Conditioning question?

[Mariainlv]

At J's old gym, they went 4 hrs, 4 x a week for L5. 4hrs 3x a week for L4. Her new gym is 3hrs 4x a week for L5. At the old gym they spent 1 day a week solely working on conditioning as team. Climbing rope, V ups, etc. New gym does not. I have seen no real conditioning except for the optional TOPS conditioning that is offered after practice 30 minutes 3x a week and 1 hr on Sat. J does not want to do the TOPS, as theye seperate into 3 groups, TOPS A, TOPS B and develepmental. She falls into the last category and wants to be in the other group. As a result she decided not to do TOPS training. I have no desire for her to test TOPS, but I do wonder if the conditioning would be helpful to her?

As some background she just started gymnastics a little less than a year ago and has had some sucess so part of me wonders if she doesnt want to do it because it isnt fun? Her group works on strength exclusively,while the other groups work rope climbs, casts, and presses and thats what she wants to do. Being 7 I think she does not correlate getting stronger with working on that since at the old gym they all climbed rope, worked on casts, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[gymdog]

How many of the girls (percentage wise) do the conditioning class/time? If almost everyone does it at least some of the days, that might be their conditioning system (though I find it a bit weird, but TOPs isn't big here), and I'd probably encourage her to stick with it.

Otherwise they may be doing conditioning at the events or throughout practice, and just not do it all together at the beginning/end. It's unusual at level 4/5 to do a 4 hour day of conditioning, and most gyms wouldn't have a set up like that. Most common is to do about a half hour of conditioning as part of every practice. Since 3 hours is a bit short to work on the events and do the conditioning (in terms of summer hours) I am guessing that is basically what the "optional" thing is, and it's more of an optional thing as to which days you do it, or if you really can't make it that's okay, or something. But if it seems like most of the girls do it, I would probably try to encourage her to do 1 or 2 days and explain that as she works hard and gets better she can move through the system. Since TOPs testing goes up to 12 the many of the "A" girls are probably quite a bit older than her, so maybe you can explain that and explain that they did the other groups at one time too.

Even though it is labelled "optional" my concern would be that girls who skip it all completely either won't progress strengthwise because that is the main conditioning in the gym, or even if it isn't and there is other conditioning, those who never show up any of the days will be viewed as less committed to team and not as serious about moving up. It just seems like a good way to get on someone's "lukewarm" side, you know? Not saying it necessarily should be that way, but that can be a very common way of thinking in gymnastics. But if it is a 3 hour practice and then 1/2 hour of "optional" conditioning and I saw that a girl never wanted to go, I might feel a bit that way myself - that maybe they aren't as serious about it.

 

[gym4life123]

I would encourage her to go at least once the week. All of the days would be ideal. Tell her that if she went every day she would be doing 1.5 hours less than she used to (if my math is correct). She may start in the developpmental group, but the more she does it, the faster she will be able to move up. If she does some conditioning all of her gymnastics will be better. She will learn skills faster and more easily, and they will look better. It would be better for her to condition at the gym with the coach, than to be asked to do x amount at home because she doesn't have the strengh for a specific skill. Would you have to pay extra to do this. I am sure that latter on she will appreaciat it if you encourage her today. How many people from her team do it?

 

[Mariainlv]

J went Fri and Sat and it went well. You two articulated my concern over how the coaches would react to her not attending. No one from her level or level 6 skips the workout. I think her issue is that the 5 L5 girls in her training group (7-8 years old) are all in the TOPS B group and she wants to be there. I talked to her about how they all have worked specific skills and thats how they got there. These kiddos are strong!!

Today when her dad and I went to get her she was pleased as punch and asked her coach if she could go back in to show us something. She did a handstand press from a sitting position (I know it has a name, I just dont know it) She has been trying for a while and I think the body position must have clicked today as she has been doing them all afternoon..

 

[NGL780309]

Good for her on the press handstands! My DD has been trying them this week for the first time with no luck.

I wish DD's gym conditioned a bit more, but I'm sure she disagrees. We've had girls move from other gyms and comment how much less our gym conditions and we had a girl move to another gym and her mom said they condition much more at the new gym.

 

[besse123]

Conditioning is essetial for gymnasts. Conditioning does not have to be done on equipment at the gym. Conditioning should include core strengthening and specific muscle group strengthening, not using equipment. All conditiioning should be directed towards teaching the young gymnast to HOLD YOUR SHAPE. When the muscle groups needed to perform a skill are not strong or flexible enough to perform the skill, other muscle groups jump in to help. This sets the gymnast up for injury. Better to spend the time strengthening the abdominal muscles than having a child repeat a skill over and over that requires the use of a muscle group they do not have developed. The child without a strong abdomen will abuse their back or anterior hip muscles. Conditioning the body before skill training would prevent many injuries.

 

[gymnut1]

I like your style Bessie. Conditioning is only useful if it is directed at the right area for the right skills. So true. The only thing I would add is conditioning is also only useful if done correctly with correct technique and shape. More is not always better. And conditioning is range, motion and angle (of body) specific. My biomechanics aren't great though to explain.

NLG your gym may be just better at focussing conditioning. Look at the optionals - do they all do the same set of conditioning or do they differ according to the strengths and weaknesses of each gymnast.

 

[NGL780309]

I don't really know what the optionals do because our practice ends before theirs and they generally do it at the end of practice. I do see that they do some conditioning at stations while on bars.

 

[gym law mom]

Does the gym charge extra for these optional conditioning sessions? I would have a problem with paying so that my child could get conditioning that should be included in her normal practice time.

Might want to tell dd that probably all the girls she trains with and are in the other group have been doing this training for awhile, so they are a little ahead of her in the program and going to several sessions/week should help her catch up. It won't happen in a few weeks, but she should notice a difference in a few months.

Ask dd if they do conditioning as they rotate around in practice. Bars offers all kinds of conditioning drills as does beam and of course you can do all sorts of stuff on floor.

Our kids usually condition at the beginning of practice, then usually do a 15 minute stretch out at the end. Some practices they will do some conditioning as they get to each event. We do have 1 coach that pushes the conditioning way too far and this is becoming an issue. There definitely is a fine line between just the right amount of conditioning and working on the appropriate muscle groups and doing too much.

 

[gymdog]

J went Fri and Sat and it went well. You two articulated my concern over how the coaches would react to her not attending. No one from her level or level 6 skips the workout. I think her issue is that the 5 L5 girls in her training group (7-8 years old) are all in the TOPS B group and she wants to be there. I talked to her about how they all have worked specific skills and thats how they got there. These kiddos are strong!!

If no one else skips then I would definitely encourage her to do it. I'm glad it went well the last two days. Hopefully the success of getting the stalder press will encourage her that continuing to go will lead to progress. Maybe the first few days were just initially discouraging because it was a new program for her.