Bar height

[Carmansunshine]

Just a quick question. My dd is the tallest on in her class, and I was wondering what you could tell me about the height of the low bar. The last gym we went to always set the low bar somewhere close to my dd's height. Is this correct? The new gym sets the low bar so if she is standing right next to it it is at chin level or even a little lower. She seems to be having issues with everything on bars that start on the floor. Glide swings, chin up pullover, and even her dismount for level 4. For the glide swing she is hiting her feet on the back swing, and when she tries to pull them up she looks like she is in a pike. When she does the chin up pullover she can stand with her chin over the bar and sometimes even has to stand back a few feet from the bar to have her chin at the bar in the pull up position with her legsstraight.(It looks really weird). And she doesn't seem to get the full extention on the dismount because she seems to be bending her arms to have room to do her hallow. I would like to ask her coach about it but don't want to look like a mom just wanting to blame something besides my dd.

[gracefulone]

yes, that does seem a bit low. For me, the bottom of the low bar is just about my height. At our gym, we work with the taller girls' heights because shorter girls can manage either way, they can springboards/blocks. It even make it easier for them-they can't possibly tap on their kips.

[gym law mom]

I agree with Graceful---the bar height seems rather low. Probably was set there so the smaller kids wouldn't have as much trouble doing some skills. Our gym has 1 set of bars they use for rec classes(they also use the comp bars from time to time) and they are set lower. The bars the teams practice on are all set at the height/distance for a L10.

I would think the coach would notice the bar is too low for your dd when she is just standing there.

[hammy]

I'd say it would all have to depend on the coach. Personally, if the gymnast can hang onto the bar with feet and legs not touching the mat while in pike position then it's fine; not that I would put the bar that low.

It sounds like the bar may be a little low, but that's hard to say with actually seeing your daughter on the bar. It also sounds like she might be overcompensating for the situation (bending her arms for the dismount); which is what our mind does a lot when it thinks the body is in danger (which is perfectly normal). However, if she is hitting her feet on the back of her glide then it may be a little low---if she's hitting at the peak of her glide (when her glide is extended) then it's more of a matter of not using stomach and leg muscles to not keep them up. If the gymnast can hang on the bar in pike shape and not touch the floor then they should not be hitting their feet (in an ideal situation and if they have a strong kip).

I remember one time when my coach lowered the bar so that the tallest girl could just barely hang in pike without touching the floor and made us do kips on the bar. This was because a few girls were having trouble keeping their feet up on their cast away kips. Lowering the bar forced the girls to use their muscles to keep their feet up.

Do you have a picture of your daugther doing bars?

[~JEM~]

In australia the bar has a set height depending on what level a child is in. The bar cannot be moved up just because a child is taller. However you can write to the state committee and request for it to be moved up but they can decline your request.
Not sure if in the USA the bar also has set heights for each level, but it may be the case?

[hammy]

That's interesting about Australia having a set bar height; seems like it would help force the gymnasts to do more work (which isn't always a bad thing). The USA program doesn't have a required bar height, that I know of.

[Ingymmom]

I am not certain about the bar height either, but our coaches do not move it for individual girls - it stays the same for the whole time on bars & our girls range in height from 42" to 62"...

[bogwoppit]

In Canada we too have set bar heights, the distance between the two bars can be changed, and like in Australia the height may only be changed if a girls feet would hit the floor doing giants etc. Little one can use a block or a spring board to help them, no bouncing allowed!

Our vault and beam is the same too 110cm for 8-11 year old, FIG after that.