Conditioning at home?

[TexasRose]

Does anyone do conditioning at home on a regular basis?

DD is 7, level 3, practices 1 day a week for 3 hours. Her coach was remarking the other day on how DD's splits are not where she would like them to be. With them only practicing once a week I don't really know realistically how good she would expect them to be though. So my question is- do you recommend doing conditioning and stretching at home? I don't want to be a crazy gym parent and I don't want to put pressure on DD regarding gymnastics- that's for her coaches to do. But I wonder if we just spent 30 min a day stretching and conditioning if that would be helpful? And not make me a crazy pushy parent?

I was thinking about getting a pull-up bar for the doorway and haivng us all use it- I need to work on my upper body strength as well. I figured if we did it as a family it would be more fun. And hopefully it would help her in the gym and increase her strength which I would hope would decrease the risk of injuries. Any thoughts?

 

[Shewhodrives]

My dd would and still does practice her splits, but only because she wanted to get them. It might not be a big deal to your dd right now and that is OK, they will come. I have to admit that I thought about a pull-up bar, but after researching them (on CB), I changed my mind....I'm not that handy and didn't want to drill holes in a doorway and I could just imagine her or my son pulling it down. ;( Don't worry, you don't sound like a CGM (crazy gym mom). I used to worry about that too, but not anymore....you'll read/hear about and/or witness the real ones. LOL.

 

[BlairBob]

Encourage it. I like for kids to be doing some extra stretching and strength and skill training at home until they start training a lot of hours after L5. Then, they shouldn't need it as much.

Pull up bar and a set of parallettes. Add in a set of rings, rope and mushroom for boys. Well, girls could use a rope too.

 

[putri]

I think my dd is the same level as yours. We're Americans in the UK and the leveling/grading (or even the gym operation) is quite different and so I had to guess based on YouTube videos of kids at level 3

Mine goes 2x for a total of 4.5 hrs (Tue + Sat). She does extras at home when she wants to and can. The reason why we don't do extras regularly is because she has other after school things and we only have one day during the week day to do homework and then the weekend.

Right now her splits are really good. She can do both splits with arms up. To get there she just did some stretching and then splitting when she could, mostly before bed. I think she got her splits down in six weeks? BUT, from watching the kids at the gym, this will vary and even some who are better than dd don't have as flat of a split as dd. But the extra she did at home does help.

For conditioning dd would do sit ups, push ups, and weights - 5lbs. When I am not busy (I have another child and work from home) I'd spot her and she'd do a handstand for longer than usual with me barely holding her legs. Hubby said it's called magic fingers (he is a gym goer) or in my case magic hands. Dd has gotten creative. We have a wood and very sturdy coffee table. She's use the corner to lift her legs up. I don't know what the move is called but it's when the two hands are in front of you and the palms would push the body up from the floor with the legs in the air straight forward and pointing. She can't push herself up (and I won't let her) but she would put her legs back down in a controlled fashion. The park is also just around the corner and there should use the bars to goof around and practice leg lifts.

My dd LOVES her gymnastics time and so it's just been her wanting to do the extra stretching and conditioning. I am just glad she found something she's passionate about

It's too cold now and I have a door bar in order. I do the P90x and we'll all use it for conditioning. Oh, she does that too, she picks and chooses which, when I do it when she's home. I hate that part and it's nice to have a little partner doing it with me

 

[bookworm]

Don't take this the wrong way but I would only have her do "extra" stuff at home if SHE initiated it...I wouldn't buy anything else for a 7 yo Level 3 at this point unless she herself expresses an interest...you don't want her to feel like she always has to be doing nothing but gym right off the bat and even though you say "only 30 minutes" , a 7 yo's sense of time could see that as an eternity. If she is doing splits and stretching on her own at home while watching TV then great, but I definitely wouldn't start any type of "home conditioning" with her on a regular basis ...let her enjoy the fact that she only has practice 1 day a week! As she progresses up the levels and it requires more times and days, you will long for the good old days of once a week!

 

[Faith]

I think you might remember I posted something very similar a few months ago

Dd was doing the once a week, 3 hour session and I also didn't feel it was enough time to progress with flexibility. I did have a pull up bar in the loft, so dug it out. When dd spied it she was desperate for a go! Fortunately it was the school holidays so whenever she got bored I let her go and have a play- couple of swings, chin ups, leg lifts etc. I made it a condition that she did 10 mins warm up first- jumping on the bed, then splits. She improved pretty rapidly.

However I agree with the others, it has to be at her own request. I did try and have her work out with me, but she wasn't interested, she just wanted to hang off that bar! Once she started back at school though it stopped.

If she's just doing the one session a week, is it worth checking out a dance class? Or somebody on my thread suggested yoga, which I thought was a really good idea.

I honestly wouldn't fret too much though, after all my stressing dd got moved up to 11 hours a week, and now I spend all my time trying to get her to rest and stop jumping off the sofa!

 

[TexasRose]

Thanks everyone!!! I really appreciate all the advice and points of views.

Bookworm- Definitely not taking it the wrong way. That's what I was wondering- if it's right to make her do it. I don't think it is because home should be a break and I think that forcing her to condition and stretch at home puts me into CGM category and adds stress to her. So I think that I'll just ask her in the evenings if she wants to stretch a bit and do some push-ups and stuff and we'll do them together.

I got one of the pull-up bars that goes in the doorway today- I need it for myself. Have to do pull-ups for work, lol. So if she's interested I'll have her jump in as well. She does dance as well as tumbling class too. So 1 hr of tumbling, 1 hr ballet, 1 hr jazz, 1.5 hr dance team, and 3 hr gym each week spread out over 3 days. So she's stretching 3 days a week. We had originally asked the coach if the level 3's could practice more than once a week if they wanted to- which DD does- but they said no. So they recommended ballet and the tumbling class and private lessons. Very happy with the tumbling class though! DD got her back walkover after 3 weeks of going (which to me is a big deal, lol ) . Her kickover was not consistent but now is and I'm definitely seeing major improvement in her floor skills- woohoo!

Her coach had always said no practicing at home so we've never done anything other than DD occasionally wanting to do handstands in the living room. Her dance coach actually just told me yesterday that we need to be doing splits at home 5 x a week if she wants her leaps to improve. Of course she also moans about how gym is making her do her leaps wrong, lol. So I'll just offer her help if she wants to stretch and condition at home but if she doesn't no biggie. Thanks everyone!!!

 

[gym law mom]

I think you can let her know that if she wants to join you in a workout thats fine and its fine not to also. A fine line can develop where its not clear to the child whether you're mom or her conditioning coach. Sounds like she is getting more stretching and general gymnastics type workout with the dance and tumbling classes so I would just leave it at that.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

just my twopence worth - my DD is just 8 and would be probably a level 5/6 on your system. She has recently had to cut her hours from 12 to 6 ( long story - but its hopefully temporary). She does conditioning twice a week at home, really just to keep up with what she is missing in gym. She does as much as she wants to do, is never forced. Sometimes I suggest it, "do you want to do some conditioning?" But there is no obligation, and sometimes she suggests it.

she runs up and down the stairs to warm up, stretches, does elephant lifts, press ups, chins, squats, mountain climbers, bum ups etc in sets of 10 whilst her brother counts.

she then sits down infront of the telly and stretches her splits.

she doesn't practice skills at home but is never on her feet, she cartwheels round the house and thinks its normal to walk across the livingroom floor on her hands as a matter of course

 

[emorymom]

My DD has been on a Tuesday Thursday schedule for now a 3rd year. She needs something on the weekend to maintain flexibiity. Otherwise it's nearly 5 days off. I would prefer to outsource that to a gym but currently do not have access to a weekend workout. We didn't do any stretching or conditioning at home for a long time, but recently started back on the weekend so that one day she can put Level 2 to bed (our gym has very high standards for these intro levels; she has enough trouble with our AAU handstand-flatback vault to have any other issues). Also she is not super flexible in the shoulders and she swims so she will get tight without effort. She has a little list that she made up a year or so ago, and she runs through that. She's happy to do it as long as I watch. At various times coaches have asked her to stretch and condition at home. I don't see that it's crazy.

My son goes 3 days a week and I don't see that he needs supplement unless we were going for real splits. I've not been told that that's important. I think 3 days is a good interval.