WAG Amount of Plyometric Training for Young Gymnasts

[JBS]

Here's another broad question for everyone...

How much plyometric training (punching, rebounding, etc) do the younger gymnasts do at your club? By nature...gymnasts do a lot of plyometric training in their normal workouts. I would like to know how much you do on top of normal training.

Is plyometric training something that should not be focused on until the gymnasts are older? Should conditioning time be devoted more to actual muscle strength...or should more plyo work be added into conditioning?

I'll ask it one more way...

Does plyometric training at a young age increase the risk of injuries overuse injuries?

Here is an article...

Plyometrics: A grown-up approach to youth training | Sports Injury Bulletin

 

[catou]

My girls train 9 hours a week, we do about 20 minutes of plyometrics a week. We do it on the thursday, as it give them more time to recuperate. I know it's not recommended for kids, but as gymnastics is a plyometric sport by nature, I think it's necessary to give them the force and the power necessary to complete skills safely. Sure I don't train them in plyo at the beginning of the season. We start with strength training first. They need a strength basis. We also don't do as much in the competitive season as the muscles get much more tired. So we do at least 2x 30 minutes strength training and about 20 minutes of plyometrics.

Still, I adapt what I do, nothing really high, we are pretty clear with the forms we want, and if someone complains of any amount of pain in the lower body, we stop it for that person. I've never had any problem to this day.

 

[Galadriel]

somewhere in ltad article i read there are 'windows' where optimum development for boys and girls occur in certain areas. one is strength one is jumping and Plyo etc. sometimes there are two window optimum age brackets. based i think on an athletics model but on when the athlete is most likely to develop fastest in that area.
sorry if i am teaching you to suck eggs.
sorry i have no link but am out and about on silly phone!

 

[JBS]

somewhere in ltad article i read there are 'windows' where optimum development for boys and girls occur in certain areas. one is strength one is jumping and Plyo etc. sometimes there are two window optimum age brackets. based i think on an athletics model but on when the athlete is most likely to develop fastest in that area.
sorry if i am teaching you to suck eggs.
sorry i have no link but am out and about on silly phone!

When you get back to a computer I would love to have a link to that article.

 

[Faith]

My DD turned 8 last month. Training 15 hrs/week. When she trains with the bigger girls (age 10+) she is given alternative conditioning when they do their plyometrics.

I don't know why, so will watch this thread with interest

 

[kecks]

in my coaching curse for track training it was heavily emphasized that young ones don't do plyos ever. you are to start them, when the body is adultlike (about 13 to 15 for girls and 1 to17 for boys) *and* an acceptable strength base is established (rule of thumb: half squat with at least 1.5x bodyweight for females, a little more for male athletes). little jumps are okay before that, but no explicit plyometric training (like rebounding jumps or drop jumps and the like). the lectures cautioned that plyos are very hard on the "passive structures" (bones, ligaments, knees...). in my experience this is true. gymnastics might be a different animal so, since top age for elite performance is so early on the women's side here.

 

[Galadriel]

if you can do some Googling am pretty sure it is out of Canada.

 

[Galadriel]

www.canadiansportforlife.ca/ten-ss-trainability/more-about-10-ss-trainability
for a starter
look up critical periods of accelerated development.
and use this as a starting point the long term athlete development model is very compelling imo . easier to relate to some sports rather than others, but the more you research it does compare early specialisation sports such as wag to later specialisation sports.
does say these things are always trainable but at certain periods you get optimum accelerated results which if you miss the window you will not get SUCH good results.
based on not having very early sports specialisation. keeping it fun at a young age while developing physical skills, avoiding burn out etc.

 

[kecks]

maybe one should clarify what "plyometrics" refers to. speed actually has to be trained in the mentioned "windows of opportunity" because they close and can not be reopened. someone who has not be doing fast stuff in these years can not develop to her full invidual speed (fast twitch) potential. but to develop speed you do not need to do plyos... sprinting and jumping (without explosive rebounds as in drop jumps) is enough.

 

[JBS]

maybe one should clarify what "plyometrics" refers to.

I am referring to rebounding type exercises. High volume...repetitive bouncing.

 

[Kiwi]

This is really interesting. Earlier this year DD's group (aged 9 - 11) had to do 100 box jumps most sessions. To my untrained eye it just looked like they were pounding their feet to bits. By mid-year and start of competition season DD got an overuse ankle injury and another girl got an overuse heel injury. I haven't seen the group do any box jumps for the past few months. I don't know why they were doing them or why they haven't been doing them lately.

 

[kecks]

rebounding box jumps for kids are a nono here. kills achilles tendon. our olympic games participants on the german 4x100 relay team in track always have to do pushups when they do not step down but bounce of the box.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

This is really interesting. Earlier this year DD's group (aged 9 - 11) had to do 100 box jumps most sessions. To my untrained eye it just looked like they were pounding their feet to bits. By mid-year and start of competition season DD got an overuse ankle injury and another girl got an overuse heel injury. I haven't seen the group do any box jumps for the past few months. I don't know why they were doing them or why they haven't been doing them lately.

maybe because they figured out that 100 box jumps each session is overuse and was causing them problems. that's a lot of box jumps...

 

[coachmolly]

Interesting question. I coach a HS team and we do not have a spring floor, so I'm constantly trying to figure out a way to work on cardio and rebounding type skills that doesn't cause too much stress on joints. Lots of our girls come from cheer backgrounds and have very sluggish tumbling, so it's an area that needs work. Plyos often come to mind when planning conditioning, as they show up all the time when searching for good conditioning programs, but I always worry they will cause more harm than good.
Thanks for all of the great replies this far, I'll be interested in hearing any more comments and/or suggestions.

 

[Kiwi]

maybe because they figured out that 100 box jumps each session is overuse and was causing them problems.

That's what I was hoping, Dunno!