WAG Can she be serious?

[Bajanswife]

but coaches are constantly reminding her to keep her stomach in during her routines. When she does that her little pot belly turns into a 6 pack, if only I could do that.


Mine is exactly like your dd. The constant reminder about her belly

If my DD sucks in her belly it's amazingly taut and flat, with a wonderful 6-pack, but her natural inclination is to let her back arch and her belly pooch out.

 

[gymnastmom38]

Your dd is built a lot like my dd as well. Her coaches tell her to hold her core in a lot as well. It's hopeless but I think it's getting better as they're doing different conditioning now. But she still remembers when a boy on the boy's team told her that her legs were fat and not muscular and that she was fat 2 years ago. I think that scarred her for life...

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

but coaches are constantly reminding her to keep her stomach in during her routines. When she does that her little pot belly turns into a 6 pack, if only I could do that.


Mine is exactly like your dd. The constant reminder about her belly

Kipper too! She pulls it in and a six-pack appears. When she relaxes, she looks like she swallowed a watermelon!

Kipper is 9 now. Her belly and overall body fat have steadily decreased this past year. At last year's physical, she was at 46% height and 83% weight. This year, she was 46% height and 62% weight. I haven't drastically changed her diet. We talk about healthy eating to give you fuel to move and building materials for growing muscles...and I think she probably makes better choices now than she did as a 7 year old. But she LOVES her sweets and ice cream. She also loves STEAK and pasta. Thanks to her gym schedule, she is ALWAYS starving, and seems to eat all the time. Most of the change this past year is just her biology...she is growing up and not out and shedding the "baby fat" around her muscles. Some of it is probably and increase in her gym hours and much more rigorous conditioning. And a very small part may be her choosing healthier foods on her own. (water with meals instead of pop at restaurants, etc.) Her old gym owner made a couple of comments about her getting "leaner" in order to make faster progress. At the new gym, they actually condition more to build muscle. I MUCH prefer the new gym's approach! I have a collection of photos from 4 years (age 6-9). It is amazing how much she has changed in that time. To the OP, your dd is PERFECT. I'm glad you're questioning the mention of her "belly fat". Their little bodies will change a LOT over the next few years.

Kipper does have one coach who discourages eating too many sweets....but he makes blanket statements to the whole group (especially around holidays, etc.) and has never mentioned anyone's size or shape.

 

[billise]

My DD (turned 7 in November) has that same "2 year old" belly. Her arms and legs look like sticks with the exception of some fairly impressive definition at the quads and biceps. But that belly!!! Her coaches are constantly tapping her tummy to remind her to "tighten up" but I couldn't imagine them saying she needs to lose weight!

 

[gymgymgymnast08]

One coach told me that I was "thick" when I was about 16 or 17. It was completely inappropriate. I had been out for a long time with an injury and I finally hit puberty. Of course I was going to be "thicker" than I was before puberty. I was eating pretty healthy and I was exercising as much as I could with a leg injury. Maybe I was "thick" but I could do the most pullups in the gym.

It's definitely a good idea to encourage your gymnasts to eat healthy, but I don't think coaches should comment on weight unless it is prohibiting the gymnast from doing gymnastics or is detrimental to their health.

Similarly, coaches are gymnasts' second set of role models after their parents so I think that the coaches should be a good example of a healthy lifestyle. The coaches I had at one gym used to eat a big bag of chips and drink a soda and call that dinner. Then they would tell us that we shouldn't do that but it was certainly less effective when we saw them doing it.

 

[kimute]

Looking at my dd, she is a minority for sure when it comes to her body shape at our gym. Most of the girls are lean and have a small stature. I don't think her body stature will change when she's older.

Another question, do guys think that her having a body like this will help or hinder her in the future when it comes to gymnastics? She is determined, hard worker, strong and insanely flexible.

Seems to me a wide variety of body types work just fine!

 

[Midwestmommy]

I especially like the last couple of lines of this speech..

http://www.upworthy.com/oscar-winne...-left-an-entire-audience-speechless?g=3&c=gt1

 

[raenndrops]

A coach (or teacher) should NEVER comment on weight, especially in front of the child!
I still have my kindergarten grade card from 2nd semester 1978 (I had started at that school, but moved in with my dad for a while because of issues with the teacher, then moved back in with my mom and went back to that teacher). The teacher made 3 comments outside of the check marks on above average for almost everything they graded (and one "average" for art... lefty forced to use righty scissors and couldn't cut out a circle).
The 3 notes:
1. "Has breathy speech" ... it's called asthma and chronic bronchitis.
2. "Is a leader but tends to be a bit bossy" ... I can't help it if the other kids looked up to me and would ask me what they should do!
3. "Needs to lose weight" ... I had already been in the hospital for a week at the age of 3 to figure out why I was gaining weight so fast. They did EVERY test there was AND monitored everything I ate and drank. They let me go to a play room and have fun in between tests. While I was in the hospital, I gained weight! They were clueless... all test came back normal... My activity level was high... I didn't even always eat all the food they gave me.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Looking at my dd, she is a minority for sure when it comes to her body shape at our gym. Most of the girls are lean and have a small stature. I don't think her body stature will change when she's older.

Another question, do guys think that her having a body like this will help or hinder her in the future when it comes to gymnastics? She is determined, hard worker, strong and insanely flexible.

with the exception of obesity, and i mean real obesity, it doesn't matter. all that matters in gymnastics is how STRONG they are. it's called strength/weight ratio or SWR. one simply needs to look at the college girls or senior elites. they throw their weight, to and fro, as if there was no tomorrow. they defy gravity with WEIGHT. not without it.

the irony/fact about all of this...you CAN'T do gymnastics effectively without weight, the muscle that goes with weight (muscle weighs more than fat) or the SWR in both. in fact, without weight, you'll never get off a vaulting board, you'll never make a spring floor work/spring and you'll never get the rails to bend on bars. it's the way it is and it is what it is.

and you must have SOME fat in a pediatric body. without fat your heart won't work. without a proper functioning heart your heart MUSCLE can't profuse blood thru the circulatory system. without this pro fusing, you can't get oxygen to the brain and the muscles so that they can fire. and without that you got nuthin. no gymnast/athlete. just an amoeba.