WAG Conditioning for Rec kids?

[SXS524]

How much conditioning and shaping would you expect/think Rec kids to do per session? I'm talking kids training just over an hour a week or so. I've coached at a couple of clubs, one where almost no conditioning was done... I would tell the gymnasts to get into a "dish shape" and they'd look at me like I was talking in Chinese
Obviously there's limited time with rec classes and the emphasis is on fun, but a fair amount of skills require a certain amount of strength like pullovers etc.
So I was just wondering what people's opinions were- how much time do you dedicate to conditioning and shaping per session?

 

[Laxgymnast]

I believe that rec kids should do some kind of conditioning because the strength is needed to get to a higher rec level or even get basic tricks so I think the last 10 to 15 minutes if a class should be dedicated to conditioning.

 

[gymmomtoo]

10 min or so is what I did when I coached rec.

 

[HoldThePhone]

During the time my daughter did rec, which wasn't long so I don't have extensive experience or ideas in the area, conditioning was made to be fun and therefore built into the circuits that the kids did.

We only did preschool rec so I'm sure for older kids, you'd have to find more age appropriate activities.

Some of the things they did:
small push car attached to a rope/pulley, where the kids pulled themselves up a small wavy slide.
Ladder climbs on the stall bars
Running on the tumble trak
Crawling through the pit
Monkey Bars
climbing a set of diagonal bars
leg lifts on rings

All of these things the kids loved, and built their strength a lot. I'm sure theres a ton of other ideas, and I'm sure I left off a ton, but the goal was to make sure the kids had fun while getting stronger, and they did.

 

[wgagym]

I think it is incredibly important however I place conditioning all throughout the lesson plans. We do one conditioning skill a week right before stretching. We do 3 10 sec hallow body and super girls every practice, and each rotation has one station that is a conditioning or shaping drill. That way they do it the whole class and usually they are unaware they are doing more than just their conditioning skill at the beginning of class

 

[iwannacoach]

I wouldn't do any more than spending 5-10 minutes showing them how to do certain exercises at home...... Kinda like a 1 minute check-in followed by a 30 second motivational rant, and concluded with 2-3 minutes of show and tell...... well maybe tell, show, and do would be the correct order.

No conditioning? Yep, because when you have little more than an hour for a class you'll get almost no conditioning done and the only kids who'll benefit are the ones who want to do it and are excited enough to go home and do it.

Advanced beginners and intermediates in a 2x a week schedule..... That"s a different story, let there be pain..... waaahaaahaaa.

 

[iwannacoach]

Advanced beginners and intermediates in a 2x a week schedule..... That"s a different story, let there be pain..... waaahaaahaaa.

Whoops sorry. I believe I misspoke. What I meant to say was......

muwaaha ..... muwahaaaha .... muuwaaaahaaaha!!

If you get what I mean.

 

[Ex member]

During youngest dd's 1 hour Rec Class they start of with running around the sprung floor or play a game that involves running and jumping around for 5-10 mins and then they do the following stretches:

Bending from side to side while standing with legs apart
Arm circles
Standing in a straddle and touching the floor with straight legs
Standing with feet together and legs straight and bending to touch toes
Sitting in a pike and touching toes
Sitting in a straddle and reaching over each leg
Sitting in a straddle and reaching forward trying to get chest to floor
Ankle circles
Bridge
Rocking backwards and forwards in a tuck.

I don't know if you call those stretches conditioning but the do those every time for 10 mins before going round the equipment. The rest of the time (40 mins) is divided up between 4 pieces of apparatus such as floor, beam, bars and vault including fast track. No exercises are done at the end of the session.

 

[Flossyduck]

My sons class do about 15 minutes running and stretching and then they incorporate conditioning into their time on the apparatus by using circuits.
For example, if they're doing p bars, one of the boys will be with the coach doing the 'drill' one will be using his arms to pull himself up a bench clipped at an angle to the wall and one will be doing leg lifts on the wall bars and one will be doing press ups. Then they move round and keep that going.

 

[GymCoachR2]

It really depends on the level of the rec class (beginning, intermediate, advanced etc). Often in beginning class just the shaping work that I do ends up being enough conditioning.

I tend to spread out conditioning in other rec classes so it isn't done all at one. I try to set up a circuit on pretty much every event two or three of the stations of which will be conditioning even if the kids dont realize it.

Ie. pike handstands are a CORE component of my circuits in rec classes. They're great for shaping, and fantastic for arms and shoulder strength, and I consider them part of conditioning.

Another station might be standing on two blocks a little more than body width apart jumping down between them and jumping back up. Kids think it's really fun.

Each station is done for a few minutes and then the kids move on, and now you've got kids conditioning but not thinking of it as "conditioning"

 

[Iwannabemargo]

when Pink and Fluffy and bother were in rec each session would start with stretching and then lines - crazy crabs, elephant walks, front support walks, front support to back support etc. They did it in teams

 

[SXS524]

Thanks for the responses everyone 10-15 minutes was what I was expecting/hoping to hear! I like the idea of spreading it throughout the session! I'm coaching at the "no conditioning club" this week now that the summer holidays are over so will try and introduce more conditioning, hopefully in a way that they don't realise it's conditioning

Ahaha Iwannacoach - what would you expect for kids coming twice a week? Perhaps 20-30 mins a session? We have some girls who train one 2 hour session and another 1.5 hour session.

 

[SXS524]

It really depends on the level of the rec class (beginning, intermediate, advanced etc). Often in beginning class just the shaping work that I do ends up being enough conditioning.

I tend to spread out conditioning in other rec classes so it isn't done all at one. I try to set up a circuit on pretty much every event two or three of the stations of which will be conditioning even if the kids dont realize it.

Ie. pike handstands are a CORE component of my circuits in rec classes. They're great for shaping, and fantastic for arms and shoulder strength, and I consider them part of conditioning.

Another station might be standing on two blocks a little more than body width apart jumping down between them and jumping back up. Kids think it's really fun.

Each station is done for a few minutes and then the kids move on, and now you've got kids conditioning but not thinking of it as "conditioning"

Some great ideas here, thank you especially like the blocks idea!
Also just looked at your website swing big, looks great- can definitely see myself coming back to your site as it looked like there was lots of great drills!

 

[iwannacoach]

Thanks for the responses everyone 10-15 minutes was what I was expecting/hoping to hear! I like the idea of spreading it throughout the session! I'm coaching at the "no conditioning club" this week now that the summer holidays are over so will try and introduce more conditioning, hopefully in a way that they don't realise it's conditioning

Ahaha Iwannacoach - what would you expect for kids coming twice a week? Perhaps 20-30 mins a session? We have some girls who train one 2 hour session and another 1.5 hour session.

Spread it out through the time you have and use a small portion of your time teaching them how to get themselves stronger. I'd use just 10 minutes of the 90, or 15 of the 120 to show them exercises, how they should be done, and then watch them individually to see if they get it.

Kids that want to get strong will do great with this approach, and the kids that don't want to get strong probably will cheat in a group setting. Kids between the extremes will catch on or decide to join the group that wants to cheat.

Team level gymnastics requires strength and the willingness to work hard to get stronger. So basically, if they want to advance they'll work and if not it doesn't make sense to set aside a bunch of time for kids who can't be taught how to do it on their own at one of the stations you set up as part of your equipment work.

It makes sense to me, but nobody ever had to show me twice how to do strength drills to do on my own, nor did they have to work to convince me.....

 

[Ex member]

Youngest dd went to a later rec class the other day with older children (7 to teenagers) dd is 6 nearly 7 so they asked her to move into it as they think she can cope with it even though she is really tiny (the 4-7 year old rec class was getting too easy for her), they did some sort of conditioning as well as the usual warm ups - they did sit ups and press ups and some sort of splits type stretching where they have one leg bent in front balancing on that foot with the other leg behind them balancing on that knee (hard to explain but I have seen other girls that do conditioning do them).

Eldest dd spent all her 1 1/2 lesson conditioning the last time she was in and she loved it (she must have a sadistic streak lol), she hasn't been in gymnastics very long ( 7 weeks) and I thought that would put her off lol.

 

[Aussie_coach]

For our younger rec kids (5-8) we do t really hold the shapes beyond a few seconds but its important to teach the kids what the shapes are and how to do them correctly. Rec kids should be learning the names of things so when they move up to a higher level they don't have to be taught everything.

The focus is to hit the shape correctly. Make a game of it, you call the shape and they have to be the fastest to make it, 1 point for the fastest and 1 point for the best shape.

 

[Aussie_coach]

For our younger rec kids (5-8) we do t really hold the shapes beyond a few seconds but its important to teach the kids what the shapes are and how to do them correctly. Rec kids should be learning the names of things so when they move up to a higher level they don't have to be taught everything.

The focus is to hit the shape correctly. Make a game of it, you call the shape and they have to be the fastest to make it, 1 point for the fastest and 1 point for the best shape.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I would also add to the OP that the NDP requires shapes as part of the Badge scheme

 

[Redford]

When I first started coaching, I tried to somehow fit in the conditioning that I was used to. Didn't work for the rec kids of course.

I now do the same warm up routine for the rec and the comp kids but with a different number of repetitions. The routine includes a few exercises for arms, abs and legs and we do it to music, which is why the girls love it.

Other than that I have a system similar to what iwannacoach described. I show them conditioning drills they can practice at home and every now and then we do a little strength competition.
The thing works extremly well, especially since the rec kids are all friends. One girl recently told me they'd been "meeting during the holidays to practice their spilts for the next competition."

 

[Ex member]

I would also add to the OP that the NDP requires shapes as part of the Badge scheme

What badge scheme is this? My dd goes to a Gym in the Uk and she is doing badge week at the moment (this week was badge practice week) and I think next week is badge testing week. Dd is on badge 1 (last one before the advanced proficiency badges) she has to demonstrate some things to pass, she has to do the following :-

10 Shuttle Runs
Front or Side Splits
Half Lever or Straddle lever held for 3 seconds
Jump Full Turn
Moving towards handstand using apparatus
Change leg Handstand
Handstand Forward Roll
Matched, Mirrored Sequence to include Balance, Roll & Jump
Throw Ball in the air perform a cat leap, catch the ball, perform balance
Straddle on Box Straddle Jump off to landing.

Some of this stuff isn't covered in Class like shuttle runs, splits, half levers, Handstand forward Rolls, Matched Mirrored Sequence and Throw the ball ,leap catch and balance. They just get given the sheet with that they need to do, work with others on same level with a coach for a week or 2 then get tested then after badge week go back to normal classes.

Things like conditioning would no doubt help with this especially as they progress through the badges, especially the Splits and Half levers as they require strength and flexibility.

Sorry for going off topic a bit