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Gymnastics Training: Gymnastics Advice Column (2009-2010)

By Karen Goeller

We will post a new question and answer each month in an effort to help gymnastics parents, gymnasts, and coaches better understand skills or issues that arise while training in gymnastics. If you would like to send Karen a question you can do so by using the email address at the top of this page. We can only post one question each month. All names, gym names, towns, and identifying information is removed from the question before it is posted. We will not answer any questions from those under 18 years of age. Athletes under 18 must have their parent send the question. We sincerely thank you for your interest in our gymnastic products and services.
 

Read the 2008 gymnastics questions. 

You may also enjoy Karen Goeller's gymnastics articles, training programs,  and books.

Oct 09

Question

Answer

Sep 09

Question

April 09

Question
I've taught full twists before but I'm looking for the most effective technique and drills. The way I've always taught a full was by setting your layout (arms up) then wrapping in to the the side (arms bent and fists towards the dominant arm pit) Though I read somewhere that dropping an arm is useful but I don't know if that's true and if so how do you do it? This one website described dropping your dominant arm first then both arms out to the side then wrapping into your chest which was really confusing to me. Also, do you have any advice on drills?
Thanks a bunch~

Answer
Your gymnast must be extremely tight out of the back handspring and on the rebound for the full twist. She must lift her arms up and back. Once in the air she must tilt by lifting her toes with a tight body and beginning to pull her arms down. Once she does the layout, tilt, and she begins to pull her arms down she must shorten one side of her body for the twist, the side that she is twisting towards. Your gymnast must contract the muscles on the side of her body as she pulls her arms down and over to that side for a full twist. I prefer straight arms and both hands down to the hip/thigh she is twisting towards. That often helps the gymnast shorten that side of her body so that she can twist effectively. That can be practiced on the floor. Have your gymnast lie on her back with her arms up by her ears. Next instruct her to lift to a slightly hollow position. Once in the hollow position instruct her to pull both hands towards one hip. If she performs that correctly and quickly enough she will end up rolling towards that side. Once that is mastered you can have her hold a light medicine ball and perform the drill. She would touch the ball to the floor next to her hip/thigh. She would not be able to roll when using the medicine ball so alternate the exercises. The exercise is explained below.
There are more conditioning exercises for tumbling including twisting in some of my animated e-books.

Oblique Crunch with Medicine/Stability Ball
1. Sit in upright position on stability ball with feet flat on floor.
2. Walk feet forward allowing stability ball to roll underneath body until it is positioned on lower to mid-back region. Raise hips slightly to create a "table top" position parallel to floor.
3. Place hands above head holding a medicine ball. Head should be in a neutral position with a space between chin and chest.
4. Leading with the chin and chest towards the ceiling, contract the abdominal and raise your right shoulder up toward ceiling and bring medicine ball towards opposite hip.
5. Return to start position and repeat with the other shoulder.
6. Remember to keep head and low back in a neutral position. Hyperextension or flexion of either may cause injury.
7. This may be performed on the floor with straight legs to more closely simulate twisting in gymnastics.

March 09
Question
My daughter is a Level 5 and I have had a couple of frustrations at her gym. I know parents are not supposed to get involved in any way in their sport and progress, but I can't help but notice that her gym does hardly any conditioning, kids are practicing vaults with no spotting (including Tsuks). I don't want to be the meddling parent; however, I can't help but be concerned that 1st, if my daughter wants to attain Level 9/10 how she would do this with only practice and little or no conditioning, and 2nd, should I be concerned that the coaches are allowing some kids to go over the vault with no spot, including Tsuk vaults (in other words, coach is somewhere else in the gym - not even close). She doesn't want to switch gyms but she does get very frustrated with these issues and I'm putting out a fair amount of money and not sure that this is the gym to get her where she wants to go. The owner is very closed to criticism and doesn't like us to voice our opinions regarding coaching, conditioning, etc. We are supposed to turn our checks in, be happy, and not get involved as "the coaches know best". Also, what is a good coach to athlete ratio or does it vary according to level? Thank you!

Answer
You have every right to be concerned. Your daughter's safety is the most important factor in her training. Conditioning should be 20% of the training time. Gymnasts should be performing plenty of drills for skills in addition to the conditioning. The gymnasts should be spotted for skills whenever necessary. Sometimes it is not necessary to spot when the correct drills have been introduced and practiced. Your daughter should be in a gym that suits her goals and personality. She should be in the most safe atmosphere possible where the coaches respect the children. Please follow your gut instinct as to whether you should keep your daughter in that gym. If you are in or near NJ I can help your daughter with conditioning in person. You may find the articles to be very useful. Here are some of the topics... Mental Blocks, Tsukahara Vault, Giant Swing, Split Leap, Handstand, Cast Handstand, Glide Kip, etc.

Feb 09

Question
My daughter is getting over stressed for competition to get the scores she needs to qualify for nationals. And she is getting tired in the middle of her routines. Can you help her?

Answer
 I am so sorry to hear that your daughter is having trouble with her routines. If she is getting tired in the middle of routines, the coaches are not offering her enough muscle endurance and cardio endurance training during her workouts. Many gymnasts perform back to back routines and others perform each section 5-10 times without rest in between in order to condition properly. The conditioning program makes a huge difference in a gymnast's success. If the coaches are only offering general and not sport specific conditioning they are not giving your daughter all of the tools necessary to succeed.  Other reasons a gymnast may be fatigued more than her teammates are nutrition, hydration, and quality of sleep. Nutrition and hydration play a VERY LARGE role in performance and many people do not realize this. To be sure she is getting enough of the nutrients she needs visit www.mypyramid.gov, www.eathealthy.org, and www.gssiweb.com for safe and accurate nutrition information, nutrition tools, and sports science articles. Another thing many people do not think about when it comes to training and performance is quality of sleep. Please make sure your daughter is getting high quality sleep because that greatly effects an athlete's mind, body, and performance. You may enjoy some of the gymnastics and health articles. If you are in or near NJ  I can train your daughter in person. I can help her gain sport specific strength.

Jan 09

Question
I have a 7 year old daughter who is currently training 12 hours per week. She recently starting complaining about knee pain. She says it mainly hurts when she runs, bends down before split jumps and landing dismounts from beam and bars. I spoke with the gym and they said this is a very normal complaint among gymnasts, especially those at her age who are going through growth spurts. They have told me that keeping her out of the gym for a few weeks will not benefit her. I am concerned that she could be doing damage and I would like to consider taking her to a pediatric ortho. Am I over-reacting? Should I just continue to let her train as normal. We do ice for 20 minutes after practice and I've been alternating Tylenol and ibuprofen. Thanks in advance for any insight.

Answer
You are NOT over-reacting. You MUST bring your daughter to a doctor as soon as possible. Your daughter is either performing too many repetitions of something that is causing this pain or she is performing an unsafe exercise. In the meantime, do not allow her to run or jump until you hear the doctor's opinion. There are plenty of vaulting and tumbling drills that do not require running or jumping that the coaches can allow your daughter to perform during those events. She should also remain on the low beam and low bar so that she does not have to jump from that height, no dismounts until she is seen by a doctor. You MUST bring her to a doctor immediately. Pain is NOT normal in this sport or for her age group. That is a poor excuse for a coach without any desire to learn about injury prevention. If pain is common in the gym where your daughter trains you should look for another gym. If three or more gymnasts on one team have pain in the same general area of the body there is something wrong with the training. And if the coach disagrees and allows your daughter to train on an injury, they are negligent. If the gymnast informs the coach of pain and the coach forces the gymnast to continue, they are abusive. I would take a very close look at that training program and follow your gut instinct.  Your daughter's health and safety are most important. Your daughter should NOT be running or tumbling until the pain goes away AND you see a doctor. She should also be icing her knee AS SOON as she starts to feel pain, even if that is in the middle of practice. The coach MUST allow your daughter to stop performing whatever it is that is causing the pain. Remember, the more your daughter trains on this injury, the longer the healing time and more risk of permanent damage. PATIENCE is the key with recovering from injuries. You should ask your daughter's coach to make sure your daughter does not run or jump, especially deep squat jumps and frog jumps. A thought on overuse injuries... If three or more gymnasts on one team of ten or fewer gymnasts have pain in the same general area (ankles & legs or wrists & elbows) then a change should be made in the training program or with the equipment being used. (Sometimes only a minor change is necessary.) If only one gymnast on the team has pain in any part of her body then it is more likely an individual weakness, injury. If she is one of the many gymnasts performing the deep frog jumps she should stop doing them immediately. That jump puts enormous pressure on the ligaments and tendons. Some of the less experienced coaches saw a video clip of elite gymnasts performing that jump and they assume it is a safe exercise for every gymnast. It is not and it is COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE for gymnastics. Gymnasts need eccentric strength to stick landings. They must be able to stop the force of 8-12 times their body weight at a 1/4 - 1/2 squat position. There is actually a deduction when a gymnast squats too low while landing from a dismount. Gymnasts also need plyometric (rebounding) strength for tumbling and vaulting. Tumbling and vaulting require rebounds which involve a very quick action of the ankles and shoulders along with and a very tight body to produce the rebounding action. There are no skills in women's gymnastics that require a gymnast to take off or land in that deep frog position, buttocks touching heels with legs turned out.

Dec 08
Question
   I am a competitive gymnast. I am doing a research paper for school, and it is about causes of eating disorders in gymnastics. I was wondering what your take on this issue is, what do you think the cause is. So far I know they are often caused by coaches influence, but I need a first hand account for my primary sources. Thank you for any help or information you can give me!

Answer
    I do not normally help with homework, but you chose a very important topic.
My personal experience with eating disorders...  I studied health and nutrition in college so I already knew the signs and symptoms. In 30 years of coaching I have only PERSONALLY seen one gymnast with an eating disorder. This one girl's eating disorder was NOT influenced by any coach. It was influenced by her best friend in school with the desire to diet. This girl was following her friend right into the trap of anorexia. I detected this problem with this gymnast because she was performing all of the conditioning and was the only one on the team who was not getting stronger. She was actually getting weaker, really fast. She quickly began to lack the energy necessary for the workouts too. I contacted her mother and initially asked if her daughter was dieting because she was becoming weaker. The mother became angry and hung up the phone. The problem became more apparent to me so I contacted the mother again a week later and told the mother that her daughter did not have the energy for the workouts. Again, I mentioned that she may be dieting unnecessarily. Her mother became embarrassed, denied a problem existed, and suddenly pulled her daughter out of the sport. Our gymnasts were encouraged to eat plenty of healthy foods. I found out a few months later that I was 100% accurate with detecting the problem early and that I did help her mother catch on to the problem. Again, this one girl's eating disorder was a result of supporting and copying her best friend at school who was going into the downward spiral of anorexia. There are still some terrible coaches out there that do not care about their gymnast's health, but now the majority of coaches are aware of healthy eating. Any coach who asks a gymnast to step on a scale to be weighed should not be coaching. Of course, there are some gymnasts who are overweight, but the coaches should discuss healthy eating habits with the entire team rather than "dieting" with any gymnast alone. Many coaches now discuss healthy eating with a positive attitude on a regular basis and that helps the athletes learn healthy habits for life. Gymnastics coaches have been made aware of eating disorders through many channels in recent years. USA Gymnastics has educated coaches through Technique Magazine and coaching conventions. Eating disorders are not very difficult to detect for a coach who is well educated, informed on the issue, and knows their athletes. Again, I have personally coached thousands of gymnasts since 1978 in a variety of settings including my gym, other gyms, and camps. I have only personally seen one gymnast with this problem as a coach and I am very, very good at detecting problems with gymnasts. The kids at the camps ate a really good amount of food. An eating disorder would be detectable very fast in a camp setting. There are gymnasts who sometimes do not eat enough calories, but they do not necessarily have eating disorders. Some simply do not realize that they need more calories than people who do not exercise. When a gymnast is going downhill rather than progressing there is a problem. When an athlete is often fatigued much easier than she previously was there is a problem. Weight loss, low blood pressure, dizziness, poor skin coloring, a change in personality are all reasons to be concerned that there could be a health problem. A doctor should be seen if the athlete has these signs or symptoms. Osteoporosis, stress fractures, organ failure, and other very serious health issues do occur with eating disorders that have not been diagnosed and controlled early enough, including death in the most severe cases.  To all parents reading this: Please discuss healthy eating with your children. If you feel that your child has a health problem, including an eating disorder, bring them to a doctor immediately. For more information on eating disorders do a Google or webMD search for the phrase, "athlete triad."  Please be sure to eat plenty of healthy foods. And visit www.MyPyramid.gov and www.EatHealthy.org for safe and accurate nutrition information. Nutrition plays a large role in your health, athletic performance, growth, and healing from injuries and illnesses. There are a few good health and nutrition articles on this website. Take a look at the calcium and the Osteopenia articles. Be sure to read our nutrition articles.  

You may also enjoy Karen Goeller's gymnastics articles, training programs,  and books.

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Read the 2008 Questions

June 2010 Shin Splints / May 2010 Gym Hours / Mar/Apr 10 Bruise from Cast HS on Bars / Feb 10 Stretching / Jan 10 Cartwheel-Beam / Nov/Dec 09 Ankle Weights / Oct 09  Height-Tall /Sept 09 Clear Hip Circle / Aug 09 Multiple Injuries / July 09 Wrist Supports / June 09 Bridge / May 09 Back Handspring / Apr 09 Full Twist / March 09 Conditioning / Feb 09 Routine Fatigue / Jan 09 Knee Pain / Dec 08 Eating Disorders / Nov 08  Sever's & Tendonitis  / Oct 08 Handstand / Sep 08 Sport Specific Conditioning / Aug 08 Grips / July 08 Mental Block-Fears / June 08 Elite-Press Handstand / May 08 Splits / Apr 08 Switching Gyms / Mar 08 Giants / Feb 08 Walkover Back Pain / Jan 08 Turns and Tightness / Dec 07 Level 4 Beam Dismount

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