Bar Conditioning

[Shelovesthebars]

I don't know what it is called but I am assuming it is bar conditioning. My daughter is 4 and at her practice last week the coach gave the girls a challenge on the bars. They had to do a pullover to a front support. Then the girls had to do a belly roll off and hang and then do a chin up pull over again without stopping. Only 2 girls could do it, one being my dd. The coach stopped my daughter after she did 8 in a row without stopping. Should these girls be able to do this or is my dd just strong in the upper body? Is this normal?

 

[UnoMas]

Well I am not a coach but I think that is most definitely not normal!
Sounds like she is VERY strong. Good for her!!!

 

[hawaii_gymnast]

WOW! she seems strong.. at our gym it is different at age 4 all they work on is swings and skin the cat, and then like hand eye co ordination stuff as prep to get it all and have fun!

But if they are working that there then you have to give the other girls time to practice and they will catch up eventaully and your daughter seems to have great talent!

 

[gymdog]

Pull up, pull over? Not that unusual for a preteam group but some girls struggle I guess. My preteam has to do ten pullovers at the beginning of their bar conditioning and the low bar is high enough most of them have to pull up first, and some can get a couple without dropping off. Doing it in a row is a little harder but good for endurance, if they can do 5 pull ups and 10 leg lifts they should be able to pull up pullover twice imo. However some kids who are less coordinated and physical sometimes struggle with the mechanics at the younger age without a jump or kick, they will straighten the arms too early in the drop back phase of the pull over and fall off, or they will keep the arms bent too long and not get the pullover either. Or they just aren't strong enough and are still struggling with doing good chin ups and leg lifts in a row without stopping. Obviously the stronger you are the easier it is to compensate for these issues anyway.

It sounds like she has good strength and coordination, I wouldn't say it's normal or abnormal. Some people can develop muscle more easily than others but I've seen girls with less (to a point) natural strength succeed with good technique. And some kids go through spurts of building strength or flexibility. I have always been very strong and had decent flexibility but not great...oddly enough at the age most girls stop getting better at flexibility mine got better. I was working on it more to some extent but I really think it physically got better around that time. I have no idea.

 

[ginnymac]

They do that drill at my dd's gym. She is AAU level pre-novice (like level 5/6) and they do 10 of these in a row every practice.

They call them "fruit roll ups".

 

[Azgymmiemom]

do they belly roll back down to the chin-hang position, or do they drop down and then pull up to chin up position again? My dd's team does these, but they have to hang in the chin up (chin over the bar) position and then pull over to front support again without ever dropping all the way down. They start doing these in the developmental class(those kids are ages 4 to 8)-not very many, just kindof working on the concept of them, and not many could do them. Pre team and team do them all the time, though. Sounds like your dd is really strong...no wonder she loves the bars!!

 

[Shelovesthebars]

Ginnymac-
I love the fruit roll up nickname. That is funny. I will have to tell my dd that is what they are called.
When they did these they were not allowed to touch the ground at all and they had to have good form for them to count. I was just suprised when the coach had them try these. I did gymnastics so long ago that I don't remember a lot of things, especially the conditioning. The condintioning is grueling. Sometimes I wonder how the younger ones seem to adapt so easily to it. It all looks hard but somehow gymnasts seem to be able to pick things up that seem superhuman to the general population. I have seen older gymnasts doing them and was in awe so when I found out that they where easy for my dd I was just a little, ok a lot amazed. I couldn't do these if my life depended on it!
Azgymmiemom-They are not allowed to drop down and have to keep their chin close to the bar. Only one other girl who is a little older can do them and she is strong too. These 2 are only allowed now to do their press handstands on the beam starting from the stalter position. It is a work in progress but they are getting stronger every week.

 

[gymdog]

I think it is easier not to drop down if you have the control (you don't have to pull back up...just like a lot of people can chin hang okay but not pull up). However it takes more control and sometimes even strong little kids might have trouble with that coordination of where to pull and tense the muscles as they roll down (and not swing all over the place). This probably stopped some of them from being able to do it. I do roll down to chin hang with some advanced beginner groups in preschool etc and usually even the ones who can do chin up pullover will struggle sometimes, they don't understand how to not just drop off.

Harder is to chin to hollow hang, chin to hollow hang - no rest in front support.

 

[emorymom]

My dd is 6. She is the youngest in her level 2 group and one day when she was a younger 6 they did these and she "won". I don't know how often she does them in training but she does them pretty easily. My assumption was that it was because she likes bars and has one at home to play on when she likes. She initially struggled with pullovers like most people I guess. She didn't get her pullover until she was about 5.3 years and had recently started a 3 hour preteam. Even then she didn't get it until she was saying she would "never" get a pullover and I told her if we worked on her getting her chinup every day in the tree outside she would have her pullover in 2 weeks.

 

[BlairBob]

She is strong, make her stronger. Exceptional pull and core strength.

And yes, I rarely see that amongst most 4yo to do once, much less 8x.

Especially if her feet are not coming down at all and they are done in a connected series.

These sound like they pullovers were done in a long hang, so their feet could not touch the floor at all.

 

[marie83]

I would say that she is very strong, I only have one gymnast on my 'pre-team' who can do these and she is 5, the others are struggling to get the pull over from standing, but we are working on it!