Daughters training

[daytek1213]

hi, i had some questions about muscle building.
my daughter is 11 and she in gymnastics since shes 5 shes level 6.
now my questions, the coach in her gym let them do so many conditioning that all girls there are on 3 or 4 % bodyfat they are all muscle.
some of them look like little bodybuilders. my daughter got a ripped sixpack of stomach at age 11.
there are many younger girls with also visible abs etc.
Whem we are on competitions non of the gymnast from other gyms look like them.
Is it dangerous at this age that they have so ripped muscles?


they lift little weights, do situps etc with weightplates and sometimes they train on the rings and pommel.

[Aussie_coach]

What percentage of their training time is spend doing conditioning?

[Gym mum UK]

Hi

We live in England and my daughter is 11, too. She has very defined muscles on her torso and arms and most of the girls in her gym do too.

Her "sixpack" is visible through her leotards and some tight tshirts.

I think you will find that the muscle tone will help them with more difficult moves later on and that the other gymnasts that you are seeing at competitions without this sort of muscle definition will not ever be able to do the more controlled movements needing strength.

[Mom to two gymnast]

I know my daughter is pretty ripped too. Is your daughter overly sore or tired from the conditioning?? If not, I have heard that the more conditioned, the lesser the chance of injury. That may be why your gym is conditioning that much. Our gym conditions a lot but not extreme.

[ZJsMom]

I don't think you can condition too much, unless they're getting overuse injuries from doing too many reps of the same exercises. It does make the skills easier and allow them to learn more difficult skills. I wouldn't worry about it at all. Just make sure she's eating enough.

[starmaker]

A few weeks ago my dd did not have a shirt on and was laughing. I was surprised to see my four year old with a well defined four pack. It just seemed so unatural to me. 4 year olds are not suppose to have muscle definition like that. Part of me felt guilty (poor baby and she's never complained about being sore).

And just this past weekend as I was still uploading pics from her first competition. I saw a pic that I was like.....she looks like a little tiny bodybuilder. I posted the pic I am talking about in the photo Gallery under competition photos. It almost looks like too much on a four year.

But when I really think about it. She has always had that built. She is extremely strong. Her shoulders and thighs are huge compared to the rest of her body. I don't particularly like gymnast bodies (you know the ones with big shoulders, back) But that's the body dd was born with might as make it work for her!!!

I think conditioning is by far the most important thing. You can have all the talent and potential in the world but if you don't have the strength to do it...you won't.

All the older girls in our gyms have tight muscular bodies too. I think it's what seperates the good from the "needs more training" in order to move up.

[gymgymgymnast08]

haha having a gymnast body is great while for the gymnastics part of it. but its not fun when buying clothes. i have to buy my shirts bigger just so my arms fit in it. we were out buying jackets with my aunt and i tried one on and my aunts like oh u need a bigger size see how it fits in the back i guess bc my shoulders were big? and my moms like yeah thats how everything fits her. even if she had a bigger size it will still fit her like that.
and like pants. if they are tight jeans like most ppl my age wear them, my legs look huge because its showing off all my muscles. haha i like it tho

[gymrunner]

My daughter, who is now 18, worked out with weights since she became a level 10 at age 12. Nothing before that though. It never seemed to create any issues for her except she did get very ripped and still is. I agree, buying clothes becomes a real problem, and she gets a lot of open mouth looks from other girls when tyring on a bikini - she likes that! On the gymnastics side, it certainly helped her with strength but she says that working hard on flexibility is even more important if you are going to weight train, and that she stops with the weights about a month before competition season.