Women Avoiding Burn Out

[QuayLight]

Hello Community!

By way of background, my DD is 8 years old, Level 4, aiming for Level 5 (Australia).

The gym we attend, the expectation is that they attend 5 days per week at 3.5 hours per session. This means she is at school 9-3pm and then at the gym from about 3:30pm-7pm, 5 days a week. Whilst I understand this is the norm, I would appreciate some tips on identifying signs of burn out and how to avoid burn out.

Thank you everyone

 

[Tmacs]

I was forceful in insisting that my dd take Wednesdays off even though they were required and I was paying for them. Luckily, the coaches were receptive and saw how much it helped her to have a break during the week (she never fell behind and consistently did as well as others). This year, they offered Wednesdays as optional and I don't pay. She does 18 hours a week at L6/7while most do 22.5. She's doing just great on those hours. Stand firm- advocate for her rest. My daughter knows that a day off is helping her commitment and focus on the other days.

 

[QuayLight]

I was forceful in insisting that my dd take Wednesdays off even though they were required and I was paying for them. Luckily, the coaches were receptive and saw how much it helped her to have a break during the week (she never fell behind and consistently did as well as others). This year, they offered Wednesdays as optional and I don't pay. She does 18 hours a week at L6/7while most do 22.5. She's doing just great on those hours. Stand firm- advocate for her rest. My daughter knows that a day off is helping her commitment and focus on the other days.

Thank you for your response. I love how you talk about advocating for your child. Our gym 'rewards' kids for attendance - so recognition for quantity rather than quality (i.e. focus during training). In my eyes, 8 years old is still quite young and I want to make sure I fill her cup in all areas of life (i.e. spending time with family, friends etc). It is nice to hear that requesting a break did not impact your DD's performance.

 

[Aussie_coach]

That amount seems high for 8 year old level 4-5’s in Australia.

It’s not the norm. Level 4-5 in Australia usually train 4 days a week. 3-4 hours at a time so 12-16 hours.

Very few clubs expect 5 days a week before level 7.

 

[JessSyd]

Agreed, that is not the norm. Go with your gut instinct on this and limit it to four sessions a week if possible. Is a gym with fewer hours a possibility? My daughter did level four on three sessions a week (although four were available).

FWIW, my daughter was at a gym where level fives had the option to train five times a week, and I didn’t allow it, and the gym coped and it didn’t seem to be a problem. But she is at a different gym now, and is training four times a week, doing fewer hours as an aspiring level eight than some level fives are doing at her previous gym.

And does that gym always win when we go head to head? No they do not. It’s been about 50-50 over the past few competitions.

 

[Aussie_coach]

And more hours does not mean better gymnasts. Often the opposite is true.

have you ever noticed that when you have ages to do something, then it takes ages to do. But when you have limited time, that’s all it takes.

Obviously I don’t mean that it can be done in an hour a week or anything. But long hours are often wasted.

too many repetitions is a waste, because after a certain number fatigue sets in and they Gymnast is now practising sloppily, they then get better at sloppy technique.

Over doing it isn’t the answer

 

[&bs]

Definitely agree that in Australia 5 days a week at Level 4/5 is excessive. Our 4’s are a similar age and do 3x3 hrs a week. Our 5’s do 4 x 3.5 hours and 5 days a week isn’t an option until Level 8 and we regularly have girls medalling at Nationals.

The only reason I could see to do 5 days a week is if the group is on the elite track and planning on being at Level 7 by 9/10, Level 9 by 12 and competing Future International at 13. Even then there is only a handful of gyms in Australia that I would bother doing this at, including
QLD -Delta Brisbane
Premier
VIC - Waverley
CYC
NSW - Manly Warringah
Not sure about the other States but Perth Gymnastics or NDGC in WA would be my best guess there.

In saying if that, I’m pretty sure most if not all of these programs don’t have their Level 4’s coming 5 days a week, definitely not the bulk of them and at most a chosen few.

 

[QuayLight]

Thank you for all your feedback. It is great to know what the general standard is in terms of hours and expectations for levels 4 and 5.

DD is a very hard worker (i.e. does all the reps etc) and I could see that going 5 days was making her exhausted. She is one of the youngest in her squad - some of the older girls (aged 10) are attending 5 days but apparently 'muck around' a lot.

DD is hoping to compete at level 5 this year and the gym was really pushing for the 5 days. She is definitely not going for elite or anything of the sort! I am just aiming for longevity, continued love of the sport and mental resilience so will cut her back to 4 days.

 

[XcelMom08]

At my DDs gym those hours and times are only for Level 8/9 and up.
Our Level 4 go 3 days a week.
My DD is a Xcel silver and goes 2 days a week and whatever open gym they have.

 

[Aussie_coach]

To clarify for those in the US, Level 4 in Australia is similar to level 3 in the US. In Australia we don’t even do a round off back handspring on floor until level 5.

So this is like a US Level 3 doing 5 days a week.

 

[JPC13]

So this is like a US Level 3 doing 5 days a week.

That's a lot. One of the big gyms in our region is purported to do 20 hours a week at level 2 or 3. I'm not sure if it's true, but a decent subset of their kids seem unbeatable at meets so it doesn't seem impossible. If so, I'd suppose they're going 5x a week.

My daughter's gym does 14-17 hours starting at L4 going 4x a week. I'm not sure what the 3s do, but I get the sense that it's much less (the gym seems to more or less segment the team into L3, L4-6, L7-9, L10, with gymnasts being trained very similarly within a bucket).

 

[JBS]

So this is like a US Level 3 doing 5 days a week.

Yes... this is a lot... we do 3 days at 3 hours around this point.

 

[catchingupmom]

Our gym (not Australian) is currently the lowest hours for the level 7/8 in our area. Our girls have not had problems progressing and routinely outscore gyms that are working a lot more hours and also I see fewer injuries in our gymnasts as well. We'll likely be moving to more hours next year, but it will be interesting to see if those same kids get injured more or only progress at the same rate. I agree, more isn't always better!

 

[JBS]

Remember that we do have an "Australian Gymnastics" group here also. Don't forget to join it if you are from Australia!

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