MAG building flexibility in a pre-team boy

[themonkeysmom]

My 5 year old son was moved to pre-team this fall, and he has almost all of the skills needed to move to level 4 next fall but his flexibility is noticably behind his teammates.

I'm trying to get him to stretch at home on the days he doesn't have gym, but I'm afraid my efforts are going to take the fun out of it.

I know they need to be able to do a pancake for level 4.
Is there any chance of getting a very tight, muscular little guy there in less than a year?

 

[BlairBob]

Sounds like one of my guys who is L5. He just got butchered on his pancake in his first meet though I don't remember him getting butchered for it last year in L4.

Realize though, this strong, tight kid has a lot more potential to go further in gymnastics than my gumby kid. He can look pretty clean but whether he can develop any strength towards upper level men gymnastics is doubtful, so I'm told.

 

[coachinkal]

Great flexibility is less essential for boys than girls.

I find that lack of shoulder flexibility is more of a problem for boys.

Flexibility can be gained through daily stretching. Not a very fun activity for most boys!

 

[munchkin3]

Yes...he will get there....don't worry, just keep telling him how important it is and to try and endure the pain.

Sounds like my son....more on the muscular side....He was very stiff...I mean VERY stiff.....There is nothing fun about stretching....DS cried for a whole year when he got stretched and he still will bust a tear now and then.

When he was little (er) I tried stretching with the same results....He would get mad at me...So I left the real stretching up to the coach. Anyway, my son only trusts his coach for stretching because he won't 'break anything!'.

As a family we used to stretch all together with DS being the boss. I found that he tried harder that way....Keep it fun always, a light stretch is better than no stretch. Make sure his muscles are warm...and be patient.

After 3 years, my son has all splits, pancake, decent bridge, practically 0 pike!!!. He will always struggle with presses.....oh well

My channel on youtube is 'pickletwist'

 

[Mill09]

I agree that it just takes stretching and patience. And some of the tighter boys do cry from the stretching....but I think it's the only way.

 

[themonkeysmom]

thanks for the encouragement!

He doesn't mind so much when his coach stretches him. If I ask him, he tells me that it hurts, but he doesn't complain about it on his own.

I am glad to hear that his flexibility can catch up with his strength with enough time and effort.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

flexibility is what gives the muscles their elasticity and subsequent strength. it is a process for most boys and something they will do for most of their careers. most maximum flexbility is gained in females by age 14. for boys closer to 19. for both, they achieve most of the flexibility by those ages for most of what they will need and use.

 

[BlairBob]

For men, building shoulder flexibility in the flexion (arms go up as if starting HS) and extension (arm reach back behind like bottom of skin the cat) is VERY important.

Straddle flexibility will make presses much easier and help flairs besides Tkatchev, etc.

Pike compression makes pike press HS on rings and PB much easier besides helping kip, pike flipping

front splits will help front handspring step out which is a progression in L6 but split HS is a good progression for FHS if it's possible to work it and front limber. not always an option with many boys.

 

[sister]

If I understand what a pancake is (and maybe I don't) it uses a straddle split? One of the things I've been using with my 5 year old boy is having him sit on a big piece of newsprint in his straddle and tracing his legs with a different color crayon every few days-- it lets him see his progress.

We do stretching (legs, hips, shoulders) like 10-15 minutes right after school. I make the choice that he can do stretching or homework first and he always picks stretching! On no-homework days or weekends I say that if the t.v. goes on, we use commercial breaks for stretching. He puts a happy-face sticker on the calendar each day he does his stretches, too.

For the first week or two I let him have a piece of candy (a hershey kiss or something) if he did it all without whining or complaining.

Another thing to try is getting him to hold his stretches, sometimes counting is boring and unmotivating -- you can make up a song to sing when holding a stretch, or distract him by asking a silly question -- what does yellow smell like?

I am fairly new to gymnastics but I am an overqualified preschool teacher, so hopefully this helped!​

 

[BlairBob]

A pancake split is a straddle split that is sitting. The goal is to get the chest and belly button to the floor.

I like your ideas. However, for boys on a team path, I give no incentive. Get tough or don't. For my other lil guys, it's just fun at this point but I am noticing which of them are willing to push it.

 

[sister]

I can totally respect that in a coach, but to explain myself more clearly, it's hard as a mom to tell your kid to get tough or go home, especially at 5. Small children don't have the capacity to think long-term as well as older children or adults. They don't necessarily, at first, connect that hard work now will equal results later, so the incentives are useful at first. Once they see results, the fake incentives can go away because they have internal motivation.

Of course, this is all educational psychology, not sports psychology, so I have to defer to you for that. There is something to be said for mommy being, well, mommy, especially for a five-year-old who has to be in the gym for hours a week working hard.

Blerg. This is sounding argumentative and this isn't even my thread. Please just take me at my intent, which is to provide what perspective I have while respecting everyone else's!