Conditioning as a punishment?

[Itstrueimagymnast]

Hey everybody! I was wondering if, as a coach, you give conditioning as a punishment? I know our coach does, to the point of bringing me to tears. Do you use conditioning as a punishment? Why or why not?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I don't like to use conditioning as punishment, because I don't want my gymnasts to get stuck in the mindset of thinking of conditioning as a negative thing. Conditioning can be fun -- and I'm not talking about conditioning games or anything like that, I'm talking about genuine hard-core conditioning. When you strip away the screaming coach and the perception of conditioning as a negative, it really is fun for most kids to test the limits of their own strength, and it genuinely is fun to do something you know will make you stronger (this is especially true for male gymnasts over 12, but is to some extent true for just about anybody).

I think anything that causes kids to view conditioning in a negative light is destructive in the long term.

 

[10.0]

I agree with Geoffrey, I had coaches that used it as punishment, so bad that if you feel off the beam for any reason you had 25 or 50 of something. It made me hate beam. Kids already grumble about it, I even explain to them even the little ones that it is to make them strong so they can do flips like the big girls, they love hearing that and try harder. I actually remind them it is not a punishment but something to make them strong.

 

[marie83]

No, never, even though it is tempting some times. If I give my gymnasts conditioning between repetitions, eg between tumbles or vaults etc, it is always something that will help to improve their technique or just plain keep them occupied if the group is particularly big! I always explain this to the gymnasts.
I totally agree with GT. We very rarely play conditioning games and my gymnasts LOVE conditioning, to the point where they ask for conditioning to do at home!

 

[bribri514]

I've had coaches do both. During rec and comps I never had a coach use conditioning as punishment, and I think that's a good thing. As I got older, like level 8-10, it was used occasionally. But it was more for behavioral kind of things. Like we had one girl who was never on time for practice, not because she couldn't get there but because she was always late. She started having to do extra conditioning when she was late. That kind of stuff. I think if used right it's okay, but like 10.0 said, using it for things like falling off the beam or missing a connection on bars or something isn't good. With older girls who are messing around, it definitely has a place.

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Pickle’s coach sometimes has them run stairs for punishment. It’s never for not getting skills (like falling off the beam or something). It’s usually if someone is late (either to practice or back from a break) or if they are goofing off when they are supposed to be working.

 

[cher062]

Old gym did that all the time. If they took too long, if they fell too often then its push ups, V ups or whatever. New gym I have never seen that. I think that its wrong to "punish" a gymnast if it isn't a behavioral issue and if it is then call parents to take kid home and deal with it. or sit them out until they can behave.

 

[Originalgymnast77]

Hi
Im sorry, i know you asked this question to coaches but i think i have a pretty good answer.
My coach tell us that conditioning is not a punishment, but its just another part of gymnastics.
Whenever were to loud in line she gives us conditioning to do because she says its a task we can do quietly.
So ultimately i don't think its a punishment.

 

[gymdog]

Old gym did that all the time. If they took too long, if they fell too often then its push ups, V ups or whatever. New gym I have never seen that. I think that its wrong to "punish" a gymnast if it isn't a behavioral issue and if it is then call parents to take kid home and deal with it. or sit them out until they can behave.

I agree with this. I don't really find it necessary to punish anyone in any way really. If you don't want to be there, you can sit down or call your parents and explain why you are not doing practice. I don't really have behavioral issues on team, but if I did, conditioning would not be the answer.

Now sometimes with the rowdy boys groups, I have seen it be fairly effective to have the whole group stop and doing conditioning to get things settled down. I suppose that's not really punishment, more like regrouping. That's the only way I'd use it. But I've never needed to do that with girls.

 

[B Gymnast]

we don't really ever have to do conditioning for punishment, but now my coach started making us do 10 v-ups if we fall during beam complex (walking, kicking, etc.)

 

[flipandtwist]

At my gym we rarely have conditioning as punishment unless it's behavioral issues or if we say the word "can't". If we say "the c word" we have to do 10 push-ups. And If we're stretching and we're lagging behind because we're talking my coach makes the last person to get into each stretch to 10 push-ups. But other than that, we don't really do conditioning as a punishment. And we never do conditioning for falling or things like that.

 

[CoachGoofy]

Not as punishment, no. But if they're so not busy they can talk (and talk...and talk...and distract their teammates) instead of practicing, I can give them something more productive to do.

 

[bribri514]

I agree with this. I don't really find it necessary to punish anyone in any way really. If you don't want to be there, you can sit down or call your parents and explain why you are not doing practice. I don't really have behavioral issues on team, but if I did, conditioning would not be the answer.

Now sometimes with the rowdy boys groups, I have seen it be fairly effective to have the whole group stop and doing conditioning to get things settled down. I suppose that's not really punishment, more like regrouping. That's the only way I'd use it. But I've never needed to do that with girls.

I guess when I say behavioral, it's nothing so severe that someone would be sent home. It was mostly with our op level team, so girls anywhere from 9-18 years old. Mostly it was us talking (like coachgoofy said), or daydreaming or just being a little silly. A bunch of v ups and stuff brought us back in focus, it was never a big problem.

 

[Sunobo]

At dd's old gym, the level 4 kids would have to do push ups or v ups if they didn't try to save their fall on the beam. They had the tendency of just jumping off the beam if they got off balance and that translated to unnecessary falls in meets.

 

[All Chalked Up]

Never.
Nevernevernevernevernevernevernever. Though if we're goofing off too much or something minor like that, we run stairs. If it's backtalk/behavorial issues, they get sent up to the parent viewing room for a while, like a "timeout". We never get conditioning for not getting a skill or whatever, though if we're doing something really fun and being "bad", we get conditiong as threat. I love conditioning myself, because I always do it beside my friends and we talk. But my friend did learn her kip by doing sit-ups whenever she didn't do it, but that wasn't at my gym.

 

[coachmolly]

If a kid just doesn't want to do something or isn't being productive, I give them the option to sit out, stretch, or tell their parents they want to go home. If I punished them with conditioning, I could almost bet they would not do it correctly anyway and would probably be in an even worse mood when they finished.
If the entire group is acting up, not putting forth effort, chit chatting, or something along those lines, I will sometimes have them sit in a split or do some other type of flexibility work to give them a chance to rest and regroup while still doing something productive.
If the whole group is conditioning in a circuit and I notice someone just standing around instead of working, or they ask to go to the bathroom in the middle, I will have them make-up the work they missed. But I don't really view that as a punishment, just making them complete the same number of sets their teammates had to do.
I have punished with conditioning, but really try not to. On one particular occasion I had a child purposely kick me in the face while on bars. I was so astounded that anyone would do such a thing that I assigned push-ups. Later on I realized making her sit out would have been a better option, but in the heat of the moment that thought didn't cross my fuming mind.

 

[twisting007bigflip]

Pickle’s coach sometimes has them run stairs for punishment. It’s never for not getting skills (like falling off the beam or something). It’s usually if someone is late (either to practice or back from a break) or if they are goofing off when they are supposed to be working.

I just don't get this concept of punishing a child for being late to practice. I understand and agree with consequences for coming back from break or extra long trips to the restroom, however, not in the form of "conditioning"...making a child run stairs because they were late to practice is ridiculous - it's not like they drove the car. That's like suing Walmart because you broke your arm at McDonalds.

 

[bribri514]

I just don't get this concept of punishing a child for being late to practice. I understand and agree with consequences for coming back from break or extra long trips to the restroom, however, not in the form of "conditioning"...making a child run stairs because they were late to practice is ridiculous - it's not like they drove the car. That's like suing Walmart because you broke your arm at McDonalds.

To clarify in my case, it was only with older girls (middle and high school mostly). For example the ones who got in trouble for being late were high school girls responsible for getting themselves to gym and two girls in particular had issues getting there on time for no reason.

 

[Optionals United]

We have girl like that. She gets out of school at 2:30 and gym starts at 4 and she has about a 7 minute drive. She is consitently late for no reason. But we just ignore it because her parents pay for a certain number of hours a month and you come 30 minutes late almost everyday for 5 days a week.That is 2 1/2 hours of practice you miss.

 

[GetaGrip]

My coach gives out conditioning punishments all the time. He makes girls put on weights and climb the rope until gym is done if they cry, and one girl in my class is struggling with her cast handstand and is sent to conditioning and cast practices until she is "ready" to do a skill she doesn't know yet. One girl in particular has been sent to climb the rope until the end of practice (about 30-45 min) everytime she goes to bars. It's gotten to the point that her shin is bleeding really badly from ropeburn from the rope climbs. All the girls at my gym hate conditioning and sometimes my coach goes really overboard.