WAG Flexibility (or lack thereof) question

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MAcastsalot

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DD 5 has been in rec gym since 15 months. She's always been very strong. At her most recent rec gym (which has Excel but only for older girls), her coaches would call other coaches over to watch her outshine all the other girls on strength challenges, strangers comment on how strong she is when they see her at the playground (or climb traffic signs!), and even in preschool her teachers were always commenting on how amazing her muscle definition was. I know that her strength has helped her to excel in bars and vault, and has helped her to have one amazing handstand that she can hold for days as well as a pretty powerful roundoff.

BUT she is not naturally flexible. I'm not sure if she just developed strength so much by always being an active, rock climbing kid, but the additional strength combined with the lack of coaching in any sort of flexibility or stretching beyond the very basics has made it more difficult for her to do some skills. She has a decent bridge, but can't get her kick over yet. She has been attempting splits on her own (never taught at gym) and I can see decent progress, and she walks her hands down the wall into a bridge, which is getting better. I have just seen the other girls in her class that seem to be so flexible, but they are also very floppy and need significant help with pullovers, handstands, etc.

She starts at a new gym next week on their level 2 team, and when they did the eval I thought she'd be placed on preteam due to lack of flexibility. The coach said that it needs work, but since she is so strong they can work with her. I guess I am just nervous that by sending her to a JO program that I am setting her up for failure if her body is just not flexible.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Does she have a chance to advance? I'm not talking about NCAA or Olympics here, just maybe out of compulsories at least!
 
I also wanted to add that she has only been in a one hour class a week.
 
I have a strong, inflexible gymmie. It took forever for her to get all three splits. She finally got them last season at age 9. Too late to help in compulsories, which punished her lack of flexibility. But eventually they come.....
 
Thanks! I'm hoping the same happens for DD. Gymnastics is where she gets her confidence, so I definitely don't want to see her doubt herself just yet. I guess I should relax since the coaches saw something in her.
 
The coach made a really big deal out of it. I joked that it just took 5 years and close to $7000 for that skill! But seriously.... 5 years.
 
Yeah I think that's where we are headed. I'm hoping that she can at least get the kick over, since she is soooo close.
 
Well, I'm strong and flexible. For advice on splits, go look on YouTube how to get a full split. There are good ones there. And she will get her splits before optionals. Good luck :D
 
I have a crazy flexible kid, but she is having a heck of a time with handstands and not arching. Sooo, I feel your pain, but with the opposite issue. And I too would love to see DD get to optionals, but it seems like a ridiculously long and frustrating road at times. How old is your DD?
 
AandAsmom- she is almost 6. This will be her first season in a competitive gym, mostly because I just never considered it before.

sce- I am scared to have her do anything at home under my very untrained direction. I know that stretching for too long can actually decrease flexibility, and I'm not sure exactly where she is tight. She appears to have some shoulder flexibility issues, but it could just be back, or a combo of both. Or she could just be one tight little ball of muscles!
 
A lot of the time when a gymnast is very strong, flexibility can be an issue. They usually have tight muscles which limit the movement. This is one of the reasons it is ideal to start gymnasts young so that strength and flexibility can be built up together, that way flexibility is not lost as the muscles get stronger. But if a gymnast is already naturally either very strong or very flexible it can take some effort to build the other side up.

I am not surprised that they have not worked a great deal on flexibility as she is so young. A lot of stretching is not safe a suitable for kids under 5. Most are not developmentally ready for bridges and splits prior to age 5. But you will find that in this next age bracket from about 5-10 working on flexibility will significantly increase. This is the easiest time to develop flexibility so this is where the most work will go into it.
 
Don't worry. If she is at a good gym with good coaches it should not be too much of an issue. They will work with her to improve.
 
AandAsmom- she is almost 6. This will be her first season in a competitive gym, mostly because I just never considered it before.

sce- I am scared to have her do anything at home under my very untrained direction. I know that stretching for too long can actually decrease flexibility, and I'm not sure exactly where she is tight. She appears to have some shoulder flexibility issues, but it could just be back, or a combo of both. Or she could just be one tight little ball of muscles!

I totally understand the worry about "is it worth it to jump into this sport?" I am always questioning it and am fretting that my 7 yr old might not be "getting it" as far as form. But if your DD is not even 6 yet, I really think she will get her splits. Handstands are very important, and if she has that, I think that is huge at her age.
 
My DD is in the same position. Quite strong, but not very flexible, and also not too interested in working on flexibility outside the gym. After three years (she is 8 now and level 5), she has one split down most days, but never the other two. And her shoulder flexibility is not great, but they work on it now. It took me a while to accept that she is just not the most flexible child and if she's not pushing for it, then there's not much I can do. If the coaches ask or recommend home stuff, or if DD asks, then I would do something about it, but now I just leave it be. Luckily her gym doesn't require full splits to move up, otherwise she'd still be on pre-team. So I think your DD can still do very well, but it will also depend on the gym requirements.
 
Aussie_coach- that gives me a little bit of hope. At the rec gym she just left they told me they didn't stretch because most kids were just there for fun and they didn't want to chase them away from gymnastics. I know my daughter could have benefitted from some targeted stretching, but I know that in a rec program they need to do what is best for most.

1canadiangymmom- that's what I'm hoping!

rsm- I don't know about the requirements yet, but I know that this particular gym lets them move up as long as they have most of the skills for the next level (at least for compulsories). We thought it was the best fit for dd, because she would be miserable at a gym that keeps them at level 1 for years. The new gym has L10s go to nationals, so I think that means we have some good coaching.
 
I had a gymnast who was very compact and very muscular and lacked any sort of flexibility. She could not even do a bridge. After going to team and upping her practice time her flexibility has GREATLY improved. With lots of hard work she is now a level 3 and has her bridge kick over and splits. Starting team at the age of 5 will also help, giving your dd a fair amount of time to get her flexibility. Good luck!
 
Snooki Jo- that is great! I am hoping that once she actually starts working on flexibility we will see quick improvement.
 
DD is a strong, less flexible L8 now! Never had more than one set of splits all the way down, still can't do a front walk over....has to be careful because each time she increases stength she loses some flexibility - and does get a few minor deductions for flexibility related things - but less so in optionals than compulsories, which thankfully she only competed for 2 years! I wish she had both in spades, but watching the higher level skills I'd pick stength over flexibility for ongoing progression. It is important to have a gym that balances the training of both sets of skills, though - she recently left one where a super nice young man (personal trainer as other job) worked really hard on strength conditioning with the girls - DD ate it up because she could shine with this - but now at new gym complains that "everything hurts" as she is being pushed to improve the flexibility she lost with getting all those muscles!

If it fits, she was "picked up" by old HC because she had a rockin donkey kick to handstand and press to handstand at age 4....sounds like your DD...and now she's got the best cast handstand on the team...
 
Gracyomalley- good to hear! Sounds just like my dd. She can regularly be seen doing handstand push-ups for fun, does the handstands hopping down the hall, can do many pullovers in a row without touching the ground, and can cast above horizontal. Ask her to do a split though, you could fit a soccer ball under there!
 

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