WAG Flexibility (or lack thereof) question

[MAcastsalot]

Dunno- you were supposed to fly in with a magic stretch that would suddenly make it all better!

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

DD is and has always been strong but lacked flexibility. She is 13 and going into her 2nd year of Level 10. So, yes, you can make it out of compulsories, LOL and optional routines can be choreographed to avoid their weaknesses! She stretches and does splits even on her days off.

 

[MissLisa]

I've always been a strong gymnast that lacked flexibility. I had splits each way for all of my competitive days but would loose them over the holidays if there was no training and I didn't practice at home. The later levels (what you call optional levels I think) suited me much better. I could straight cast to handstand when I was 6-7, rope climb in straddle 10+metres. I constantly struggled with flexibility. Due to the amount of power I had, it turned out my split change leaps were better than my normal split leaps so I always competed those both floor and beam. It definitely was never a massive issue.

That been said it is totally possible to improve flexibility with the right training and persistence. Be patient and be consistent. I've maintained a reasonable amount of my forward splits now as an adult, however middle splits are terrible. I'm like 50cm off the ground! It does improve though if I stretch consistently. Definitely not the end of the world but does prevent me from doing certain skills. Good luck on this crazy bit amazing journey!

 

[htimcj]

And flexibility can come and go. My DD had all three splits and oversplits on the right but lately her left split has disappeared. It is about an inch or so above the ground. She has decided to work on the left at home a bit. I think it has to do with the fact that she is 11 and growing in more ways than one :0 As a result she is gaining a lot of muscle in the legs.

 

[Quadqueen]

My DD is training L8 and only has ever had one split down. Well, her bad side comes and goes. Never has had her middle split all the way down. But, she has the strength to do pretty good leap series on floor, including a good straddle jump and switch leap/switch ring. As they get older, a lot of kids lose flexibility. It's just something some kids need to work on to maintain.

 

[MAcastsalot]

I guess I just need to stop worrying unless/until her coaches tell me to! She has shown improvement with her splits just working by herself at home (she's never been instructed in proper stretches, so she just tries to do splits, holds for 10, rest, repeat), so I'm hoping once she gets into the new gym this week, she will progress more quickly.

 

[coachalexia]

make her stretch for 10 minutes every day, 3 times her bridge for 5 seconds, all her splits for 15 seconds, her shoulders,... look for stretches on youtube, if she does this every day you'll see improvement fast.

 

[BlairBob]

9/10 I would prefer a strong tight kid vs a loosey goosey kid who is hypermobile. The strong tight gymnast can be worked on and probably has more potential down the road for advancing in the levels, especially into optionals and beyond.

I'm not saying I would not take a hypermobile kid onto team but just that they might hit an impass earlier.

Especially in MAG, less so in WAG or she could switch to Rhythmic down the road.

Ask her coach for a stretching routine.

 

[MAcastsalot]

Thanks, BlairBob. That seemed to be how her new coaches felt at eval and when she did some practices with the team. I will be sure to ask for a stretching routine!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

give me an inflexible power athlete any day! spot on Blairbob

 

[iwannacoach]

Have faith. Sure there are some kids who's natural structure seems to work against them, but strength is a completely separate variable. Consider her ease in growing stronger as a hint of an ability to culture her muscles do what she's like them to do...... be strong and flexible.

Her early development may have been dominated by activities centered around using her muscles in constricted motions like those you'd see when a child climbs a tree.... arms constantly pulling with bent elbows that seldom open all the way up. That's going to increase strength and diminish flexibility, so the idea is to help her exercise her muscles through an extended range of motion.

Look at what she does and figure out a way to have her exercise the muscles that hold her back from the positions she wants to stretch into. The idea is to develop strength as a partner to flexibility, and when you find exercises that tire the key muscles used in the splits (for example) she'll go lower because the muscles are strong enough to function in that extreme range of motion.

Message me if you have questions.

 

[Faith]

My dd is an inflexible power athlete. Actually not even that inflexible, she had all 3 splits and a reasonable bwo within 9m of starting team. A year after giving up gymnastics she still has (just!) all her splits.

However were were told she'd never make it out of regional gymnastics competition. Our system here wants flexibility and strength, and at the beginning of a gymnastics journey it's easier to work with flexibility (Even "novice" here requires 180 split jumps on beam).

She's now doing another sport where they have worked on the necessary flexibility, and they appreciate her strength!

 

[Bspeeker]

She'll probably be fine once she starts working on it. My DS was very inflexible when he started. Coach said he was like "trying to stretch a brick." But a year and a half later he has no problem at all with all three splits. Just takes time and some work.

 

[MAcastsalot]

Iwannacoach- I don't think her natural structure is extremely inflexible, since I have seen progress. It definitely makes sense that the way she has been developing strength does not use the entire range of motion. We are a very active family, and she's and avid hiker, skier (not me!), snowshoer, tree climber, kayaker, etc, and none of those really encourage flexibility. I'm hoping once she's in the gym for more hours and more specific coaching, it'll work itself out.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My dd is an inflexible power athlete. Actually not even that inflexible, she had all 3 splits and a reasonable bwo within 9m of starting team. A year after giving up gymnastics she still has (just!) all her splits.

However were were told she'd never make it out of regional gymnastics competition. Our system here wants flexibility and strength, and at the beginning of a gymnastics journey it's easier to work with flexibility (Even "novice" here requires 180 split jumps on beam).

She's now doing another sport where they have worked on the necessary flexibility, and they appreciate her strength!

and as i said, and have posted before, flexibility is a work in progress for their entire career. BUT, the max flexibility is usually achieved at 14 years of age. not to much gain after that.

 

[lovemygymnast]

My DD had some shoulder and hip flexibility issues but with some exercises her coach gave us to work on at home, it's been much better. Her coach said once she's about 10, she will be about as flexible as she's going to be, so my DD has been asking me to help at home. Also, started ballet and that has helped immensely with the hips, strangely, even when they were telling me she had hip flexibility issues, she could do all 3 splits. I have no idea! I just do what they tell us to do. Lol

 

[tegan_tegan]

I am strong in my legs, weak in my arms, flexible in my back and shoulder, but not flexible in leg stuff like splits

 

[EverywhereWeGo]

Don't worry, my DD is one of the more flexible girls on her team and it took her between ages 6 and 7 (the whole year) to get one split. Age 8 to get the middle splits. She definitely wasn't born flexible. It'll happen. Takes time and work. Your DD is only 5.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

and as i said, and have posted before, flexibility is a work in progress for their entire career. BUT, the max flexibility is usually achieved at 14 years of age. not to much gain after that.

Yikes! DD turning 14 in 3 weeks and still working on her splits!