WAG Home bar? Yes or no?

[gymhorsemom]

Thanks for all of the helpful responses -I will not be getting a bar. Cbifoja -sorry I misunderstood you.

I use this board as a sounding board for all of my CGM thoughts. And it does keep me in check in my "real life." I remember recently someone posted a question and another member said they were over thinking it. The OP explained that she would never let people in her real life know she worried about this -and her husband would have her put on sedatives if he knew. I thought that was a good description of the use of this board for some.

So thank you all for helping to remind me that I should not get a home bar -as tempting as it is

 

[skschlag]

It is so tempting to want to buy everything we can to help our kiddos. And when D was little, I always thought, we should get x, we should get y. Now that he is a teen, level 9 gymnast, the gym stays at gym. He has a trampoline that he does fun stuff on. He does stupid stuff, not skills. He does like to show off to his friends at school with standing back tucks, etc, but really, gym is at gym. He has a pommel horse (that was given to us...sigh), sitting in the basement, untouched most of the time. But he is in the gym 23 hours a week.. and needs time to play!

 

[Flipflopz]

Dd is an upper level gymmie and we have had equip for years. It hasn't brought any problems

 

[mom2newgymnast]

Although getting a bar was never a real possibility for us (no room and too much money!), I admit I was feeling a little bad for my dd when pretty much all of her level 2 team mates got bars and/or beams for Christmas this past year. I am not exaggerating either. But then less than a month after Christmas one of her team mates broke her arm when she peeled off the bar and landed on the beam. Ouch. Nope, no equipment at home for us! We do have a pull up bar that we got for my son that she uses for pull ups and leg hangs, etc. Other than that, we have nothing, not even a trampoline. FWIW, my dd was one of the last to get her FHC for the first time and then one day she got it and now she's one of the more consistent ones. Her shoot through was similar. Your dd will get her missing skills and she'll do great I am sure!

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

This IS a great sounding board for those CGM questions and vents, but I also agree that the scenario isn't different from basically any other time anyone has asked about getting home equipment. It is pretty much ALWAYS because they want their kid to practice at home to get the next skill.
That said, I understand your frustration. Adding "practice" at home seems like a great (and cheap) way to get more work done. Truth is that it does take a skilled coach to make practice worthwhile, unless we are only talking conditioning.
I don't allow "my" gymnasts to practice ANY skills at home. I give them a list of things they could and should do at home (handstands, presses, stretching, ab stuff) and also tell them under no circumstances are they allowed to practice any "tricks" at all, and if I find out they do I will reprimand them at practice. I'm concerned both for their safety and for developing bad habits.
Leave gym at gym, but feel free to do conditioning and stretching at home.
Best of luck, I hope she gets her L3 bar skills soon. Sit back and enjoy the ride!!

 

[xxStumpyxx]

I would suggest more hours in the gym if you can get them (by the way of privates if that is the only way), if your daughter's hours are increasing for the summer then she should be fine.

My daughter used to train 2 days a week and she couldn't get her squat on bars, she changed to a new group, trains 3 days a week and she got her squat on within a few weeks, she was the last to get it but it has stuck around and gets it 90% of tries.

We have a pull up bar at home that gets used occasional for strength, I would never consider a proper home bar or even a beam no matter how hard she struggles from time to time with skills.

Moral of the story is the bar skills will likely come with more gym time with a coach, at home you are risky all sorts from your sanity, your relationship with your daughter (if you both get wound up over this), your daughters safety due to higher risk if accident or injury and bad habits.

 

[Flipflopz]

Playing the other side, my daughter has been injured twice in her 12-13 year gym career, both times at the gym. She loves her home bar and has picked up no bad habits. She is one of the top bars workers in our region.

 

[Tigtimes]

Gymhorsemom - I was having a rare zen gym moment during my post last night. In reality I talk myself off the crazy train at a minimum of once a week ....2-3 times during meet season

 

[Dr Maleficent]

Playing the other side, my daughter has been injured twice in her 12-13 year gym career, both times at the gym. She loves her home bar and has picked up no bad habits. She is one of the top bars workers in our region.

It is great that she has had so little in the way of injury or development of bad habits. I would gently suggest however that she is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[bogwoppit]

Dd is an upper level gymmie and we have had equip for years. It hasn't brought any problems

Hard to imagine a high level gymmie doing much on home bars. Though there was that kid doing giants in the kitchen I saw on youtube. EEK.

I do know people who have full gyms at home, it did not enable their kids to get any where faster in the end. None of them are on the nat team, none have gone to the O's. In fact most of the ones I know who had lots of gym equipment were done before L10.

 

[kaloss]

Our experience: dd moved to level 3 team 6 months after starting gymnastics. She had a pullover...kind of, nothing more. We bought a Jr Kip Bar...she swung on it approximately 10 times (working gymnastics skills), the rest of the time, she and her sisters used it as a jungle gym, support beam for their many forts and most recently it was a quilt stand when our gym hosted level 3 State. Yesterday I listed it for sale, less than 2 years after buying it. The rail doesn't feel safe to dd for anything gymnastics related except maybe a pullover. Given the option again, I would stick with the pull up bar my husband already had. (She loves doing leg lifts and pull ups on it)

 

[mobeans]

My DD begged and begged so I finally asked her coaches opinion. She said absolutely not. If/when DD wants to work on something more than class time she attends open gym. Bars also take a lot of core strength. A pull up bar and doing straight - leg leg lifts can help w that if you are looking to do something at home

 

[Flipflopz]

Haha she doesn't really use the bar now, but she won't part with it. Says she is saving it for her daughter someday. Yes, she may be the exception. I don't think she really used it over the years for hard training, but she just loves to be on it, and so do her friends. I think it probably added to her comfort level on bars over the years. Bars is her thing, always has been. I guess I am saying to have the bar isn't bad, but I agree it could create problems depending on its use.

 

[Erbmom]

I've replied to similar threads before, but need to even up the yes. vs. no's. I say if she really wants one and you have the space and money, go for it. If she's never mentioned it and you want it to help skills, then no. When DD was 8, that's all she wanted for her birthday. She got it and used it for about 2-3 yrs in xcel and old level 4. Now DS uses it in level 5. We're talking pullovers/kips, nothing crazy. Did they pick up bad habits? No idea and don't care. It's just another toy to me, same as riding a bike or playing on a jungle gym or playground. And gymnastics is just another sport. My gymnasts are constantly flipping or walking around the house on their hands. Dancer is always twirling and leaping around. Soccer/basketball players always kicking/bouncing around. They are doing what they love, i'm fine with them not leaving it in the gym or on the field. I'd rather them do that than pick up a video game...

 

[Flyaway]

Dd has a bar. Like above, it was ALL.SHE.WANTED for her 8th birthday. She needs to improve her upper body strength so I figure her "playing" on it doing pull overs and chin ups will only help. She's working on her kip so she does lots of glide swings too. I'd never let her try a squat on or anything crazy and she is not allowed to be on it without parental supervision.

I've always heard it's not much use once they get their kip.

 

[Pea'sMom]

Pea was desperate a few years ago for a vault table...and pit...I said 'no' and stand by it

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Pea was desperate a few years ago for a vault table...and pit...I said 'no' and stand by it

ROFL

Yeah sometimes just because they want it, doesn't mean they should get it.

 

[skschlag]

D asked us to just buy it all and put it in the backyard.....man, was he disappointed that Christmas!

 

[CameraShy]

It seems like by the time they really can do anything more than a pullover or kip, they are going so many hours that they don't care to get on it when at home. DD has a low beam and a mat from when she was just a tiny thing and she plays on it with her friends here and there if they are over, but never uses it to practice anything worthwhile at home because she has 20 hours at the gym each week to get her fill in now.

I'm not sure it's worth having around to take up space just because the desire to work on it won't last very long.

 

[mmcmanus]

I would get a bar at home, but just help by saying, "point your toes." Or "straight legs". What skills does she struggle with?