Parents Any tips for straight legs ?

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Libby's gym mom

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My dd is 7 and will start to compete next April. She has been told by her coach she needs to work on her straight legs and to wear weights on her ankles, sit upright on her chair and raise till straight , 60 each leg . We also have been shown some simple stretches to do at home to help . I was wondering if anyone else has ideas of what we can do to help her x
 
I found it helped mine to be aware about what a straight leg felt like. As P&F hyper-extends its hard for her. I talked to her about feeling straight rather than not-bent if that makes sense. So straightening through the leg.
 
My dd has hyper flexibility and it seems like her legs don't really straighten either. Even in her splits ( which are very easy for her), the knees are slightly bent.
I think I've read somewhere on here that ankle weights aren't such a good idea, so I'm following this thread to see any more ideas.
 
Try showing her a photo or video of her legs. DD's coaches were always telling her straight legs, lock those knees etc- she would swear black and blue that her legs were straight. It took showing her a photo for her to realise that what felt straight to her actually looks bent. Leg lifts etc in front of a full length mirror may help also to enable her to correlate what she is feeling with what her legs look like.
 
She does straighten her legs so I think it's more of a lazy thing she has , what dosnt help she has quite knobbly knees too !! Which can make them look more bent. Coach says the lift helps to build and stretch the muscle behind the knee ? Hope this makes sense
 
Do her legs actually straighten? Some kids have legs that do not look straight even when they are locked tight.


those are my dd's legs lol..she has knobby knees like me and it is so annoying lol. she can get them pretty straight, but her knee still sticks up and makes it look like they are bent....grrrr.
 
It doesn't make any sense that this taxes the hamstring (muscle behind the knee) since the quad is used to extend the leg. Using ankle weights is fine for that.

Checking for toe point in pike and straddle stretches and whenever they are doing their splits besides the instep stretch where you push your hands on the floor to load the instep is another way.
 
It doesn't make any sense that this taxes the hamstring (muscle behind the knee) since the quad is used to extend the leg. Using ankle weights is fine for that.

Checking for toe point in pike and straddle stretches and whenever they are doing their splits besides the instep stretch where you push your hands on the floor to load the instep is another way.

I'm probably being thick here so sorry in advance, but can you explain what you mean in your first sentence - what taxes the hamstring? And what doesn't make sense? (Told ya, being thick!)

Also please can you describe the instep stretch in more detail? Not sure I know what it is! Thanks
 
She does straighten her legs so I think it's more of a lazy thing she has , what dosnt help she has quite knobbly knees too !! Which can make them look more bent. Coach says the lift helps to build and stretch the muscle behind the knee ? Hope this makes sense

Well if she is capable of straightening them, but doesn't, the "laziness" can be two things: a lack of muscle endurance or tight hip flexors. If it's a muscle endurance issue (where she doesn't have the endurance to continually contract her muscles tight throughout a routine), you probably would have said that she was loose all over. So next check her hip flexors. Have her lay on her back with her arms flat on the floor, but bent at 90 degrees, with her hands pointing away from her feet (she will look a like a football goal post that is laying on the floor). Her legs should be together and straight, but relaxed, not tightened. Look to see how much space is between her back and the floor (a lot? not much at all?). Then have her raise her arms slowly over her head (sliding them on the floor), and see if the space under her back increases significantly. Now have her make that space under her back disappear by pulling her ribs into her spine. Don't mention her legs at all, but watch them. If her knees suddenly bend a tiny bit as her ribs pull in, then tight hip flexors are the culprit behind the bent knees. If this is the issue, the ankle weight exercise won't help and may actually make them tighter. If she can easily lay flat, with her arms semi stretched over her head and almost no space under her back and her legs stay straight and she is not loose all over, then you are right she is just being lazy, lol!
 
So I just had my dd do the goal post exercise and her legs do bend. Any insight on if tight hip flexor has any concern with hyper flexibility?
 
So I just had my dd do the goal post exercise and her legs do bend. Any insight on if tight hip flexor has any concern with hyper flexibility?

It would just show that she is tight in one area and using her hypermobility in another to compensate (probably her low back).
 
The seated toe stretch looks a bit like these.

Starting from being seated on your ankles, you use your hands to support yourself as you raise your butt up.
 

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I'm probably being thick here so sorry in advance, but can you explain what you mean in your first sentence - what taxes the hamstring? And what doesn't make sense?

Ok so the coach and kid were doing seated leg extensions. The quad is what extends the knee, not the hamstring.
 
Ok so the coach and kid were doing seated leg extensions. The quad is what extends the knee, not the hamstring.

So basically the exercise the coach has got the gymnast doing works the hamstrings more than the quads and therefore isn't that effective for straightening legs?

What about sitting in pike, with a Theraband around the feet. whilst pulling the Theraband tightly with the hands, the gymnast points and flexes the feet, trying to keep heels off the floor throughout?
 
What about sitting in pike, with a Theraband around the feet. whilst pulling the Theraband tightly with the hands, the gymnast points and flexes the feet, trying to keep heels off the floor throughout?

That won't help if tight hip flexors are the cause!
 
Tell her to keep them straight or no competition.

Here's something that really worked for me. My first year in collegiate gymnastics went like this...... Walk in for the first practice, did a few skills, and then the coach told me he didn't care weather I made or missed the skills I was working, but if I bent my knees he would assume I was too tired to keep them straight or I didn't want to try. So it was "go straight or go home." Sure was a rough first week with missed skills everywhere, but it was easy by the third week. By the fourth week I had great form and my skills were far easier to do with tight legs.

The difference it made????

I stopped being a gymnastics circus act with little success and became a national level competitor in less than 8 months.

I highly recommend it.

Ok so the coach and kid were doing seated leg extensions. The quad is what extends the knee, not the hamstring.

Yeah the quads straighten the legs, but only as far as the hamstrings allow. Tight hamstrings reduce to ability of the quads and hip flexors to move from extended to pike while keeping the knees straight.

So for some kids it is a matter of having enough hamstring and low back (pike) flexibilty to let the other muscles work the way they should. Really, you can't keep your legs straight if you're trying to pike anywhere near your limit, and the closer to the limit you get the worse it will be. If you sit with your hands on the floor for balance and pull into the best pike you can with straight legs..... that's your limit no matter how strong (relatively speaking) your quads and flexors are.

Work on flexibility and quad/flexor strength.
 

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