WAG Ideal training hours

[Deleted member 18037]

The only problem here is that research into injury rates has found that even for teenagers, once the training session is longer than 3 1/2 hours the rate/risk of injury significantly increases. 4 hours is common in most gyms, but the last 30 mins can be conditioning etc to reduce the risk. But 5 hours will increase the risk a lot.

This is exactly why our gym keeps it to 3 hours. Even on camp days. They have a couple hours of "down" time (lunch, games) in between training sessions. And they condition more.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

This is such a tough one. I definitely think it’s out of control, and the number of 6-8 year-old level 3s and 4s doing over 20 hours a week is astounding to me. On the other hand, I get that some 9-10 year-olds are going the elite route and need more hours.

This is kind of spot on for why I asked the original question. How are parents supposed to know when the training hours are too much? They may see signs that their child is tired, but may have a coach saying they do great during training and the high hours are necessary for success in the sport. They may also be hearing the, "your child is so talented...." and the idea of that starts to affect their ability to make good, rational decisions about what is actually best for their child (especially when many parents know very little about this sport.)

A guideline regarding safe hours would be nice to have so that a parent can question a coach asking a 6 year old to train 20 hours when the safe guidelines state 6-9 hours is more appropriate.

 

[FlippinLilysMom]

I don't think it's so much the number of hours but what you do with them ....my oldest trained a max of 18 hours a week and made the TOPS team, was a level 10 at 10 years old and qualified to elite at 12 yo.....so it can be done with lower hours.

The gym we were in at that time didn't even allow privates as their philosophy was "they're in the gym enough hours to get skills, they don't need privates. "

Same, our elite path girls max out at 24 hours during the school year and all are still in public school.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

This is kind of spot on for why I asked the original question. How are parents supposed to know when the training hours are too much? They may see signs that their child is tired, but may have a coach saying they do great during training and the high hours are necessary for success in the sport. They may also be hearing the, "your child is so talented...." and the idea of that starts to affect their ability to make good, rational decisions about what is actually best for their child (especially when many parents know very little about this sport.)

A guideline regarding safe hours would be nice to have so that a parent can question a coach asking a 6 year old to train 20 hours when the safe guidelines state 6-9 hours is more appropriate.

I agree with this. I think having guidelines would be a great thing. I am shocked at the number of very young girls doing very high hours on some of the facebook groups I am on. I have never understood the rush to get to higher levels for 6/7/8 year olds either. Yes, I do understand the idea of learning some skills before puberty and fears set in. But I personally think a lot of it is bragging rights for parents, especially in this crazy age of social media. I would love to see a study done on how many of these little ones that are doing these kind of hours at a young age stay in the sport long term.

 

[Sk8ermaiden]

The only problem here is that research into injury rates has found that even for teenagers, once the training session is longer than 3 1/2 hours the rate/risk of injury significantly increases. 4 hours is common in most gyms, but the last 30 mins can be conditioning etc to reduce the risk. But 5 hours will increase the risk a lot.

That's my hangup too. Many gyms here I might consider for DD go 5-6 hours at a stretch. And considering the injury rate goes up dramatically after 3.5 hours, I'm just not OK with that.

 

[bookworm]

Same, our elite path girls max out at 24 hours during the school year and all are still in public school.

My girls were both multi year level 10s and remained in brick and mortar school from K-12...I know people home school for various reasons but we never had to or even considered it with the gyms they were in.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

But I personally think a lot of it is bragging rights for parents, especially in this crazy age of social media.

I think this is so much of it. I saw a post a few days ago of a level 3 that was training 20 hours and had an additional 2 private lessons a week. They seem to wear it like a badge of honor. A reasonable person should be able to gauge that training hours that are equivalent to a part time job is too much for a 6/7/8 year old child. But we live in a instafame culture and I think people are blinded by the stars in their eyes and it takes away their ability to think rationally.

 

[LJL07]

My girls were both multi year level 10s and remained in brick and mortar school from K-12...I know people home school for various reasons but we never had to or even considered it with the gyms they were in.

True, but weren’t you able to work with the school to get a modified schedule? I think I remember @FlippinLilysMom saying in another thread that her child is allowed to leave school early. If I’m remembering this correctly, I think that’s great that both of you were able to arrange that. I think it’s a better balance for kids training 9/10 and/or elite. On the other hand, I think it’s silly for schools to let level 2/3/4 check out early, yet over here they are allowing it. They might as well let a t-ball team of 6 year olds check out of school early. The schools just don’t know the difference though.

 

[bookworm]

True, but weren’t you able to work with the school to get a modified schedule? I think I remember @FlippinLilysMom saying in another thread that her child is allowed to leave school early. If I’m remembering this correctly, I think that’s great that both of you were able to arrange that. I think it’s a better balance for kids training 9/10 and/or elite. On the other hand, I think it’s silly for schools to let level 2/3/4 check out early, yet over here they are allowing it. They might as well let a t-ball team of 6 year olds check out of school early. The schools just don’t know the difference though.

My kids went to a small parochial school for K-8 and the Catholic high school in town and yes, they did work with me on their schedules for meets and practices but nothing that I considered crazy...no mornings off or anything. They basically left after the academics were finished at 1:30 pm.

I always met with the principal and teachers every year and stated that it was our family goal to keep the girls in school (versus homeschooling, that I would mention in the discussion but really never seriously considered doing ) and we would all come up with a workable plan. It worked for us and who knows, maybe the idea of keeping 2 full tuitions for 13 years was a motivator as well .

 

[amiandjim]

I think this is so much of it. I saw a post a few days ago of a level 3 that was training 20 hours and had an additional 2 private lessons a week. They seem to wear it like a badge of honor. A reasonable person should be able to gauge that training hours that are equivalent to a part time job is too much for a 6/7/8 year old child. But we live in a instafame culture and I think people are blinded by the stars in their eyes and it takes away their ability to think rationally.

So much this!! Just today I saw a post of a level 2 doing 25 hours!!! Because “she loves it.” Omg

 

[FlippinPrincess]

My girls were both multi year level 10s and remained in brick and mortar school from K-12...I know people home school for various reasons but we never had to or even considered it with the gyms they were in.

Our gym has multi year level 10's as well and they do 18-20 hours during the school year. Our gym does not train elite.

So much this!! Just today I saw a post of a level 2 doing 25 hours!!! Because “she loves it.” Omg

That can't be real! My mind is blown.

 

[amiandjim]

Oh it was real!! She had a level 2 and a level 4 both training 25 hours a week. I couldn’t believe it.

 

[RTT2]

So much this!! Just today I saw a post of a level 2 doing 25 hours!!! Because “she loves it.” Omg

To me, this borders on abusive, and I have no doubt the parents think they are just helping their kid do what she loves (likely, also posting about it a lot on social media). I am on one of those FB gym mom pages, and I'm always floored by all the parents of very young gymnasts who post about high hours or very young girls trying for high levels (like the 6 year old training for level 6 ). Sometimes oversight is needed because parents either don't have the good sense to put their foot down, or just don't know the long term ramifications of so many hours of training on young bodies.

 

[amiandjim]

To me, this borders on abusive, and I have no doubt the parents think they are just helping their kid do what she loves (likely, also posting about it a lot on social media). I am on one of those FB gym mom pages, and I'm always floored by all the parents of very young gymnasts who post about high hours or very young girls trying for high levels (like the 6 year old training for level 6 ). Sometimes oversight is needed because parents either don't have the good sense to put their foot down, or just don't know the long term ramifications of so many hours of training on young bodies.

Completely agree. There are some of us who point out that the hours are insane but inevitably the mom gets defensive so it’s very difficult.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

So much this!! Just today I saw a post of a level 2 doing 25 hours!!! Because “she loves it.” Omg

I hate the justification of “but she loves” or “this is what she wants.” Well I’m sure my daughter would love doughnuts for breakfast every morning and candy bars instead of veggies for dinner. What they want isn’t always what’s best. Our job as parents is to protect them because as children, they don’t know what is best for them. Be the parent in that situation!

Often times though, I feel like that justification is often used to cover up the parents desire to have them training that much. I don’t know if they are vicariously living through their children or if they just really like the attention and are willing to pursue big goals at the possible expense of their child’s health. It’s hard to change the culture of the sport when parents are willing to chase fame and glory no matter the cost to their child.

 

[LJL07]

So much this!! Just today I saw a post of a level 2 doing 25 hours!!! Because “she loves it.” Omg

It is very real. My daughters attend a parochial school and will leave after their academic subjects for levels 9 and 7/8. The school has a level 2 and a level 4 checking out more hours than my two daughters. The school doesn’t know the difference. I do not think a level 2 needs to check out of school ever. And I really think levels 3 and 4 are questionable after living and learning. At another nearby parochial school, so many young compulsory kids for this particular gym I’ve mentioned were requesting a 1pm check out that the principal was getting angry. This craziness at the compulsory levels will ruin it for the kids trying to do upper level optionals. It’s really out of control.

 

[LJL07]

I hate the justification of “but she loves” or “this is what she wants.” Well I’m sure my daughter would love doughnuts for breakfast every morning and candy bars instead of veggies for dinner. What they want isn’t always what’s best. Our job as parents is to protect them because as children, they don’t know what is best for them. Be the parent in that situation!

Often times though, I feel like that justification is often used to cover up the parents desire to have them training that much. I don’t know if they are vicariously living through their children or if they just really like the attention and are willing to pursue big goals at the possible expense of their child’s health. It’s hard to change the culture of the sport when parents are willing to chase fame and glory no matter the cost to their child.

Absolutely! The parents are every bit as much of a problem as these over the top coaches.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

Completely agree. There are some of us who point out that the hours are insane but inevitably the mom gets defensive so it’s very difficult.

For what it's worth, I listened. I thought the hours they were trying to push our daughter to train at our last gym were unreasonable. When I posted on here about it, many of you backed me up and gave me the confidence I needed to move on. We love our current gym and their training philosophy and are so happy that we ignored the, "but your daughter is SO talented..blah...blah... blah" See, your wisdom is appreciated by those of us who are willing to listen.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

For what it's worth, I listened. I thought the hours they were trying to push our daughter to train at our last gym were unreasonable. When I posted on here about it, many of you backed me up and gave me the confidence I needed to move on. We love our current gym and their training philosophy and are so happy that we ignored the, "but your daughter is SO talented..blah...blah... blah" See, your wisdom is appreciated by those of us who are willing to listen.

I’m glad.

I’ve actually been slammed around here for “bragging” about our little lower hour gym.

And if I had a quarter for all the times I was told I just didn’t understand how all those hours were necessary I could probably cover the cost of my kids gymnastics.

Most of us, all do what works best for our families.

And there are crazy xyz,parents everywhere

 

[LJL07]

I think gymnastics has more variability as far as training hours and progression through the levels than any other sport. For example, at regionals my youngest daughter who did night gym last year in a fairly good sized group. She did well and medaled, but the ones at the top of the podium were the homeschooling TOPS/DIC children who work in very small groups doing very high hours. It's apples and oranges. She will never get the same level of detail or conditioning as those children. And between that and the instagram gymnasts, I really feel like this is very pointless. However, as someone else upthread pointed out, how likely is it that all of these little kids are going to still be doing at gym? There has to be some kind of benefit in the long run to keeping the hours and training manageable/reasonable.