Boy, was I ever wrong!!!

[gymdog]

I don't really see the benefits of palm grips since I'm not really even convinced they'll prevent ripping. Maybe for some. I don't see them as particularly valuable and in my experience ripping comes from a gain in height/weight or getting used to swinging bigger skills and for longer periods of time. The only period I went through that I consistently ripped was when I was a L6/7 (first two years I used grips) and we went to bars more than once a practice a lot of days We would go and then go back at the end if we had time, usually over vaulting. Worked, for the next three years I went from having very little bar skill/technique to state champion at optional levels, but the transition period was really rough and honestly I almost quit over it because I was behind already so I felt like I couldn't meet the expectations. My hands would be bleeding and I still had five more sets of skills I wasn't confident with.

BUT by the time I was a L8 I never ripped and I haven't ripped in the 5 years since. Even when I stopped swinging bars for a couple months and then went back, I expected to rip but I didn't. I switched gyms at one point, changed bar settings and workout methods and went through a huge setback on bars which had been my best....it was the only thing that really suffered but I feel like that's easy on bars for most people. It's not an event where general preparation in other areas easily transfers and coming off a several month break (I had been in really good shape before and had most of my old bar skills back prior) it was the only thing that I really couldn't get back into. Any tumbling, beam, vault problems I had were more mental than physical. On bars I found I couldn't do a long hang kip cast handstand, my rhythm was so off. If it isn't one thing it's something else. Gymnastics is a marathon and there are always going to be little setbacks and obstacles to overcome. In time you'll look back and something that seemed so agonizing at the time will just have been a little bump in the road.

[Shawn]

I think the problem with DD's grips is that they are too big. I posted a separate thread with pictures for opinions. Let me know what you guys think.

[Tumblequeensmom]

They look too big to me. My DD wears the dowel under her first knuckle when her fingers are bent. But wait til the experts have weighed in here!

-Lynn

[MadKate]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn Does your daughter have no desire to practice at home? I cannot keep DD from practicing. She does leaps through the mall and pivot turns in line at Walmart. Nobody makes her practice at home. She does it because she loves it. There is never enough gym time. At dinner time or shower time or bed time it's always "can I do just one more [insert skill]? Please!!!"

When I was a kid, I was easily amused by a leftover length of tongue and groove planking from when my parents redid the bathroom...which, sitting on the floor, was a much safer adventure than the "vaulting horse" made from stacked Commodore 64 boxes and a foam camping mat, paired with a futon, beanbag chairs, and a rebounder! As long as the kid's still making noise, they're still alive! Ahhh, the days before the internet...

When I tried gymnastics again several years back, I ended up with a pair of dowel grips someone else gave me because they didn't fit her...I'd never seen anything other than palm grips before that, guess I never looked too closely at peoples' hands on TV. Don't really know if they fit me right, but I do know that they look at you *real* strangely when for all intents and purposes you're a rank beginner and you show up with those things! (Free is free, I figure, and rips suck...is there a compelling reason to *not* use them if you're basically entering the world with no preferences to start out with and don't want to drop more money on the beginner kind, if they'll let me use the ones I've got? I nearly passed out the last time I saw someone else rip, there was so much blood...not good with blood, here...)

[LemonLime]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn My thoughts are that there are a number of elite/Olympic gymnasts who don't use grips at all. I know they are common in this country but it is clearly possible to do the skills without them so why push? If a gymnast can do all the training and skills without grips then let them.

There are no international elites in the United States who do not wear grips out of around 70 gymnasts and I only recall two at JO nationals who did not wear grips out of approximately 500, but yes, it is very common in some other countries although becoming many times more common in those countries as well to wear grips. Many international elite Chinese and Russian gymnasts who compete internationally now wear dowel grips, but they did not used to do so.

Dowel grips HELP a gymnast learn skills and protect them from injury. My daughter and her friends could probably do all of their single rail releases and D/E dismounts without grips but their risk of peeling and paralysis would go way up and their ability to catch would go down so I'd rather they wear dowel grips if the coach asked (they're not! LOL). Sure, it can be done, but it's NOT advisable.

I don't believe any gymnast should be pushed to do anything, however, unless it will help them be safer. Until L7, there may not be a reason to wear grips. Plus, it's always up to the coach. Grips v. no-grips is not a whimsical decision. It's a safety issue and also relates to skill performance.

[KBT]

Quote:
Originally Posted by LemonLime There are no international elites in the United States who do not wear grips out of around 70 gymnasts and I only recall two at JO nationals who did not wear grips out of approximately 500, but yes, it is very common in some other countries although becoming many times more common in those countries as well to wear grips. Many international elite Chinese and Russian gymnasts who compete internationally now wear dowel grips, but they did not used to do so. Dowel grips HELP a gymnast learn skills and protect them from injury. My daughter and her friends could probably do all of their single rail releases and D/E dismounts without grips but their risk of peeling and paralysis would go way up and their ability to catch would go down so I'd rather they wear dowel grips if the coach asked (they're not! LOL). Sure, it can be done, but it's NOT advisable. I don't believe any gymnast should be pushed to do anything, however, unless it will help them be safer. Until L7, there may not be a reason to wear grips. Plus, it's always up to the coach. Grips v. no-grips is not a whimsical decision. It's a safety issue and also relates to skill performance.

Many international gymnasts do not wear grips because they can't afford them in the lower levels. By the time they get to the national team where they can get grips, they're used to not using them and choose to go without.

I'm not sure if I agree with you that grips are safer. All things being equal, it may be true, but grips can cover up not-so-desirable technique. Without grips, poor technique is harder to cover up. I suspect that those who do not use grips also have better grip strength.

There are also a few exceptions when it comes to safety. I think I mentioned one of my girls whose hands were very small. After peeling off and fracturing her elbow for the second time, the doctor said if she hurt her elbow again she'd probably be done with gymnastics. We had her stop using grips and she never peeled again.

[maddiekate]

I peeled the first day i used grips when i was working on tap swings, but i haven't peeled since breaking them in. I'm always nervous though on the upswing because i'm scared to peel. I'm more confident with grips than without though.

[Shawn]

That's what led to my DD's problem in the first place. She peeled off the high bar on her jump. She didn't get hurt but it freaked her out and made her scared to jump with the grips. Without them she has no problem.

[LemonLime]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn That's what led to my DD's problem in the first place. She peeled off the high bar on her jump. She didn't get hurt but it freaked her out and made her scared to jump with the grips. Without them she has no problem.

Yes, someone with new grips will have trouble when they first get them. That is the point of this thread, right?

It is harder to peel with new dowel grips than new palm grips, but it certainly does happen. Adjusting to grips is an awful process, but sticking with it is important because a gymnast is only prolonging the inevitable.

However, without question, a gymnast will peel more WITHOUT grips than WITH grips at the optional level of gymnastics.

[gymjourneymom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by LemonLime Yes, someone with new grips will have trouble when they first get them. That is the point of this thread, right? It is harder to peel with new dowel grips than new palm grips, but it certainly does happen. Adjusting to grips is an awful process, but sticking with it is important because a gymnast is only prolonging the inevitable. However, without question, a gymnast will peel more WITHOUT grips than WITH grips at the optional level of gymnastics.

Shawn, the coach got grips for all of the girls on your DD's team correct? How are the other girls adjusting to them? When my DD was suppose to start wearing dowel grips(back in level 5) all of the other girls made the transition. My DD "didn't like them" and never broken in the dowel grips. So she competed level 4 bare hands, level 5 & 6 palm grips( b/c of getting rips). Now here she is training 7. Needing to wear the dowel grips to get her giant. It's a slow process for her to get used to the dowels. She can't do even a kip in the dowels. So for now she tap swings in the dowels & tries some minor skills. Then switches back into her palm grips so she can actually work some bigger skills. She's losing time & skills by having to get used to the dowels at this point. She's the 1st one to say "I wish I would have just did it when everyone else did". So if not now, when will your DD wear dowels? Will she be "ok" falling behind her teammates at that point? That's what my DD is experiencing right now. Let me tell you...she's NOT ok with it