WAG Keeping ribs in-how do you get them to do this???

[GymBeeMom]

I am more curious than anything as I do not coach my DD or give her ANY gym advice. I don't stay at the gym for practices much but when I do this is the correction I hear the most. She has ALWAYS had trouble keeping her ribs in but will correct it when reminded. I just wonder how long before she does it naturally...she is 8. Is this a typical problem and do they eventually figure it out without constant reminding?

 

[NewtoGym]

Is this a way of saying to keep a hollow position? I am not aware of how someone "keeps their ribs in"???

 

[GymBeeMom]

I'll be honest and say I'm not sure if its the same as staying hollow. It would make sense but sometimes they remind her to "stay hollow" and sometimes I just hear the word "ribs in" . I don't ask her about her corrections so I am really not sure, probably the same thing now that I think about it. I just notice she has this beautiful straight body from the back but all you see is ribs from the side. One coach said, a few years back, that she had a "predominant ribcage." Never thought much of it at the time...

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

It is a posture correction. Good gymnast but this photo shows a posture that is not aesthetically pleasing.

 

[Coloradogymmie]

I think you mean so their ribcage isn't showing? I think they have to work on pushing the stomach out in a certain way while pushing the rib cage down. It just takes practice - it's like a toe point i think. It just looks better.

 

[catou]

One of my gymnast is like that... It literally took months for her to be able to stand with her arms beside her ears without her ribs sticking out. I starting coaching her in september, and in january I can say I really started to see a difference.

For me it's not the same as being hollow, as you can have you're rib cage in while you're simply standing or lying. In fact, that's something that helped my gymnast. She was lying on her back. As her rib cage was out, my hand would fit easily between her back and the floor. I asked her to cruch my hand with her back. Instantly, her ribs would go in and she understood which muscles she needed to contract to be in the proper position. The impact is everywhere: her roundoff is much much better, as her swings on bars and her handpsring on vault.

We do still have to remind it to her, but we now just have to say, hide your ribs! We don't have to touch her anymore.

 

[gymgurl]

With little ones I tell them that I shouldn't be able to see their shoulder blades - can't have your ribs in if your shoulder blades are sticking out

 

[iwannacoach]

I imagine she's hearing this correction during dance movements when she elevates her arms, and on skills where her arms should be in a straight line that starts at her hips and ends at her hands. That covers a lot of gymnastics, so she's in poor posture in her handstand, cartwheel, walkovers, back handspring, and round-off......and that just the beginning.

The rib problems are caused by one or more of these conditions.

Body type

Resting posture where she pulls her shoulder blades back and slightly together.

Miss-understanding..........

which muscles are used to raise and keep her arms over her head, and not knowing which muscles should be used to support her weight when in handstand type skills. Eventually she'll learn what she needs to do to correct this, and I hope her coaches keep up the reminders, and maybe provide her with an occasional refresher on when and when not to use the muscles that pull her shoulder blades together.

 

[Linsul]

It's a strange position for young kids because they equate it to holding their breath. Which usually ends up making their tummies extremely sucked in and their ribs popping out! A easy way for them to identify their bellies and ribs as separate core zones is to demonstrate it yourself. What I find works is asking them to press "down" rather than "in." I'll take a deep breath and have the girls put their hand on the bottom of my ribcage and feel it go from puffed out to pressed downward and even with the rest of the core.

 

[EastCoastGymMom]

I don't know the answer, but my dd has the same problem! Even her rec and preteam coaches mentioned it to me - that she is going to have a hard time staying "hollow" because of her body type. I don't notice it as much anymore, I wonder if she's growing out of it or learning how to fix it on her own? My worry is that it turns into a long term problem since it affects her handstands, vaults, glide swings/kips, etc...

 

[LoriLou]

I've heard it described as "staying hollow" as well. I think that term is a little easier for my little one to understand. I could be VERY wrong in my assumption on this, but I think it is more about aligning the body properly....not "keeping ribs in". If I told DD to keep her ribs in I think she would naturally suck in and arch.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I am more curious than anything as I do not coach my DD or give her ANY gym advice. I don't stay at the gym for practices much but when I do this is the correction I hear the most. She has ALWAYS had trouble keeping her ribs in but will correct it when reminded. I just wonder how long before she does it naturally...she is 8. Is this a typical problem and do they eventually figure it out without constant reminding?

yes and yes.

 

[GymBeeMom]

This was all very helpful! Thanks for the input.