Women strength vs coordination vs flexibility -which is most important?

[gymhorsemom]

I just had a chat with DD's coach who told me that strength is the easiest thing to gain in gymnastics while it's more important to have natural coordination and flexibility. I was happy to hear this b/c my daughter has always struggled with strength and has been held back over the years as a result of it. But she is now starting to gain a little strength. I was surprised to hear that strength is the least important quality of the 3 to start out with b/c I constantly see girls pulled up to pre team who can climb to the top of the ropes and do a million leg lifts and chin ups but can't do a very good cartwheel or split. What do you all think? Which is most important?

 

[mndl]

That's kind of funny because when our coaches look for kids for pre-team they look for strength. They say that you can teach flexibility and other skills, but you can't teach strength. Though with all the conditioning they do it sure feels like they teach strength too

 

[Deleted member 17723]

I think coordination needs to be natural. That and hard work. If a child works hard, they most definitely can become strong and flexible.

 

[GYM0M]

DD is strong and has to work to maintain flexibility, but the BIG coaches that's she's worked with have been most impressed with her body awareness and ability to make corrections so I think that falls under coordination.

 

[gymhorsemom]

That's kind of funny because when our coaches look for kids for pre-team they look for strength. They say that you can teach flexibility and other skills, but you can't teach strength. Though with all the conditioning they do it sure feels like they teach strength too

That's what I thought based on who I see get invited to pre team -always strong and usually not overly coordinated -or if they are coordinated there's not a lot of noticeable evidence of that yet.

 

[Amber]

What I've seen is that: strength is the fastest gain, flexibility is harder, but doable, coordination is a talent. And in gymnastics, you'll get the farthest with upper body strength.

Just my 2 cents from experience

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I just had a chat with DD's coach who told me that strength is the easiest thing to gain in gymnastics while it's more important to have natural coordination and flexibility. I was happy to hear this b/c my daughter has always struggled with strength and has been held back over the years as a result of it. But she is now starting to gain a little strength. I was surprised to hear that strength is the least important quality of the 3 to start out with b/c I constantly see girls pulled up to pre team who can climb to the top of the ropes and do a million leg lifts and chin ups but can't do a very good cartwheel or split. What do you all think? Which is most important?

yikes! the coach has it backwards. hope the coach doesn't start with triple backs!

 

[gymhorsemom]

yikes! the coach has it backwards. hope the coach doesn't start with triple backs!

Dunno can you elaborate on that? You are saying that it's most important to have strength? More than both flexibility and coordination?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yes, strength rules in the end. but not absent of flexibility and coordination.

 

[gymhorsemom]

yes, strength rules in the end. but not absent of flexibility and coordination.

So do you think there's hope for a gymnast who lacks strength to build the necessary strength and catch up? My daughter is repeating pre team b/c she doesn't have the strength for the bar skills for level 3. She can now do a chin up but really struggles with getting her legs over for a pullover -still. But I do see improvement each week now that she's doing 7 hours a week (previously she only did 3 hours per week). Or do you think she will likely continue to struggle b/c she lacks that natural strength that so many gymnasts have?

 

[Faith]

I was once told by an elite coach that flexibility is easiest to train in girls- so his main priority was strength. He said a strong girl can be taught flexibility far easier than a flexible girl can be taught strength. Vice versa for boys .

More recently a coach said to me that he likes them all to start (english not first language!). He picks the ones who turn up and train hard, whatever their natural ability.

 

[trampolinemom]

Interesting topic. My DS (8) was turned down by a gym for artistic gymnastics at age 6 because he lacked strength (couldn't do more than one chin up). He is very flexible (can do all splits) and very coordinated, picks up new skills fast. He is now doing well at trampolining where strength might be less of an issue than in mens artistic gymnastics (coaches is this true?). With the training he now gets his strength has improved a lot however. (he now can do one arm chin ups)

 

[Aussie_coach]

Strength is essential, flexibility can be taught but a gymnasts lacking strength will have far more limitations than a gymnast lacking in flexibility, especially as you move up through the levels.

Two other key areas I look for in a gymnasts is muscle twitch speed and personality. Both play a huge role in the gymnasts potential.

 

[Redford]

I would also pick strength over flexibility, mostly because those kids are less prone to injuries.
There is no hope for your daughter in gymnastics, she should quit and pick up cortortion immediatly.
Gymhorsemom. The great thing about gymnastics is that it requires about every physical ability your body has to offer and therefor is beneficial to EVERY kid wether it is weak, stiff, uncoordinated, undisciplined, self conscious.... Maybe the stronger kids will hve an easier time down the road but so what? All natural talent goes down the tube if the kid isn't willing to sweat and listen.
Ever heard of the self fufilling prophecy? Your job as a mom is to think your daughter is the most beautiful gymnast there has ever been and just let her know you love her, gymnast or not. She is on prea-team so the coach onviously thinks competitive gymnastics is for her. As long as she is progressing and happy, there is no need for you to dig too deep into the coaches territory, just lean back. Every gymnast progresses at his own pace.

 

[gopuckgo]

My daughter has immense upper body strength and speed, she is very fast. She has had to work really hard on flexibility over the years and on slowing herself down a bit. She is able to split all three ways and do a switch ring well. But let's just say that you will never see her doing those contortionist tricks with her back.

Nor is she a great dancer by any stretch of the imagination. But, with work on it, over the years the dance is coming. She has some team mates with such beautiful dance and flexibility moves who are amazing and were great in levels 1-7. However, 8 & up has posed more of a challenge for them. They had more difficulty learning some of the more powerful tumbling moves on floor and bars is getting to be pretty tough for them as well. They are still beautiful to watch on floor and I love their routines.

 

[mobeans]

I find this topic interesting as well and have often wondered which natural ability is most important. My DD is naturally very coordinated and extremely flexible, especially in her back. She has worked on building strength and is very strong in bars. Whoever she has to work very hard to get power in floor and vault. I often wonder if her flexibility/upper body strength/coordination won't matter as much as she moves up because she doesn't have that explosive power. I am curious which is the most important factor if one dreams of elite.

 

[gymjunkie]

I often hear coaches say that flexibility can be taught as long as the kid is strong. Then I look at their gymnasts and see that they have a bunch of really powerful level 9s/10s who still can't do a decent split/can't fully open their shoulders. So IMO, "teaching flexibility" to a strong/tight kid is easier said than done. I have seen some flexible kids who lacked strength get significantly stronger and I have seen strong kids who lacked flexibility get adequately flexible. The ideal gymnast is strong AND flexible (and fast and powerful). Since us coaches can't order our gymnasts from a catalog, we take what we get and work on their weaknesses. What I would say is good about your dd's coach is that he/she thinks he/she can get her stronger. That's what she needs right now, someone who is aware of her weakness (but not put off by it).

 

[iwannacoach]

Strength, desire, and determination......

Coordination and flexibility can be honed to the maximum of each gymnast's potential, and often you'll see a clumsy kid blossom into an elegant gymnast but it takes the first three qualities to do so.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

I really don't get this strength vs flexibility stuff at all. My youngest was moved into a development group just over a year ago and in my eyes she wasn't that flexible and she wasn't strong, she certainly isn't powerful as she is a tiny skinny little thing.

I had a general chat a while back with the coach and I was told that my daughter has good strength and wasn't that flexible. I fail to understand what they mean by strength as she could not do a pull-up or leg lift when she was moved up, she did learn pretty quickly and kept improving every time they had strength tests. I guess she must have had some sort of natural strength that wasn't tapped into until she started serious conditioning. My daughters flexibility has improved and she has all three splits and a perfect pancake stretch - something she couldn't do when in rec, she hasn't got a naturally flexibly back but can do good bridges and back walkovers, I think that might have something to do with her shoulder flexibility or shoulder strength.

 

[LizzieLac]

In order of importance from my observations.., strength, coordination (as you defined it) and then flexibility. Flexibility can vary in parts of the body and it seems like lack of flexibility can be "hidden" or seemingly affect a gymnast less. Strength can be gained by conditioning but at the end of the day without strength most skills will suffer greatly without skill (if they can even be performed at all).