Parents Training

[zesty]

Can you stretch your legs and arms too much as a seven-year-old?

 

[zesty]

Stretching

Great stretches for level 6 and 7?

 

[JBS]

In what way? It is possible to injure anyone by stretching them too hard.

 

[txgymfan]

Merged again.

 

[BlairBob]

Great stretches for a L6 and 7 or a 7yo? Virtually everything, especially where they are limited in flexibility. If their shoulders are tight, stretch them. If splits aren't down stretch them.

Of course there are specific stretches, countless numbers of them, but whether they should be employed and how often really depends on the gymnast's needs.

 

[zesty]

What are some great stretches for overstretching?

 

[Moxiegrl83]

The main one our gym uses is have to girls up on blocks (thick mats), and one leg on each block. Or you can stretch one leg at a time. For straddles they do them against a wall as well. I'm sure there are more though...

 

[BlairBob]

Yes you can do oversplits by putting one of the legs or both up on a higher surface than the floor.

However, oversplits do not need to be used unless a gymnast can already do a full split CORRECTLY. This means square hips with the rear leg not turned out to the side. This requires attention to detail and a LOT of discomfort to many gymnasts who fail to learn or do them this way.

When you use oversplits on a gymnast who cannot do a split@180 or squared hips, they are just putting their bodies in a bad position out of alignment. Generally, the oversplit will be too much force/load on the muscle and they will just get out of alignment anyways.

So at the end of the day, they might as well have done it without the oversplits and correctly. Many coaches still have everyone do oversplits together as a group regardless of this point. At best, maybe you have 3 or 4 coaches for 20 kids. Good luck with that ratio of keeping them all honest.