Parents Exercises to improve arm strength

[Ex member]

Dd has been told that she needs to build up strength in her arms to help her with her bar routine as she cannot swing very much before her arms give way

 

[Ex member]

Dd has only been going to gymnastics for 5 weeks and has low muscle tone (she is in the disability group).

Does any one know of any simple exercises that she can do at home to build up her strength?

Dd has also been advised to practice her balancing by walking on a skipping rope, would a line of duct tape on a mat do the same job?

 

[BlairBob]

^ yes, a tape line is fine.

Any pulling or pushing exercises are fine. Pullups, monkey bars, rope/wall climbing, pushups, holding supports on bars, PBars, crab walks, handstands etc.

 

[Ex member]

Thanks, got the tape today ready to go,

With regards to the arm exercise you have given me some good ideas to try, some of them are out of my dd's capabilities at the moment like doing crab walks as she cannot do a bridge yet - is there any modified versions of the bridge that might work? I can get her to try some handstands against the wall or supported handstands and I can get her to try a front support on a bar. Will front supports on the floor help?

Have you got any more basic stuff she can try - things that a pre-schooler would do when they begin gymnastics, any more suggestions would be fantastic. I will also ask her coach for something she can do at home as well (they told her she needed to build up her strength and work on her balance)

Thank you, you have been a great help

 

[htimcj]

You can crab walk with a more of a table type position. Sit on your rear with your feet forward and hands/arms behind you and lift your bum and move forward or backwards on your hands and feet.

 

[BlairBob]

Basically preschoolers do lots of animal type walks besides learning basic support and hanging positions on bars and rings.

 

[Kiwi]

Playing on monkey bars at school or a local park should be fun and help her bars.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

A "bear walk" like in a crawling position but on feet instead of knees. She can start practicing push ups on a wall, and then move to "girl" style on her knees when she is ready.

My dd just suggested to keep swinging on the bar as it is the best way to get better at swinging on the bars. Also spotted chin ups.

Hope some of that helped.

 

[Natasha]

With the preschoolers, we do pike handstands (feet on wall or mat against wall) supported on hands. We make a game of it to try to hold it as long as they can. When they can hold it easily for at least 10 seconds we start trying to walk the hands in so it is less of a pike, and once they are really solid we walk all the way in so belly is agains the wall. You can do wheelbarrow walks with her too. I also like to do bunny races to teach the hands/feet weight transfer- have her hop alternating hands and feet on the floor. As others have said, playing on the monkey bars is great too.