Parents Too many training hours!

[Gymmom0623]

Does anyone else struggle with the training hours required, and if gymnastics is the right sport for your kid? My daughter (who will turn 10 this summer) is training level 6 and moving to 15 hours a week (5 days/3 hours). I struggled last season with 4 days a week, and if I was doing the right thing. My daughter generally likes going to practice and is good at the sport, however, I have no expectations at all for her to go elite or even college. I follow Shift Movement Science on fb and I love their messaging about young gymnasts doing other sports and they also recommend as a general rule to train one hour a week per year of age (plus or minus 3 hours). So that would be 9 or 10 hours a week for my kiddo, maaaybe 13. But none of the gyms in our area follow those guidelines! The best gym in our state has all the girls homeschool from level 4 on up! They pretty much win everything, so all the other gyms are trying to compete with a whole different lifestyle. There are a couple gyms that compete xcel in our area, but they don't really train basics and fundamentals. I sometimes feel like my daughter may be missing out on other fun things that come with being a kid because she is always in the gym, but she also loves the sport. Any mommas with older girls struggle with this? Has anyone held their kid back a level to avoid more training hours? I don't mind the long hours once she's a teenager, but while she's still a kid, i feel she needs more time to be a kid!

 

[Flicfliclay]

To be honest, as teenagers they would ideally need less hours! Teens need sleep, teens have harder coursework for school. Sadly, though the sport hasn't evolved into what Shift movement is recommending. If it makes you feel any better, my daughter when she was 10 was at the gym about 30 hours! ( not anymore ) as a 15 year old she is in the gym about 25 hours.

 

[WV Gym Mom]

For me, I would be more frustrated at the 5 days a week, instead of the hours. We do 4hr practices, and our L6 do three days (a total of 13 hours, including 1hr ballet before one practice). So they have two free days a week to just 'be kids'.

 

[NutterButter]

I struggled with it until I fully embraced how happy my kid was in the sport. She didn't want to be anywhere else or do other activities.

 

[Gymmom0623]

For me, I would be more frustrated at the 5 days a week, instead of the hours. We do 4hr practices, and our L6 do three days (a total of 13 hours, including 1hr ballet before one practice). So they have two free days a week to just 'be kids'.

yes! That would be better. 2 free days would be wonderful. I wouldn't think twice about that.

 

[KinPer]

Does anyone else struggle with the training hours required, and if gymnastics is the right sport for your kid? My daughter (who will turn 10 this summer) is training level 6 and moving to 15 hours a week (5 days/3 hours). I struggled last season with 4 days a week, and if I was doing the right thing. My daughter generally likes going to practice and is good at the sport, however, I have no expectations at all for her to go elite or even college. I follow Shift Movement Science on fb and I love their messaging about young gymnasts doing other sports and they also recommend as a general rule to train one hour a week per year of age (plus or minus 3 hours). So that would be 9 or 10 hours a week for my kiddo, maaaybe 13. But none of the gyms in our area follow those guidelines! The best gym in our state has all the girls homeschool from level 4 on up! They pretty much win everything, so all the other gyms are trying to compete with a whole different lifestyle. There are a couple gyms that compete xcel in our area, but they don't really train basics and fundamentals. I sometimes feel like my daughter may be missing out on other fun things that come with being a kid because she is always in the gym, but she also loves the sport. Any mommas with older girls struggle with this? Has anyone held their kid back a level to avoid more training hours? I don't mind the long hours once she's a teenager, but while she's still a kid, i feel she needs more time to be a kid!

I understand that you are not expecting achievement from the child, i.e. it is not a goal. Why shouldn't your girl train as much as she wants?

 

[WV Gym Mom]

I understand that you are not expecting achievement from the child, i.e. it is not a goal. Why shouldn't your girl train as much as she wants?

There are many reasons that excessively high training hours can cause worries - burnout, injury, life balance, family time, you name it. A child going to training five days a week, or 20+hrs as a pre-teen, can have issues with all of these.

 

[KinPer]

There are many reasons that excessively high training hours can cause worries - burnout, injury, life balance, family time, you name it. A child going to training five days a week, or 20+hrs as a pre-teen, can have issues with all of these.

If I trained 20 hours a week, I'd have a problem with that too
I don't mind the effort. But only if it is necessary to achieve the goal.

 

[Gymmom0623]

I understand that you are not expecting achievement from the child, i.e. it is not a goal. Why shouldn't your girl train as much as she wants?

She generally likes to go to practice, but she also likes to be home with family and play with friends. If there was an option to not train as much, she would take it. That's what I find so hard about gymnastics. Either you devote your life to it, or you don't do it.

 

[Dahlia]

She generally likes to go to practice, but she also likes to be home with family and play with friends. If there was an option to not train as much, she would take it. That's what I find so hard about gymnastics. Either you devote your life to it, or you don't do it.

This is one of the reasons Xcel exists! Less hours, still competitive gymnastics!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

My kid loves gym and doesn’t want to live in the gym. We changed from our first gym due to more hours I wanted for her At age 6. At her most recent gym, she did no more then 9 hours until L7 and then topped out at 12.

She was very happy there (10 yrs) until recently, for many reasons we are moving on. Because when the gym no longer suits you it’s time to move on. My daughter wants to finish her senior year doing gymnastics. Her only condition “Mom I just don’t want to do a ton of hours.“

 

[Loopy]

Doing 5 days a week would annoy me.
Our gym they do
6-9 hours level 3 (2-3 days, 3 hour sessions)
9-12 hours level 4 (either 3 days, 4 hours, or 4 days, 3 hours)
12-16 hours level 5 (3-4 days, 4 hours)
16 hours level 6+ (4 days, 4 hours)

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

For me, I would be more frustrated at the 5 days a week, instead of the hours. We do 4hr practices, and our L6 do three days (a total of 13 hours, including 1hr ballet before one practice). So they have two free days a week to just 'be kids'.

As a coach I tend to agree, gymnastics wise shorter more frequent sessions are better... however it's about getting and keeping the kids in the sport and sometimes it's a juggling act between what families are prepared to sacrifice and ideal athlete development.
At the end of the day, I can always work on things later if the kids is still participating - so I keep that in mind when dealing with families. I can't do anything with a perfectly developed athlete who leaves the sport...

 

[Aussie_coach]

The big advantage of the 5 day a week schedule is that no training session will go longer than 3 hours. Research has shown that once a gymnastics session goes longer than 3 1/2 hours, the risk of injury increases A lot. Coaches who are aware of this will usually put major skill work in the first 3 1/2 hours and work low risk activities in the latter part of the session.

But 5 days a week, in a gymnast who is not pursuing higher optional levels or elite as of yet, has a few downsides.

There is burnout for the gymnast as they have no free time to do other things, hang out with friends, relax at home, get homework done, play outside etc. It can also cause burnout for the family with constant driving, different dinner schedules etc.

It also means the young muscles don’t have time to recover between sessions. Again, an aware coach will ensure different muscle groups are conditioned on different days. But aware coaches are less common that you would think. Strength development comes from a process of working the muscles and resting the muscles. The resting phase is just as important as the workout. As this is where the muscles heal and grow stronger.

 

[Gymmom0623]

The big advantage of the 5 day a week schedule is that no training session will go longer than 3 hours. Research has shown that once a gymnastics session goes longer than 3 1/2 hours, the risk of injury increases A lot. Coaches who are aware of this will usually put major skill work in the first 3 1/2 hours and work low risk activities in the latter part of the session.

But 5 days a week, in a gymnast who is not pursuing higher optional levels or elite as of yet, has a few downsides.

There is burnout for the gymnast as they have no free time to do other things, hang out with friends, relax at home, get homework done, play outside etc. It can also cause burnout for the family with constant driving, different dinner schedules etc.

It also means the young muscles don’t have time to recover between sessions. Again, an aware coach will ensure different muscle groups are conditioned on different days. But aware coaches are less common that you would think. Strength development comes from a process of working the muscles and resting the muscles. The resting phase is just as important as the workout. As this is where the muscles heal and grow stronger.

Thank you! That is all good info. Our coaches say that they understand the need for family time and we have training days that are devoted to rest and recovery. I just wish the rest and recovery could happen at home. lol! And while they say they understand the need for time away from the gym, I feel like it's something they just say to attract families due to some of the things they have said to my daughter. I am totally ok with her missing practice, especially if we have a conflict, but she is more hesitant. But anyways, this is a tough area with gymnastics. So much research to show what's best, but very few actually follow it.

 

[Canadian Gym Mom]

Can you ask about staying in the same group but doing 4 days instead of 5? Perhaps propose a trial period? I've seen a lot of kids have this type of arrangement.

 

[Ava68578]

This is far too much for a 9 year old to manage!