WAG Conditioning question put to rest

[Lynn]

Well, I can now put to rest my questions about how much conditioning is too much and what is appropriate.

25% a week should be spent on conditioning regardless how many hrs a week a gymnast trains. 4 hrs of conditioning at one time is excessive and not benefiting anyone and opens the door to more injuries. The gymnast will feel that is all they do and efforts on skill training will be slowed down.


This information came directly from an Olympic coach who has trained multiple elite gymnasts. I am overjoyed ( and slightly star struck) that I was able to attend one of his seminars by accident.

Thank you all for every bit of feedback on this subject. I want what is best for my DD and with this sport being so hard on a body as it is, I just needed to know more and dig deep. Partial CGM but only on my DD behalf.

Hope this helps anyone or adds to someone's program in a beneficial way.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

So do you think you will speak to the head coach? Start looking at another club? I just went and read your posts about this. I'm not sure if the 25% rule should be gospel, but I think what your dd was doing could be considered excessive.

 

[gymdog]

25%? Eh, that's a little random to define and I would say overall it should be 50%, but not all of that would be max, straight conditioning. I would count complexes and smaller things to address alignment and stuff for example. I aim for 50% of time overall to be physical preparation, maybe a bit more, with the rest being straight skills, routines, and technical drills that don't really have a conditioning or shaping component.

I agree that four hours straight is not the right path either.

 

[Aussie_coach]

25% is one Olympic coaches opinion. Opinion varies greatly and there are many successful international coaches who create success with many different strength formulas.

The amount of time spent on strength will also vary greatly depending on the time of year, proximity to competition season, age of the athlete and developmental stage of the athlete. Especially when developing Olympians.

However, I do beleive that most would agree that 4 straight hours of conditioning is excessive.

 

[Lynn]

Oh I totally agree that I shouldn't take this as the gospel. I didn't share all that was discussed during the conversation, just the stuff that had the most impact on me and my question. He did say as well that it's not the only way, it's his way and what's worked for him running a very successful program. He also mentioned that his girls do intermittent conditioning while waiting so it could be more than 25%, but that number is generally where he likes to keep it.

I described a typical week for DD and he suggested speaking with HC before making any decisions whether to move gyms or not. But if he said it once, he said it several times, a solid practice conditioning is not good.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Well, I can now put to rest my questions about how much conditioning is too much and what is appropriate.

25% a week should be spent on conditioning regardless how many hrs a week a gymnast trains. 4 hrs of conditioning at one time is excessive and not benefiting anyone and opens the door to more injuries. The gymnast will feel that is all they do and efforts on skill training will be slowed down.


This information came directly from an Olympic coach who has trained multiple elite gymnasts. I am overjoyed ( and slightly star struck) that I was able to attend one of his seminars by accident.

Thank you all for every bit of feedback on this subject. I want what is best for my DD and with this sport being so hard on a body as it is, I just needed to know more and dig deep. Partial CGM but only on my DD behalf.

Hope this helps anyone or adds to someone's program in a beneficial way.

when i stated "i would need a nap" was my way of saying...well, you know.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

when i stated "i would need a nap" was my way of saying...well, you know.

additionally, between macro and micro cycles, you can't say 25% absolute. depends on the time of year and what conditioning is necessary, how much, how little, etc; there is a lot involved the higher level you go. but 4 hours? thinking of that almost puts me in a coma...

 

[AmandaLynn]

I can not imagine a full four hour practice of "conditioning". However, I have had one practice per week be "conditioning/basics" day in the past, where we did nearly all conditioning, complexes, basics, drills, etc. I have since moved to a model where a bit of this is incorporated each day, but I know plenty of coaches that still have one day that is primarily complex and basics.

I guess it depends on what you consider "conditioning". Are complexes considered conditioning? Or were the kids V-up-ing and Leg Lifting for hours on end? Ya know?

 

[wallinbl]

4 hrs of conditioning at one time is excessive and not benefiting anyone and opens the door to more injuries.

4 hours is longer than it takes to run a marathon. 4 hours is almost long enough to complete a half Ironman triathlon. 4 hours is the length of many of the Tour de France stages.

 

[Lynn]

I can not imagine a full four hour practice of "conditioning". However, I have had one practice per week be "conditioning/basics" day in the past, where we did nearly all conditioning, complexes, basics, drills, etc. I have since moved to a model where a bit of this is incorporated each day, but I know plenty of coaches that still have one day that is primarily complex and basics.

I guess it depends on what you consider "conditioning". Are complexes considered conditioning? Or were the kids V-up-ing and Leg Lifting for hours on end? Ya know?

The girls do v-ups, leg lifts, chin ups/pull ups, body rockers, lumberjacks, frog jumps, plyos( beginning and end of practice at times ) push ups, dips and other stuff I don't know the names of. On practice days like this, they warm up as a team then the coaches are basically done with them until the last 5-10 mins to stretch. They don't work on any events when this happens. The most recent episode was right before an extended period of time off. They even sometimes joke around with the girls and say they are sending them off nice and sore before break!

I'm just glad I've been able to communicate with the folks here and hear different thoughts and how others handle things inside the gym. I feel a great sense of resolution with my thinking this is over the top at times. I will say my DD is in amazing shape and leading a healthy lifestyle. Just hope it doesn't come at a price at some point.

 

[Lilly]

Is John Geddert this olympic coach? That's good, he knows what he is doing. Don't forget that he himself said that 25% is STRAIGHT conditioning, but MORE is hidden into the rotation at EACH event which makes for MUCH more than 25%. Make sure you understand what he is really saying. Anyway, what is the definition of conditioning. It is a loose term. It could be defined as doing some bodily movement against resistance and the weight providing that resistance can come from weights or your own body weight. It could be said that gymnastics ITSELF is conditioning! What is one doing in ANY skill in gymnastics? Lifting one's own body weight.

 

[Lynn]

No..it wasn't John Geddert. And as I mentioned in my original post here, I did not relay all that I was told in my post. Just the "stand out" info to help me put this to rest.

When interviewing our new gyms, I asked a great deal of questions regarding conditioning and so forth. Each gym had their own conditioning plan. Some very similiar to what my DD knows and some totally different. The gym my daughter will be going to soon has a nice mixture of the Olympic coach and DD's current coaching. So overall I'm satisfied with my new knowledge.

Thanks for the input!