Women Conditioning - what works best?

[Zayna]

Gymnasts, coaches and parents! I would love to hear how you or your gymnasts are conditioning!

There is no real conditioning concept at my gym, it is more like whatever the coaches prefer on a given day. In my opinion the gymnasts would profit by a structured conditioning. So I have been reading a lot about strength training in gymnastics. The more I read, the more I am wondering if there is a certain method that works best.

Generally I think we can all agree that a well conditioned gymnast will progress faster and is more unlikely to get injured.
Here are a few questions, feel free to contribute to anything!

1. How much practice time is spent with conditioning? Can you actually condition too much?

2. Which kind of exercises or program is mainly used?
- Body weight exercises like push ups, v-ups, hollow rocks, chin ups, rope climbs?
- Or functional training with therabands, ankle weights, medicine balls, ropes, bosu balls?
- Ciruit training
- HIIT (interval training)
- Some people swear by HIT training for elite gymnasts, but I have found another study that recommended max strength training in triple sets with low volumes and extremely high intensity


3. Same exercises every day? Or changed up every month? Is it a periodized conditioning program? Adapted on days, like no leg conditioning when you are vaulting a lot? Or adapted on bigger cycles, like pre or post comoetition phase (build up, maintenance of muscles)?

4. Do your gymnasts do weight training? If so, which exercises would a gymnast profit most? I have mainly seen this for male and older female gymnasts, like college gymnasts.

5. Is there are cardio component? Like running outside or cycling? Races through the pit?

6. Finally, how do you keep conditioning fun? Conditioning with music or choreographed conditioning? Doing relay races? Sticker sheets? Games?

Feel free to share whatever comes into your mind!

 

[kiwi2406]

I'm going to talk about what I do in training because I coach beginner rec (4-6 y/o) and conditioning is very different to them than what we do.

We spend about 30 or so minutes of a 2 hour training conditioning. Usually we have cardio during warmup, or throughout practice, flexibility towards the beginning of practice and strength/ muscle training at the end of practice followed by a quick stretch.

We do a lot of body weight exercises - hollow holds, scissors, flutters, rocks, arch, v-up, push-up, planking, handstand holds etc.
Our cardio includes skipping rope (100 forward, 100 backwards, 100 side to side (over line), 100 forward and back over line, 50 criss-cross and 20 doubles)- usually during warmup. We also do interval sprint training, as well as resistance training for vault.
We also do some active stretch eg lunges (normal and exploding), squat jumps, front support walking, needle kicks etc.
We've done our fair share of choreographed conditioning- favourites are uptown abs and who run the world (you can find both on youtube), as well as team challenges and relay races/ competitions.

We do mostly the same type of stuff each training but change the exercises, ie if we do skipping for cardio one day then we will do sprint training or resistance training another. Or if we do lots of hollow body holds then the next training we do lots of v-ups and sit-ups instead. Its always important to change things up instead of having a set 'routine' so that gymnasts don't get bored and slack.

Occasionally we will condition on beams or bars but usually all our conditioning is done on the floor.

 

[Emflips]

At my gym we have 30 minutes for conditioning plus a little extra for vault, and bars.
At vault we just do an extra handstand and hollow hold.
At bars we do skill specific conditioning.So kips, cast handstands, giants, and other skills that are hard and require alot of strength.Ex:kips they do leg lifts for the part where you put your toes to the bar. Stem risers for the pulldown part. Pull downs with a resistance band.etc.
Then for overall conditioning we change it up monthly. We mainly do bodyweight. But to make it harder we may add 5 pounds. Or we might make it harder using some mats etc.
I on the side do some weight training on at the the local community gym(not gymnastics) and find that extremely beneficial though.
For endurance during competion season. Right after floor routines we do killers than an armset. When not in competion season we do 30 seconds of fast cardio then 30 seconds of another different cardio thing then we do the first thing again. Then alittle break of strength then a second set.It kills you.

 

[Jard.the.gymnast]

I'll answer for the groups I coach (pre team and team comparable to level 1/2/3) and my own practice group (comparable to anywhere between level 2 and 8)

Pre team

1. How much practice time is spent with conditioning? Can you actually condition too much?
We usually do hollow holds etc for shaping during warming up. Then some leg lifts and sit ups during bars. Some also have strength elements in their bar exercise, so they come in too. I'd say about 15 minutes of the 2 hour practice is spent on strength

2. Which kind of exercises or program is mainly used?
- Body weight exercises like push ups, v-ups, hollow rocks, chin ups, rope climbs?
- Or functional training with therabands, ankle weights, medicine balls, ropes, bosu balls?
- Ciruit training
- HIIT (interval training)
- Some people swear by HIT training for elite gymnasts, but I have found another study that recommended max strength training in triple sets with low volumes and extremely high intensity
Mostly bodyweight exercises


3. Same exercises every day? Or changed up every month? Is it a periodized conditioning program? Adapted on days, like no leg conditioning when you are vaulting a lot? Or adapted on bigger cycles, like pre or post comoetition phase (build up, maintenance of muscles)?
Bars is always the same. The shapes are just what we feel like on a given day

4. Do your gymnasts do weight training? If so, which exercises would a gymnast profit most? I have mainly seen this for male and older female gymnasts, like college gymnasts.
We don't use weights at all

5. Is there are cardio component? Like running outside or cycling? Races through the pit?
We do the occasional pit race, and sometimes we do all kinds of running forms (straight legs forward backward, sideward chases etc.)

6. Finally, how do you keep conditioning fun? Conditioning with music or choreographed conditioning? Doing relay races? Sticker sheets? Games?
They have sticker sheets for skills and we also consider strength a skill. So sticker sheets would come closest.

Gymnasts, coaches and parents!

1. How much practice time is spent with conditioning? Can you actually condition too much?
I think maybe 5 minutes per 2 weeks? I definitely think this isn't enough, but the kids don't understand why strength is important so whenever we try to do it, the kids either fool around or tell their parents and they will complain to us.
2. Which kind of exercises or program is mainly used?
- Body weight exercises like push ups, v-ups, hollow rocks, chin ups, rope climbs?
- Or functional training with therabands, ankle weights, medicine balls, ropes, bosu balls?
- Ciruit training
- HIIT (interval training)
- Some people swear by HIT training for elite gymnasts, but I have found another study that recommended max strength training in triple sets with low volumes and extremely high intensity
Whenever we do strength, it's bodyweight

3. Same exercises every day? Or changed up every month? Is it a periodized conditioning program? Adapted on days, like no leg conditioning when you are vaulting a lot? Or adapted on bigger cycles, like pre or post comoetition phase (build up, maintenance of muscles)?
Just whatever we feel like
4. Do your gymnasts do weight training? If so, which exercises would a gymnast profit most? I have mainly seen this for male and older female gymnasts, like college gymnasts.
No weight training here
5. Is there are cardio component? Like running outside or cycling? Races through the pit?
Again, running forms
6. Finally, how do you keep conditioning fun? Conditioning with music or choreographed conditioning? Doing relay races? Sticker sheets? Games?
We do a lot of races and games

The team I train in myself

1. How much practice time is spent with conditioning? Can you actually condition too much?
The last 5 to 10 minutes are spent on conditioning, along with some conditioning on bars and floor. I think it isn't enough, so I do something at home as well
2. Which kind of exercises or program is mainly used?
- Body weight exercises like push ups, v-ups, hollow rocks, chin ups, rope climbs?
- Or functional training with therabands, ankle weights, medicine balls, ropes, bosu balls?
- Ciruit training
- HIIT (interval training)
- Some people swear by HIT training for elite gymnasts, but I have found another study that recommended max strength training in triple sets with low volumes and extremely high intensity
Bodyweight, and I might add ankle weights at home

3. Same exercises every day? Or changed up every month? Is it a periodized conditioning program? Adapted on days, like no leg conditioning when you are vaulting a lot? Or adapted on bigger cycles, like pre or post comoetition phase (build up, maintenance of muscles)?
It depends on what event we are ending, but per event the exercises are pretty consistent. Numbers will vary day by day
4. Do your gymnasts do weight training? If so, which exercises would a gymnast profit most? I have mainly seen this for male and older female gymnasts, like college gymnasts.
No weights here. I have seen the older men in our gym use them
5. Is there are cardio component? Like running outside or cycling? Races through the pit?
5 minutes of non stop running for bars and beam, 5 minutes of different running forms on floor and vault (at the beginning of practice, so what we do depends on the month)
6. Finally, how do you keep conditioning fun? Conditioning with music or choreographed conditioning? Doing relay races? Sticker sheets? Games?
We are all over age 12, so it isn't kept that fun anymore. We might make it fun by turning it into partner conditioning by ourselves

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I can’t give you a lot of specifics but they do 30-45 mins I. The beginning of their practice for warmup/conditioning. And the bigger kids use light weights. Then they do stuff per event.

Their are rotations within the event. So for vault they do their vault, coach gives corrections. Then that kid rope climbs, then does press handstands then they might plank walk back to run.

Bars, they do their time on the bar with coach move to next bar for handstand, move to ladders for ab Work, back to bar with coach.

Same type of thing with floor and beam. Our gymmies only practice 3 hours but there is no sitting around time.

 

[GymMomA3R]

I’m a parent of a L3 gymnast and from what I can tell, a big chunk of every practice is spent on conditioning. This is just from my observation..

1. How much practice time is spent with conditioning? Can you actually condition too much?

1st hour stretching and conditioning on floor and last 20-30 minutes are rope climbs and leg lifts, plus bars rotation has conditioning elements (3 hr practice, 3x/week)

2. Which kind of exercises or program is mainly used?
- Body weight exercises like push ups, v-ups, hollow rocks, chin ups, rope climbs?
- Or functional training with therabands, ankle weights, medicine balls, ropes, bosu balls?
- Ciruit training
- HIIT (interval training)
- Some people swear by HIT training for elite gymnasts, but I have found another study that recommended max strength training in triple sets with low volumes and extremely high intensity

They just do body weight exercises for the most part. They do have these bars they use during conditioning. Seems weightless for older kids, but for my 6 year old, it adds weight since she’s so small. Higher optionals do use ankle weights from what I’ve seen.

3. Same exercises every day? Or changed up every month? Is it a periodized conditioning program? Adapted on days, like no leg conditioning when you are vaulting a lot? Or adapted on bigger cycles, like pre or post comoetition phase (build up, maintenance of muscles)?

Yes, same main excercises every practice from what I see, but since this is the first competition level offered and preteam did not do even 1/3 of this conditioning, girls were gradually built up to this intensity, adding additional exercises every few practices.

4. Do your gymnasts do weight training? If so, which exercises would a gymnast profit most? I have mainly seen this for male and older femalegymnasts, like college gymnasts.

Not for L3.

5. Is there are cardio component? Like runningoutside or cycling? Races through the pit?

Not outside, but definitely running in the gym to start practice, plus suicides, and don’t know if this counts but they have drill lines across the floors and some of the passes are definitely cardio focused.

6. Finally, how do you keep conditioning fun?Conditioning with music or choreographed conditioning? Doing relay races? Sticker sheets?Games?

I don’t notice anything they do... Music is usually playing in the gym lately from optionals and acro practicing floor routines. Suicides are set up as relay races.

 

[John]

I just watched the first hour of practice. It was all conditioning and basics. The conditioning was ramdom and i am told it' n the same. Today it was core and it was leap conditioning with stretchy bands then stretching and basics.

Saturday is leg conditioning. It's set up rotation of jumping it usually lasts for 30 to 40 minutes.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

first off no matter what the conditioning is... it's irrelevant unless they are doing it properly. Pushups are pushups, pull ups are pull ups, dips are dips. All the way down and all the way up... start with that.

 

[Taxidriver]

Conditioning at my dd gym is taken very seriously, they spend 45-60 mins at the start of every session warming up/conditioning (session length of 3 1/2hrs), some days they also do additional conditioning and stamina.
Their strength is tested and tracked and then conditioning is tweaked if necessary to address any weaknesses. Different girls get additional specific conditioning.
One of our coaches has spreadsheets and spends hours planning and altering the conditioning and depending on how close to a competition will have an impact on the conditioning that is done.
I couldn’t attempt to sum up the conditioning they do in a post, I use to think it was just the same 45 minute conditioning set day in day out, oh boy how wrong I was.

 

[Niamh Taylor]

In my gym we do a lot of heavy conditioning (I'd say more than most clubs) In a normal 4 hour session we do 1-2 hours of conditioning and sometimes in a 7 hour session on a Saturday the whole morning is conditioning and basics ( roughly 3 hours).
Our warm up consists of running drills and then kick work, so not typically conditioning based.
My coach put a lot of time I tom making a folder full of conditioning sheets for all parts of the body, mostly comprising of strength work with weights. We do 2+ of the sheets each day which take about 1/2 an hour to complete (we do different each day). Then on top of that we do rope climbs and side stations.
Twice a week we do cardio, which is sort of continuous and interval. We do sets of sprint then jog without stopping 6 times for 30 seconds each, then rest for a minute and do that set again 3 more times. Sometimes we change it up and do different exercises instead of sprinting or jogging to make it harder.
And to answer you question as to if you can do too much, I would say you can, when it gets to the point that it is interfering with skill and event training then it is. I found we used do so much I couldnt do any of my skill properly that day or the next day and other times we would do so much we would run out of time to do many skills.

 

[auscoachgymmum]

I will come back and reply to this later on when I have a little more time, but I would like to say that it depends for my athletes what part of their season they are in. I actually have 4 different conditioning / strength programs that they work depending on the time of year. We have off season (building) / pre-comp (high reps / lower intensity)/ comp (lower reps / high intensity) / post comp (recovery - flex focus)

It is also important to point out that whilst we do between 1 and 1 1/2 hours each session, I also utilize side stations for specific apparatus strength building.

I am happy to go into more detail on what types of things we do if you are interested - but I must rush off to teach right now.

 

[Zayna]

Thanks for all of your answers! It is really inspirational to get new ideas and other perspectives.
Planned to test some of the things you are doing after season and see what works best for us.

I will come back and reply to this later on when I have a little more time, but I would like to say that it depends for my athletes what part of their season they are in. I actually have 4 different conditioning / strength programs that they work depending on the time of year. We have off season (building) / pre-comp (high reps / lower intensity)/ comp (lower reps / high intensity) / post comp (recovery - flex focus)

It is also important to point out that whilst we do between 1 and 1 1/2 hours each session, I also utilize side stations for specific apparatus strength building.

I am happy to go into more detail on what types of things we do if you are interested - but I must rush off to teach right now.

Would love to hear more if you have time! Maybe about your post comp/off season and apparatus specific conditioning?