Gymnasts Training with muscle ache

[HopefulGymnast]

So I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so I just posted it to the forums that seemed best.

I am currently doing gymnastics once a week, and I want to switch to twice a week. The second class would be two days after the first one. The issue is, I tend to have muscle ache that lasts several days after my gymnastics. It makes me worry that if I'll train two days after the first training, I'll overtrain and lose muscle rather than gain it (or injure myself).

I see people here training many days a week so I was wondering if anybody has insights in this. Do you notice improvements even when you train with muscle ache?

In case it's relevant: I'm in my 20s and my bars training is heavily bars focussed right now but if I do two days I'll have time to focus on other things too. I currently work on learning free hip and cast to 45* above horizontal, connecting my toe shoot to my high bar kip, and getting to giants on strap bars. I have leg strength training from the fysio on the same days and I work on stuff like cartwheels on beam, front tuck, connecting it to front handspring, etc.

 

[sun]

I'd be worried more about keeping your joints healthy than overtraining at this volume. Pay close attention to joint pain, and don't push through that. Muscle soreness is to be expected. Keep track of the reps you're doing on the most intense of your skills so you can adjust the next practice's reps based on your soreness.

Joint pain? fewer reps, or same/higher reps with easier progression (ex. 5 clear hips gave me elbow pain.. I'll do 5-10 back hip circles)

Muscle soreness? same reps or +1 (ex. shoulders and abs are sore from 10 wall presses... I'll do 12 wall presses, or 10 wall presses + a second press exercise)

Your body will adjust over time if done consistently, this is conditioning

 

[HopefulGymnast]

Thank you so much for your response. It's very usefull, especially the bit on adjusting reps. At the moment I've often been just winging it with what exactly I do in training, because I am in a rec class and there's not a lot of guidance. (I often wish I just had a coach tell me what to do to get to my goals, but at the same time I'm glad I can set my own goals)
I do think it'll be hard to figure out which things are causing muscle ache / joint pain as it's more the combination of drills I think.
I think it's a good idea if I make a bit more structure so I can do as you said and adjust the amount of reps. Now I just kind of do what feels right each training without much of a concrete plan.

As for the muscle ache vs joint pain, what I was worried about is basically that I'd be getting weaker rather than stronger because my muscles may not be fully recovered (As in the red line of the image below). When I was used to do strength training I never got this sore, so I kind of thought that was a sign of not having muscle recovery yet. In gymnastics I often dont notice how hard I'm pushing untill the day after.

Again, thank you so much for your advise. I think for now I am going to build up the first weeks and see how it feels, and if the muscle soreness stays I will probably add the second day regardless and try to trust it'll work itself out over time as you say.

 

[HopefulGymnast]

I'd be worried more about keeping your joints healthy than overtraining at this volume. Pay close attention to joint pain, and don't push through that. Muscle soreness is to be expected. Keep track of the reps you're doing on the most intense of your skills so you can adjust the next practice's reps based on your soreness.

Joint pain? fewer reps, or same/higher reps with easier progression (ex. 5 clear hips gave me elbow pain.. I'll do 5-10 back hip circles)

Muscle soreness? same reps or +1 (ex. shoulders and abs are sore from 10 wall presses... I'll do 12 wall presses, or 10 wall presses + a second press exercise)

Your body will adjust over time if done consistently, this is conditioning

I apologise for the double comment, I wrote a reply to you but I think I didn't press reply, so it's just written as a seperate comment.

 

[kecks]

So I'm not entirely sure where to post this, so I just posted it to the forums that seemed best.

I am currently doing gymnastics once a week, and I want to switch to twice a week. The second class would be two days after the first one. The issue is, I tend to have muscle ache that lasts several days after my gymnastics. It makes me worry that if I'll train two days after the first training, I'll overtrain and lose muscle rather than gain it (or injure myself).

I see people here training many days a week so I was wondering if anybody has insights in this. Do you notice improvements even when you train with muscle ache?

In case it's relevant: I'm in my 20s and my bars training is heavily bars focussed right now but if I do two days I'll have time to focus on other things too. I currently work on learning free hip and cast to 45* above horizontal, connecting my toe shoot to my high bar kip, and getting to giants on strap bars. I have leg strength training from the fysio on the same days and I work on stuff like cartwheels on beam, front tuck, connecting it to front handspring, etc.

It will be fine. You can not "overtrain" working out two times a week several days apart. Keep going, suck it up. If the pain is really bad try to add in light (!) strength work on your off days and use everything that increases blood flow, like going for a bike ride, light jogging, walks, hot bath...

 

[HopefulGymnast]

It will be fine. You can not "overtrain" working out two times a week several days apart. Keep going, suck it up. If the pain is really bad try to add in light (!) strength work on your off days and use everything that increases blood flow, like going for a bike ride, light jogging, walks, hot bath...

Thanks for your thoughts and advise, I really appreciate it. Especially with sun having also answered, seeing several peoples views always helps.

 

[estamey21]

I am in my 30s and do gymnastics-themed workouts (on account of being a retired gymnast and a current gymnastics coach). Lots of things hurt. Old injuries are achy in the background as new strains flair up. At some point, you need to accept that chronic pain is the "entry fee" to doing gymnastics at older ages. I just love gymnastics so I much that the tradeoff is worth it.

My best advice is to take it slow and always be willing to modify your workout based on pain signals. And become an expert in YOUR pain signals. Learn your recovery times for various strains. Rest is as important as what you do in the gym. New pain signals (especially joint or tendon pain) should be taken seriously and more rest is required.

The good news is that not all pain is cause for concern. For example, I learned that if I go hard on leg stretching, I feel intense soreness for the following 2 days. I used to be worried about this pain (Did I pull a muscle? Do I have tendonitis?), but over time, I learned that I just need to avoid leg stretching during my recovery period. The pain is annoying, but it's completely predictable and not worth worrying about.

In summary, trust your body's ability to recover from injury and adapt to higher pain levels. And be kind to your body. Gymnastics is extremely strenuous and dangerous (especially in "old age") so go slow.