Pull over help?

[mom2princesses]

Good Day All,

I am new around here and have found this forum very helpful and full of information.

My 5 year old has recently lost her pull over which she had for a couple of months. She seems to be trying now to do it purely by strength, which I guess is good once she has to do it on the high bar. All the kids do a little jump to chinup and the rest of the pullover. She is getting very frustrated. She really wants a bar at home. I thought of maybe a chinup bar at home but once installed it just keeps spinning. Any ideas to make that work?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i am not a fan of 5 year olds doing gymnastics at home of any kind.

relax, she's 5. she'll have the pullover back in no time. in gymnastics, tricks/skills come and go until permanent muscle memory and movement patterns take hold.

 

[coachinkal]

If she is learning to do it with strength sounds like she is learning it correct.

When she does get it, she may be the only one doing it correctly without any little jump.

She may need stronger stomach muscles to help lift her legs over, that will come with time. Doing chin ups, leg lifts, L hangs, tuck hangs etc may help.

She may have just had a growth spurt and her body is a bit out of wack too.

Gymnastics requires a lot of patience, and many skills take a long time to learn through a lot of practise.

At 5 she has plenty of time to take her time. Everyone progresses at their own pace.

 

[ellabella]

My DD is 5 and hers comes and goes too. For her it depends on where they have the bar set. Some days the bar is set higher from whoever was using it before and she is really short and can't even jump up and reach the bar. The coach has to lift her to the bar and then she's in a dead hang. If she can jump she has no problem.

 

[gymdog]

Sometimes coaches initially teach a "kickover." This is easier than a true "pullover" for most kids. Then when they get the hang of the kickover they are expected to keep their legs together and pull themselves up and over. Requiring more core and upper body strength. But if they managed to learn the kickover before in most cases it is a matter of a couple sessions getting used to it. For most kids it just isn't immediate, even if they're pretty strong.

 

[BlairBob]

a pullover from a long hang is much more difficult than one from standing with the bar at chest height.

even with a small jump if the bar is over the head it is more difficult than chest height.

growth spurt issue more than likely.

best solutions are to just do pullups and leg lifts at home or get one of those small bars if you get appropriate padding and approval of coach.

if you were really dedicated, you could sink a couple of 4x4 into the back yard with a bar across. There is a huge danger issue in this though due to height and hitting the ground, especially if slipping off a metal bar (that can be wet due to condensation or lack of texture/it being metal).

 

[mom2princesses]

Thank you for the replies!

I would never let her use the bar at home without a parent and she would be spotted properly. It seems to be getting better but she is still frustrated with it. All the girls in her class have it now and she can't go to the next level without it. It is hard to watch her be so frustrated with it, you just want to help them.

 

[emorymom]

Just from watching the coaching and having the coaches tell me, they have to get their knees up to their faces before they drop their heads back or it takes too much strength. They say stuff like "knees to nose, round it goes."

DD got her pullover at just under 5.5 after I told her if she worked on her pullups every day she would get her pullover within 2 weeks. She was a bit skeptical but got her pullover in about a week. That was on a 3 hour a week preteam where they worked bars every time (2x a week).

 

[UnoMas]

My DD is also 5 and "has" her pullover but will often not be able to do it every time...especially if the bar is too high, the mat is too low, or she has been doing bars too long and it is close to the end of practice. It worries me to see her "lose" it on a daily basis since it took a LONG time to "get" it.

She will get it back, I am sure. I hope it is sooner rather than later!

 

[emandelsmom]

We bought dd's a chin up bar and mounted it in the door frame. They learned how to do good chin ups and then I would practice pull overs with them. Emma picked it up that way. Ellie got a pull over faster because she is stronger in her upper body then her sister.. But the chin up bar was the key.

 

[BlairBob]

But the chin up bar was the key

Bingo. Pullups and leg lifts.

Let's face it, 5yo are going 1, maybe 2x a week. Maybe 3x.

That leaves 2 more days a week to strength train or simply some pullups and leg lifts every day or every time she walks by the bar.

 

[nevertooold]

Bingo. or simply some pullups and leg lifts every day or every time she walks by the bar.

Yes when my girls were little we hung a "chin-up bar" (piece of pvc w/ an old broom handle shoved through for durability, screwed into door frame so it couldn't turn) in the doorway leading to the playroom, right next to the Barbie house. Showed them how to do baby pull-ups (using a stool to get chin above bar and then just lowering a tiny bit and pulling back up, going down further as they got stronger) They couldn't stay OFF the bar and were doing real pull-ups and chin-ups and "snaking" their legs through the 12 in. gap at the top to do pull-overs in no time.

For my girls who did not have a lot of natural upper body strength this really helped them, and I see no harm in it.

 

[Shelovesthebars]

Honestly, repitition is the key. I also think things like monkey bars at the park are really good for upper body strength. I used to hold my daughter up when she was 2 and let her do them with my support. Very quickly she had them nailed all on her own. We also have a king sized swingset in our backyard with some monkey bars.
My daughter used to try to pull herself up on everything. My husband and I decided that we would by her a mini bar and let her know that that was for pulling up on and she wasn't allowed to grab everything in sight and try to pull up. We got it off of Craigslist. At 3 she had her long hang pullover and her back hip circle. She has gone on to learn many new tricks on it and because she is so small, she can do a lot on it. She is working her glide kip on it now at 4.
Chin up bars are good too, just as long as there is constant repitition.