how quickly/slowly can/should younger girls increase training hours??

[Bobby]

I don't want to start any sort of debate on how many hrs is too many (or too few for that matter).
I'd just like to understand whether/how increases in hours should be introduced in order to reduce the risk of injury? I'm most interested in what the coaches think, but obviously some of the parents will have useful info from what happened with their DDs too.
Eg: with a 6-7 y/o beginner who is doing say 4-6 hrs pw, if the goal is to increase training to say 12-15 hrs pw, I'm assuming that would generally be done gradually over a few months?? Do they normally increase number of days first then number of hours or vice versa?? ("Why" would be useful too LOL).

 

[emorymom]

I'm not sure there is a right answer across the board. Some of them are so springy at that age, and others need more recovery. Mine are six and seven, and I would just take it in one or two jumps preferably at a time when our schedule was a little flexible. DS6 is jumping from 4 to 9 gym hours in a month. I'm actually betting he won't really notice. I bet they are a little easy on them the first weeks of the schedule. Plus he probably spends 3 hours a week playing on the trampoline in the backyard or open gym. He could lay off that.

If you are concerned, you could ramp up a conditioning regimen at home very gradually, just basics like chin ups, leg lifts, handstands held for a minute on the wall, jogging, jumping jacks, and the like, and then discontinue when her hours go up.

You will have to feed her a lot.

 

[bookworm]

When my daughter switched gyms and went from 9 hours in the prior gym to 24 hours a week in the new gym, I posed the same question to the coaches and his response was " well first week she can do 15 hours and then after that 24"...so there, jumping right in with both feet! No gradual progression here....

 

[NGL780309]

At age 5 my DD jumped from 4 hours a week to 10.5 hours per week and she didn't even notice. Other girls making the jump were in tears in the bathroom by the 3rd hour and it took them longer to adjust. I think it just depends on the kid. Some of the parents eased the kids into it slowly when they had a hard time adjusting. Now DD does 12 hours and that small increase wasn't noticeable to her.

 

[kimskids]

I am curious about this as well. My DD is moving from level 3 to 5 in the summer and is going from 6 hours per week to 15. From three 2 hour days to three 4 hour days and one 3 hour day. She also is constantly on her mat at home though. She comes home from practice and still can't sit still. She is used to doing her 2 hours of class and 2 hours of open gym right after and has also has a private on the same day and did OK. I just wonder if it is going to cause some major sore muscles!

 

[bogwoppit]

I really think it depends on the child, some will just keep on do great,others may need more time to adjust to the schedule. Of course with increased hours you would expect to see them sleeping a bit more, eating a bit more and having a bit more soreness.

Hopefully coaches will have some flexibility when it comes to settling in to a new schedule.

 

[gymmutti]

DD moved from 6 to 10 hours in January when she moved up to team from pre-team. The HC told the parents that for the first 1-2 months the kids would be on adrenaline and thrilled to be at the gym and then they would realize around March that it was tough work. Some would complain and some would thrive on it. That is pretty much what has happened. They'll move up to 12 hours in June and stay that way through next fall and then move up to 16 next January. So for us, it is a gradual move over a year from 6 to 16 hours. In pre-team they did 3 days of 2 hours each. Now they are 3 days (2 days of 3 hours and 1 day of 4 hours) and in June they'll move to 3 days of 4 hours. They'll add a 4th day when they move to 16.

 

[thefellowsmom]

TheFellows went from 4 hours to nine hours earlier this year. She was going two days a week for 2 hours and they immediately moved her to two days a week for 3 hours and then they just told me to let them know when she was ready to add the third day. I told her what the deal was and that when she was ready she should tell me. I can't remember whether it was two or three weeks but she came to me one night after practice (we tend to do a lot of mother/daughter talking on the way home from the gym) that she was ready. And off she goes, she never even hiccuped. Our gym seems to gradually increase the hours. She skipped level three, so the jump was a little more than normal. I was really pleased how aware they were of her needs as a six year old.

 

[Aussie_coach]

While some kids will take it in their stride, gyms need to be very careful about the way they increase a kids hours. Increasing days is also important to do slowly. A gymnasts should really only ever add one day at a time to her schedule. It is not advisable to jump from 3 days a week to 5, without doing some time at 4 days a week for example. It is preferable to add once day at a time and wait 6 months before adding another. Gymnasts who previously loved it can burn out when extra days are added too fast.

A gymnast who trains 2 days a week still has most days to herself while one who trains 4 days a week is now spending more than half her days at the gym. Other activities can go by the wayside like homework time, family time, TV, time, play with friends, other sports etc. If the gymnasts feels they are missing out on too much else they will burn out. When days are added gradually they don't tend to notice that they have had to make some big lifestyle changes. If your gymnast seems less than keen to go to training at times and asks to skip days here and there she is probably doing to much. But if she is always wishing to do more then she is probably doing just the right amount. Increasing days and hours does not necessarily produce better results. A gymnast should be using the time they do have to the full before increasing hours should even be considered. A team doing 9 hours a week and using those hours well will easily progress much faster than a team doing 16 hours and wasting a lot of time (this of course comes down to the coaches too).

Parental burn out is another thing to watch out for, gymnastics is a big part of the parents and families lives too. When the kids do extra days the parents are spending a lot of time driving to and from practice and fitting dinner and homework around training. Other kids in the family are getting less time and the family can tend to feel that gymnastics is taking over their lives. So even if the child seems like they will cope easily the family must be considered too. It can be a shock to the system for a parent to go from driving to gym 2 days a week to 4. When its gradually increased they tend to notice less as well. And we want to keep the family happy because without them the child can't do gym.

Hours too should be increased slowly and practice should really be increased at 1/2 hour increments, generally 30 mins per 6 months. Kids bodies take a while to adjust to the increased training hours as do their minds. Towards the end of the practice they will get tired more easily and this can lead to accidents. If a child is tired they are far more likely to be seriously injured in class. Also it leads to progress going backwards not forwards. When a child is practicing while tired they are going to lose some technique, they are then practicing poor technique and getting very good and doing things badly.

Longer training will also mean less home time for the activities of the daily grind like homework, dinner, baths, sleep and so on. We know organization is the key to this but if done to quickly kids and families burn out.

 

[Bobby]

...While some kids will take it in their stride, gyms need to be very careful about the way they increase a kids hours... Gymnasts who previously loved it can burn out when extra days are added too fast...if she is always wishing to do more then she is probably doing just the right amount....
Parental burn out is another thing to watch out for...
Hours too should be increased slowly and practice should really be increased at 1/2 hour increments, generally 30 mins per 6 months... Towards the end of the practice they will get tired more easily and this can lead to accidents....When a child is practicing while tired they are going to lose some technique, they are then practicing poor technique and getting very good and doing things badly....

Thanks AC - lots of useful info here.
I love that you had factored in parental burn out lol.

 

[gymcoach34]

When our preteam goes to Level 4 we slowly up their hours. (We dont compete L2 or 3.) When they start as a L4 they start the 1st week in July-for the 1st 2 weeks they do 2 hour practices, 3 days per week. (this is up from 1 and a 1/2 hour practices 2 days per week for preteam). After 2 weeks, we increase them to 3 hour practices for the last 2 weeks of July, In August they do the whole 4 hour practice. When Sept. starts, we do 3 1/2 hour practices. It has worked very well to slowly increase their hours as most of our level 4's are 6 or 7 years old.

 

[ejgymmom]

When our preteam goes to Level 4 we slowly up their hours. (We dont compete L2 or 3.) When they start as a L4 they start the 1st week in July-for the 1st 2 weeks they do 2 hour practices, 3 days per week. (this is up from 1 and a 1/2 hour practices 2 days per week for preteam). After 2 weeks, we increase them to 3 hour practices for the last 2 weeks of July, In August they do the whole 4 hour practice. When Sept. starts, we do 3 1/2 hour practices. It has worked very well to slowly increase their hours as most of our level 4's are 6 or 7 years old.

I hope that my daughter's gym does something similar whenever she moves up to Level 4. Her pre-team group does 1.5hrs 2x/week just like at your gym and the Level 4 group is 3.5hrs 3x/week (though I think the 3rd day is optional). I can't imagine her going from a 1.5hr practice to a 3.5hr practice! That's such a huge jump. I have no idea how her gym does it but I can only hope that it's in a similar fashion to your gym!

 

[gymcoach34]

I hope that my daughter's gym does something similar whenever she moves up to Level 4. Her pre-team group does 1.5hrs 2x/week just like at your gym and the Level 4 group is 3.5hrs 3x/week (though I think the 3rd day is optional). I can't imagine her going from a 1.5hr practice to a 3.5hr practice! That's such a huge jump. I have no idea how her gym does it but I can only hope that it's in a similar fashion to your gym!

Well, unfortunately, I leraned to do this the hard way. We started about 3 years ago doing this bc almost the whole team the year before was 5 years old! I saw a mom getting the kid out of her CARSEAT for practice and it really hit me how young they were, and they were crying, etc when we had them jump right into the Level 4 schedule! It was darn ugly! Took me a whole to get with it and make the change! Duh-what was I thinking!

 

[sally]

Well my dd started with 5hrs a week. The following year jumped to 15hrs 5 days a week. I was a little worried that she couldn't handle it, but she surprised me. Sometimes she gets a little tired as all kids do when we are heading towards end of term. I think with fuel in their body and good sleep they will be fine