Coaches Warm-up Stretches

[PalmTree]

What do you have your gymnasts do to warm up, stretching wise? I have heard that it is bad to do static stretches before a workout, because it reduces muscle power. So mostly I have them roll out wrists and ankles and do strength. Any advice?

 

[iwannacoach]

Stretch to warm up, nope, not in the sense of working flexibilty. I like to keep warm ups limited to exactly what the term states.... you get them warmed up and ready to go. Work a major body zone for 40 seconds and stretch that zone for 20 seconds.... just to get the kinks and soreness out of the way.

Chose 4 or 5 body areas that need more strength and flexibility, and hit each one with the 40/20 approach. Work through each zone in order and then start over and work through the zones a second time. During this process there is no resting, water sips, question asking, well there's nothing allowed but the warm up drill.

This should get their core temp up a bit, increase their oxygen level, and elevate their metabolism to allow efficient use of the dietary fat calories collected while eating sensible and nutritious meals and snacks. That should have them good to go, and with that metabolism kicking in they'll enjoy an energy level that will last as long as they keep moving, provided they have enough energy stored up to last until a snack break.

 

[AdamSvensson]

Intressting approach to warm up, could you give an example of an area and how you work that area?

 

[iwannacoach]

I go for the legs first because they'll draw a lot of blood and get the metabolic rate moving in the right direction. Here's an example..........

Squat down to a position that puts the upper leg parallel to the floor, count to three and jump as high as possible....... landing after the jump should be a continuous movement to the same squat position. The entire cycle take 5 seconds, so I'll have them repeat this seven more times, and as they land the eighth rep they lower down into a straddle stretch and briefly work each side and the center for a combined total of 20 seconds.

Next comes the back muscles. They roll back onto their upper back/shoulders and finish in a pike position. From there they extend into a candlestick and return to the piked shoulder stand. The pace and rhythm is a three count up and a three count down, and that make a six rep set work well. The return to pike from the last candlestick rolls down to a pike stretch for 20 seconds,

Next comes sit-ups and push-ups 15 reps each followed by a 20 second bridge stretch with an emphasis on opening their shoulder angle.

They follow this with a quick run over to a floor beam and while facing away from the beam they reach back with a foot, place it on the beam and step backward and up onto the beam. They continue to work this exercise for 40 seconds using both feet equally. They finish the step backs and stretch their quadriceps and hip flexors for a combined total of 20 seconds.

The last exercise takes place on the opposite side of the floor exercise area where the bars are located, so they "toe hop" to the bars and do 10 chin-ups (yeah just 10 cuz I'm a softie) followed by shoulder stretching done by reaching behind their head with their right hand to "scratch" their left shoudler blade.... switch to the other side.

I'll let them have two minutes to stretch as they'd like, followed by another five exercise circuit.

Once they finish the second circuit they begin their apparatus work. They first 5 minutes of the first event is a light but continuous drill conducted with no breaks... no nothing, just get to work. After that they can take sips of water and add or remove gym wear, put on any brace or wrap, talk, and talk, and talk as long as they keep the equipment busy.

So pretty much the first 18-20 minutes take place in a "boot camp" camp atmosphere, and then we go to "normal", whatever that may be.

 

[JBS]

What do you have your gymnasts do to warm up, stretching wise? I have heard that it is bad to do static stretches before a workout, because it reduces muscle power. So mostly I have them roll out wrists and ankles and do strength. Any advice?

We do not do things such as over-splits during warm-ups...we do our major stretching at the end.

 

[BlairBob]

My basic warmup for gymnasts tends to be basic tumbling. I'm not a big fan of running around the floor or gym or pit runs.

So generally start off with lunges and pike walks, roll series, cartwheels, handstand stuff. Nothing too technical or what would be more than technical for the group. I might throw in some bear and crab walks, squat jumps, one leg hopping, tight body bounding, stuff like that. Maybe even some jump rope.

I wouldn't have a bunch of L4 do drills that they haven't mastered that would be done sloppily though nor would be really be doing any handsprings or round-offs or punch fronts.

I have found with a decent warmup, you can basically get to your near max flexibility should you actually try doing splits and pike and what not.

Besides, if you are doing your splits or pancake, you sure aren't WARMING UP.

A good warmup with some leg swings will probably allow you to move through your max ROM when it comes to split jumps and leaps, needle kicks, etc. Some of these leg swing drills might be ROM drills such as pancake to stomach split and back

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

My basic warmup for gymnasts tends to be basic tumbling.

It is also a great way for coaches who have limited time with a group to get an event in while warming up.

 

[iwannacoach]

It is also a great way for coaches who have limited time with a group to get an event in while warming up.

Limited time, you you got that right, we all work with the burden of "limited time". You can check me by asking Valeri Liukin, Artur Akopyan, John Geddert, and all the rest. There's never enough time, only more than you used to have, and it never seems enough.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

There's never enough time, only more than you used to have, and it never seems enough.

Yes I add more time and then the group starts picking up skills all over the place then we need more time to work on the extension of those skills. Progress only makes the time crunch worse .

 

[GymCoachR2]

This warm-up contains a lot of the stuff I use in a pretty similar order, but the handstand stuff at the end. I also forgo the on the ground kicking stuff and leave it for beam, and replace it with oversplits. Also when I have my kids do splits we always add in straight let splits...ie, if you aren't all the way down lock out your back knee (so it isn't on the floor) so both of them are straight because I think it ends up helping with split jumps/leaps.

Gymnastics warm up - YouTube

 

[coachmolly]

I imagine this thread is as good as any to run this past more experienced coaches. I trained at a club that largely did a simple conditioning/cardio type circuit for warm-ups with a brief "free stretch." With the HS team I coach now, time is very limited and gymnastics experience among the girls is minimal. Their typical warm-up consists of, at most, a 3 minute leisurely jog around the floor followed by "stretching" (social time) followed by very brief, gymnast-led "lines." It eats up lots of time and accomplishes very little.
I'm looking to implement aspects of the previous, more active warm-up type I mentioned, but I'm hesitant- largely because of the lack of spring floor. Would using things like timed jump roping, squat jumps, bounding jumps, etc. be too much pounding? We practice 5x a week, but I would look at using these heavier pounding exercises only every other day or so mixed in with other more active warm-ups. Would that be too much? Should I just skip it altogether? I'm just very conflicted. So this thread has been very helpful!

 

[GymCoachR2]

As much as I hate linking to Gymnastike. It might be good for you to look at this.
Workout Wednesday: BOOT CAMP at Aerial Athletics | Level 10 Texas State Meet 2013 | Gymnastike

You can see a lot of the running/jumping stuff in this workout is done outside on hard surfaces. I must add that these girls are VERY strong, and that helps protect them against injuries from that kind of pounding. My personal opinion is you should do SOME. Basically what you're saying. Not every day, and I might place more emphasis on jumping stuff rather than rebounding stuff (because that's where you are getting the most out of the spring floor, besides shock absorption). But something more active than jogging around the floor would probably be very beneficial to your kids.

 

[txgymfan]

I would suggest something organized and set to music they like. It might be a good idea to make a set routine 3 days a week that they can memorize. The other 2 days you might mix it up with a fresh circuit. You might look up on gymnastike the national team warm up ( which may be a part of the Aerial boot camp).