Women Shorts over leo for bars?

[Committed]

DD only wears her practice leo to practice, and recently she's been tearing up her upper thighs/hip joint. Would wearing shorts change the dynamic for doing mill circles and hip circles? I'm assuming that she's doing something wrong if she's needing a band-aid. She does have a meet this weekend, so I don't know if it will help or hurt her to wear shorts?

So, should I send her with shorts or no shorts, or yes, for a practice or two (there are 3 before the meet)??

 

[Quadqueen]

I'm not sure what level your daughter is (I think she is young though?)...but yes, the thighs and hips can get banged up doing bars. Bar shorts do add a layer of protection if they need it. Girls at DD's gym wear shorts almost all of the time, but they aren't allowed to in the week before a meet, to get used to going without. If your DD is normally comfortable without shorts (and will be fine for the meet) and the gym allows it, sure, have her wear shorts for a practice or two before the meet.

 

[gymmutti]

Getting banged up on bars is very typical. Our gym does not allow any of the team girls to wear bar shorts ever, so I have gotten used to seeing my girls come home bruised and scraped up. It does get better!

 

[Vaibicy]

It's totally normal! My hips get banged up lots still, when I don't wear shorts. I guess it takes a really LONG time before you learn control (if ever), haha! So send her to shorts for the next practices because they help a lot and will be sort of a cushion for her already injured hips. If her coaches object, say how bandaids are being used and mention (like a poster above said already) she's used to going without shorts and it shouldn't matter. Good luck!!

 

[DisMom]

My daughter calls them "bar bites." So yes, it's normal, and yes, bar shorts will help...as long as your gym allows them. Our girls aren't allowed to wear shorts once meet season begins.

 

[gymdog]

Yes, send tight shorts or leggings. I encourage the parents of the younger girls to. If they get scrapes and their leg is getting pinched, they don't want to participate and can become more cautious. A little kid has sensitive skin and the bar pinches it. She is not doing anything wrong, exposed skin that is coming in contact with the bar is experiencing a lot of friction and the skin on the hips is thin.

 

[wallinbl]

Wait till they spend considerable time working cast to handstands. They'll come home looking like they've been caned (and oddly proud of the marks).

 

[Committed]

Thanks for the replies. I didn't want to introduce her to any bad habits (if it was one), but I'm glad to see its normal.

 

[fliptwisttwirl]

Or wait till level 6..baby giants are great on the hips first starting out. I'm pretty sure I had permanent bruises for a while.

 

[cbone]

I'm not sure if your daughter is experiencing the same thing, but my daughter was having very similar symptoms. This was a couple of months ago. I spoke with her HC and he smiled and said that he had noticed that she had been bending her arms slightly during some bar skills recently. They were already working to fix it, but that bend was causing her to ride the bar more toward the hip and was the cause of her discomfort. They have fixed that and she hasn't had that pain since.

 

[ivyagogo]

It's not like it used to be when the bars were closer and we did bar beats. When the setting was a little off, that was some killer bruising.

 

[All Chalked Up]

My coach used to tape foam on my hips because I had such bad bruising, even though I usually wore shorts.

Shorts did help a bit though.