Coaches Warm-Ups/Lines

[coachmolly]

I'm currently in my gym withdrawal period as I only coach from Nov.-March (no club gyms in the area) and am using this time to come up with some "fun" new ideas for warm-ups, conditioning, drills, and all that kind of stuff to make for a better season next year. Though I am hoping to work in some pre-season practices even if it's just for strength and flexibility. These are girls who might have a background in a local rec. gymnastics program or cheer, but no formal gymnastics training with proper progressions and conditioning, so when we get them as 14-18 year olds a lot needs to be done in terms of revising basics and conditioning to help with skill development.
Currently I'm working on revamping warm-ups to be more active and time better spent. Right now the girls lead it and it consists of about a 2 minute run around the floor followed by free stretching (chatting) and then lines which the girls lead (and often miss important stuff). It's clearly not much of a "warm" up and is a lot of wasted time the way it's currently done. I've drafted 2 potential warm-up plans to alternate and then maybe allow a "free" day. But wanted some input to see if I was missing anything important or had extraneous stuff that could be replaced with better activities. The plan is to still do regular conditioning in addition to this.
Thanks in advance for an advice. I'm really struggling to feel like I'm improving as a coach while working on such a limited basis and am trying to do some independent stuff to stay on top of things.

Warm-Up 1
3 min. jump rope
30 sec hollow rock
30 sec arch rock
30 sec side rock (each side)
15x push ups
15x sit ups
15x V-ups
15x arch ups
3x30 sec wall handstands
bridges


Lines
Handstand walking
Handstand-punch handstand-forward roll
Full turns
Split leaps
Jumps
Lunge-cartwheel-lunge
Knee cartwheels
Cartwheel step-in
Power hurdle round-off rebound
2 step round-off rebound
FWO
BWO
BHS OR BHS drills


Warm-Up 2
3 min. run
2 lengths jumps
2 lengths squat jumps
1 foot hops (1x each leg)
Kicks- front, back, side, needle
3x30 second wall handstands
Brief free stretch
Lines (same as above)

 

[gymdog]

How long is their practice and what is their current skill level equivalent to as a whole? How far behind are the weakest ones?

My first thought is they should run/jump rope more than 3 minutes, but that may not be feasible if you only have an hour or if some kids would find it too upsettingly hard.

 

[iwannacoach]

Try putting together a 5-7 minute "Insanity" warm up. If that doesn't warm them up, nothing will. If you want to really "blast it" you can follow the warm up with a 3-4 minute legs only flexibility session, and start a second session of insanity, followed by upper body flexibility.

The idea is the entire practice feels like conditioning if you get them just a bit worn out at the beginning of practice.

 

[coachmolly]

How long is their practice and what is their current skill level equivalent to as a whole? How far behind are the weakest ones?

My first thought is they should run/jump rope more than 3 minutes, but that may not be feasible if you only have an hour or if some kids would find it too upsettingly hard.

The practice is 2.5 hours with about 30 min. total devoted to set up/take down. So 2 hours. As a whole, the girls are about level 4/5 with a few level 6 skills thrown in. The weaker kids are essentially beginners working round offs, walkovers (bridge kickovers for some), and heavily spotted bhs. The majority of them throw fits with the conditioning I give them already, especially if we do some kind of circuit. I'm definitely open to them doing more in the way of jump roping/running, but thought it might be best to work them into that. Or would you suggest just going big to start off with and allowing them to see improvements over time?

I like the idea of the "insanity" warm up. Endurance is always an issue, so we might be able to get a few birds with that one stone. Thanks!

 

[gymdog]

Working into it is fine but I think at that low level, you will see a lot of improvement in running form, balance, overall conditioning from a more sustained full body actions like running and jumping rope. Of course, you aren't on a spring floor so you have to balance that in in terms of pounding. They could wear gym shoes. Do you through maybe the track team, have access to a rope ladder or some other kind of agility running equipment? You could do a gym circuit using the agility ladder, springboards lined up to punch onto (they have to keep their chest up to do it), and going over/under beams/bars/mats once you're set up. I'd do for 10 minutes.

 

[BlairBob]

Put the first part of warmup 1 after the lines and it's decent. Warmup 2 would be good to before those tumbling lines.

Running around the floor is good for team building but a waste of time, IMO. Do some jump rope if you care to.

Do 2-3 rounds, maybe 4 of the hollow, arch and side holds/rocks. And possibly 5-7 of the wall HS.