gets it.

Any advice on what to say to her? I don’t want to force her to do anything that's making her miserable, but I also don’t want her sitting on her iPad all afternoon while I’m working from home, and she needs some exercise regardless. Its nice for me having her have structured time in the afternoon so I can get work done.
 
Would taking a week off be acceptable to you/her/her coaches ?
She'll probably be eager to go back to her teammates / coaches / some sort of gymnastics after a small break and it shouldn't take her too far back conditioning wise ?

Maybe make it very clear from the very beginning that you only agree to her taking a small time off if :
1) she stays somehow active (walking outdoor and/or biking if allowed/possible, not necessarily gymnastics related or even exhausting, basically not staying on the couch)
2) if possible (may not be because she is 9, hence not very likely to keep kept busy on her own), no screen/very limited screen time during the afternoon.
 
I like the idea of suggesting a small break at first, I don't think the coaches would mind much, I'm not sure all girls are even doing the zoom meetings, but I haven't been stalking them to see who is logging in and who isn't.

I do need to figure out what else she can do in the afternoons while I work, maybe pull out some art supplies for her, set aside time to read, etc. plan more family walks/bike rides, we just got kayaks, so planning on that this weekend too.

I also think if she really pushes the issue about not conditioning then I'll just let her, she will just have to deal with the consequenses of being out of shape when gyms reopen lol. Whenever that may be.
 
3 hours x 3 days is a LOT for Zoom workouts. My daughter's gym is doing 30 minutes x 3 days for all levels. I don't think that's quite enough, but I also don't think the kids would tolerate much more.

During a regular practice, they would spend some time standing around waiting their turn, moving mats, fussing with grips, etc. Are they working constantly for the entire 3 hours of the Zoom workout?
 
I would let her coaches know the situation. The thing is - this whole zoom workout thing is so new to all of us coaches, that it's very possible that the coaches are completely unaware that the kids (probably your kid is not the only one) are not enjoying those 3 hour practices. The coaches might not realize what it's like to participate on zoom workouts, try to concentrate on your own, try to make corrections without the coach by your side, not being able to joke with your friends between turns etc etc... Because the coaches have most probably never participated any zoom practices themselves. The mics are muted, the videos are somewhat blurry and they can't see how the kids respond to the training. If they don't chat with the girls casually during those times, the kids don't even have an opportunity to let them know that they don't enjoy it.

I as a coach appreciate it when the parents come forward and report me that their kid is losing motivation or not enjoying doing XYZ assignment that I've send to them. Right now this is the only way for the kids to communicate their feelings to me. I don't see their body language well enough to tell who is enjoying the zoom practice and who's not.

Our Zoom practices are 1,5 or 2 hours long, depending on age. They include fun games like scavenger hunt, handstand contests, Simon says, Show and tell with pets and toys etc. Anything that makes the kids laugh. We also spend at least 15 minutes every time just chatting, and I make sure everyone has a turn to speak. Usually the topic is very lax, something like "tell me one nice thing that has happened since we last met". And at the end I always ask them all what they wish we would do during the next meeting.

But yeah, I would let the coaches know. I'm sure they would not want to lose their gymnasts over this and would be more than willing to make changes that would keep the kids more interested and engaged.
 
you know, everything kind of sucks right now. It is hard, and long and boring and just generally awful. I don't force my level 10 to do her conditioning, and I won't. (she is 14). She set up a program at the start of all of this and though I will ask about it every few days, she is doing it on her own. Her gym doesn't do zooms, which at first I was annoyed with, but now I am really ok with it. The thing is, at her age as long as she is active, she will be fine. Pushing the zooms, conditioning etc right now IMHO is just not worth it. I would let her coaches know what is going on, and give her a little break. I would remind her about the zooms, but not push them. Everything is all "so much" right now that even I (an adult!!) just can't deal with it all every day. Give her grace, make sure she stays active (because we all need to do that!) but if it is a long bike ride outside or a run or a hike instead of a gymnastics zoom, that's ok too. Maybe do a family handstand contest or a family cartwheel contest if you want her to be doing "gym". Something fun and light to take the pressure off. Have her do the ballet video that was posted on here. Encourage her to do the monkey bars if you have a swing set outside. Gym shouldn't bring on tears. Hugs mama.
 
I also think if she really pushes the issue about not conditioning then I'll just let her, she will just have to deal with the consequenses of being out of shape when gyms reopen lol. Whenever that may be.
I love this. Natural consequences speak volumes. However, she is 9...9 is not 6. I would have no problem saying “honey you do not need to do any of this, but if you truly want to be an optional next year, this will be your best chance if you do these workouts. Not saying it won’t happen, but it will be so much harder to come back if you don’t do them, and the odds will definitely increase that it might not happen.”And I would add that the effort she puts in now could be the deciding factor with the coaches later. “Now if you don’t care, level five is a very good learning level and it doesn’t matter to me what level you are.” I would be prepared for either tears or stomping feet and yelling of “you just don’t understand.” And I would say “I am sorry you feel that way, but I love you and am here for you, no matter what you decide. But it is important that you understand the ramifications (ok choose a smaller word, lol) of your decision.”
My two cents, fwiw
 
I think this is such an emotional time for everyone, tossing some emotional blackmail in is just pointless. You can tell her that keeping her body moving will help her feel better, sleep better, eat better etc. But at the end of the day desire is essential, if she is not motivated she is going to resent you and the coaches.

The hours are far too much, 3 hours, 3 days a week. Plus the additional parent led hours. Just bloody bonkers. An hour 3 times a week would suffice.
 
I see your point, but I don’t see it as emotional blackmail. Will agree to disagree on this one. I always value your opinion, my opinion is just different than yours. :)
 
I don't see it as emotional blackmail either. My kid is 10 and ADHD - it can be difficult to see today with tomorrow in mind. So I'll remind her. It is not, "You'll never be an optional if you don't work out. They coaches will know and you'll have to repeat!" It's very much, "What are your goals for next year? What will help you reach your goals? How many days do you want to work out each week? OK, how many have you done/which days do you want to take off?"

She goes to a gym where the children very much drive the bus on their own gymnastics progressions, so there is not pressure from her coaches or me to move up next year, nor is repeating looked down upon by the people in her gym-o-sphere. But she wants to move to JO next year and knew it wasn't going to be a cakewalk even before this. If she changed her goal to repeating, I am sure her effort level would go down and that would be OK with me too.

But I also agree that 9 hours a week of zoom plus more home workout is kinda nuts and no way would my kid be able to handle that. Her gym has about 30 minutes of zoom conditioning 4 days a week, and a home workout (plus basics she brainstormed that she can do with the equipment we have) that takes her 30-60 minutes and she does 4-5 days and week, and that is almost too much.

If my kid were "over it" like yours, I would probably let the zoom go. It is just so much. Ask her if she still wants to do the other list. Ask her if she wants to take a week off. Nothing wrong with that. Basically sit with her and brainstorm what level of conditioning/how often she would be happy with. She is old enough to make a plan that works for her with light guidance.

As for sitting on screens, my kid doesn't get her screens until she's done school, chores, gym (if she's doing it that day), and read/drew. My friend doesn't let her kids on screens until they've done school and gotten 10,000 steps on their fitbits. Another one is just a blanket, no screens until 3:00. You can make a rule that works for your house.
 
Thanks everyone, I feel so much better reading these replies. I think it’s easy to get in my head that my daughter is the only one not all in on their home workouts and will be so behind when she goes back.

Going to cut out the extra workout session completely and follow her lead on the other ones, might even suggest a week off and see what she says.
 
Our Zoom practices are 1,5 or 2 hours long, depending on age. They include fun games like scavenger hunt, handstand contests, Simon says, Show and tell with pets and toys etc. Anything that makes the kids laugh. We also spend at least 15 minutes every time just chatting, and I make sure everyone has a turn to speak. Usually the topic is very lax, something like "tell me one nice thing that has happened since we last met". And at the end I always ask them all what they wish we would do during the next meeting.

I like this a lot. Let’s face it, for most girls conditioning is something they do so that they can progress to the fun parts of gymnastics. It is a means rather than an end. So gymnastics that is nothing but endless conditioning is hard. I have observed that my daughter’s zoom sessions tend to be fairly relentless even by gymnastics standards. They do not have the breathing space of girls grabbing their water bottles from the sidelines or moving to a different part of the gym. So without anyone intending this, the zoom sessions have become sessions for little gym robots. All work, no play, and with the never ending shutdown, no payoff for all the hard work in sight.

The coaches are very encouraging and the girls like seeing them, but they seem to prefer their non-coach workout sessions more because those sessions seem to better capture the vibe of being in the gym.

Sometimes in the gym’s zoom sessions something will go a bit wrong - a dog will run onto screen, or somebody’s baby sibling will toddle in and do something funny and the girls love those bits because they just lighten things up somewhat. So I would LOVE it if the coaches would do something like that during the longer sessions. Even if it is just a quick question of the day in the middle of each session, or a once a week show us your favourite toy /artwork you did this week / etc.
 
My daughter has a 45 minute team zoom monday through friday (this zoom includes all levels, 3-10, elites and xcel). She is also given daily conditioning to do (this comes via email and a changes every 2 weeks). In the beginning she was doing the daily conditioning in the morning with a few teammates via facetime. That lasted about a week. I don't think she has done the daily conditioning (at least not all of it) since (she's been out of the gym for 6 weeks now). She does do the daily zooms but I think she does it more to see her coaches and teammates faces. She's having a very hard time staying motivated. Our stay at home order keeps getting extended so she is convinced that the gym is never going to open. We did get her a pull up bar and an air track, so she can at least do some fun basics when she wants. We tell her it's her choice what she wants to do and when. We don't force her to do anything (even school). This is a hard time for all of us, but especially our kids. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to keep her happy each and every day. I think that's the best ant of us can do at this point. So, let her do what she wants when she wants, that's my advice.
 
My daughter has a 45 minute team zoom monday through friday (this zoom includes all levels, 3-10, elites and xcel). She is also given daily conditioning to do (this comes via email and a changes every 2 weeks). In the beginning she was doing the daily conditioning in the morning with a few teammates via facetime. That lasted about a week. I don't think she has done the daily conditioning (at least not all of it) since (she's been out of the gym for 6 weeks now). She does do the daily zooms but I think she does it more to see her coaches and teammates faces. She's having a very hard time staying motivated. Our stay at home order keeps getting extended so she is convinced that the gym is never going to open. We did get her a pull up bar and an air track, so she can at least do some fun basics when she wants. We tell her it's her choice what she wants to do and when. We don't force her to do anything (even school). This is a hard time for all of us, but especially our kids. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to keep her happy each and every day. I think that's the best ant of us can do at this point. So, let her do what she wants when she wants, that's my advice.

I think thiis great! I think we forget the stress and anxiety our kiddos are feeling as well. This is so hard for them, no gym, kids doing school online, trying to learn, stress from parents, not seeing friends...it is not easy.

I am doing similar for my son. He is 17, so really, he needs to do what he does. They do reach a level where it has to be their idea.

Here's hoping the kiddos can get back to their thing safely soon.
 
We are in “it is what it is” mode, along with “over it” mode

Our coaches are conditio only. They have workout sheets. Coaches would like 4x a week.

Mine is 14. Some days she is all in, some days not so much. Some days she is just in a no mode. Sometimes her teammates do some Zoom time workouts.

She is very much looking forward to being able to go back. And she understands that not keeping up with her conditiong will slow her bounce back ”curve”.

It is what it is......

3 hours multiple times a week plus more, is too much.

Now that weather is getting nice, get her outside, biking, hiking..... mine shoots hoops, uses her lacrosse rebounder.....

Also, perhaps you want to condition with her.

I don’t do her program. But sometimes mine will join me doing mine.
 
My daughter has a 45 minute team zoom monday through friday (this zoom includes all levels, 3-10, elites and xcel). She is also given daily conditioning to do (this comes via email and a changes every 2 weeks). In the beginning she was doing the daily conditioning in the morning with a few teammates via facetime. That lasted about a week. I don't think she has done the daily conditioning (at least not all of it) since (she's been out of the gym for 6 weeks now). She does do the daily zooms but I think she does it more to see her coaches and teammates faces. She's having a very hard time staying motivated. Our stay at home order keeps getting extended so she is convinced that the gym is never going to open. We did get her a pull up bar and an air track, so she can at least do some fun basics when she wants. We tell her it's her choice what she wants to do and when. We don't force her to do anything (even school). This is a hard time for all of us, but especially our kids. I'm just trying to do whatever I can to keep her happy each and every day. I think that's the best ant of us can do at this point. So, let her do what she wants when she wants, that's my advice.

This is exactly how our house is operating. I want her to keep her excitement about going back, not burn her out trying mimic at home what they do at the gym. 9+ hours of Zoom workouts would be an absolute no go here. Besides, our coaches have already prepared the girls for shorter practices when they return. They will be focusing on conditioning and basics to get them all back to doing gymnastics safely.
 
3 hours of Zoom workouts would be mentally exhausting I think!
My kiddos gym does Instagram live workouts 3 days a week (about an hour each workout) and they send an email workout the other 2 days. They also encourage them to stretch every day. Then they do a Zoom meeting per level once a week where they can just chat, they do scavenger hunts and just have fun.
She also does dance classes online and we have a trampoline and air track she tumbles on.
My gymnast just finished level 4 and (was) getting ready to score out of 5 and compete 6. She is not always into the workouts, but I just gently remind her that staying strong and flexible is the best thing she can do right now.
As long as she (and all my kids) stay reasonably active, I’m okay.
This is so hard for kids- my daughter went from school, and gym, dance classes, lots of socializing, to now almost 50 days of being mostly at home, with just our family. Our state extended our stay at home for 30 more days, so it’s harder and harder to stay hopeful about going back.
 
I think cutting back definitely seems like a good start for your daughter. When my daughter's gym first closed, they sent out the conditioning sheet and told them to do it 4-5 times a week. The first day she started enthusiastically and by half way through the sheet she was over it! lol. And she is 12 and a hard worker in the gym. She just did not like following that worksheet and to do the whole thing would probably take 2 hours or more (because she didn't want to do it and so made it take longer). Anyway, the gym went to zoom workouts by the second week and it's worked out so much better for her and the team. Doing it alone off a worksheet is just really hard and really boring!

I know everyone said 3 hour zoom workouts is too much, and it may be for a 9 year old, but my daughter is doing 3 1+ hour zooms a day, 5 days a week and it works out really well for her and her team. It is a lot of work of course, but they do try to make it fun with contests and spirit week and the like. They do a lot of stretching, conditioning and strength work together. But they also work on some skills and drills (for bars for example) where they work on their own and then take turns "showing" to the coaches. So there is definitely some down time and it's not like 3 hours straight with no breaks. Plus the last hour is a cardio dance class. They also joke around and give individual corrections and all. So it's really been valuable for my daughter to be with her teammates and coaches and just stay connected and, hopefully, stay somewhat in shape. I know this may not be the same experience with zoom classes as others are having though. Just wanted to share a different perspective. :)

But if the 3 hour zoom is just all work with no breaks and no fun, then I could definitely see someone starting to dread it. I agree with a previous poster who said to reach out to the coach and tell them how your daughter is feeling. Maybe they can add something fun to the workouts or change things around? But if it is stays too much and she still doesn't want to do it, then I would definitely agree with not forcing her to do it.
 

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