Coaches straightening legs

[twinklytoes9468]

I have a 7 yo gymnast who can't seem to get his legs straight.If he is sitting in pike he cannot straighten them completely and I can't straighten them if I try to. He can't straighten his legs to lift his heels off the floor in this position.Yet standing up knees are not bent so it must be possible!.The same thing with pointing toes- fine in a vertical plane, not able to horizontally.Why is this and what can we do about it?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

tight hammies ? Can he touch his toes ? Does he have large calfs ?

My neice could never do the move in grades where they tense their thighs and thier heels lift up. I even tried pushing down just above the knee and lifting the heel - just wouldn't budge, he legs were not made that way.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

hey, give us a break. he's a boy. we have more problems with what you describe than the girls do. give it time. we take a bit longer

 

[BlairBob]

I would guess at tight hamstrings as well. I would check pike flexibility.

If so, focus on doing pike stretches with flexed ankles and a flat back. Maybe some manual stretching or band stretching.

 

[iwannacoach]

Like dunno says, give him a break. The real deal is that this kid probably has "tight" everything from his upper back all the way down to the arches of his feet. That's a condition that take time to train and grow out of, as he'll need to increase his ROM on more than just his hammies and calves, which are a good place to start.

Since the kid is a 7yo, he isn't likely to want to stretch in the conventional sense, so try to come up with skill work that passively promotes flexibility...... like straddle fwd rolls, pike bwd rolls, shoulder kips off a block, and other skills like that.

Supervise his conditioning and strength work, and encourage as full a range of motion as possible, especially when working ankle/calf strength.

 

[CoachTodd]

I'm with BlairBob and others that say hamstrings. If the legs straighten when standing but not sitting, I'd work toe touches from a stand or even just kind of hanging there in the standing pike in a relaxed way to see how far he actually bends before the hamstrings stop him. You could try the stretches where he lays on his back, grabs behind his knees and holds his legs to his chest while trying to straighten his legs. I'd also make sure the legs are nice and hot from the workout before pushing flex. I had one guy that worked flex on his own but never heated up the muscle so he actually got worse until I asked him what he did outside the gym.

 

[BlairBob]

A really good pike stretch is hanging pike stretch on stall bars. Ok, it's actually kind of wicked brutal but effective.

Grab the stall bars, walk feet up to lower bar and sit back with legs locked. It stretches the shoulders and the pike. Ideally get the bars that the hands hold on to and the feet push on to roughly 2-3 bars away from each other.

7yo is a delicate age though. He might need to be stretched manually but some 7yo are just not ready for that. I had to do with Erik, but he was 10. I'm not sure it would work as well with a 7yo boy or many 7yo girls (though by that time, most 7yo girls have been in gym 2 or 3 years).