body position/shape

[emm'sgymmom]

Hi...My daughter is still fairly new to gymnastics...She took rec classes for about 5 months then was evaluated by our gym, and they took her into their level 5 team. She is 10 years old, and I realize that she seems to be a late starter to gymnastics... She has been with the level 5 team for one year now, and still struggles with body position and tight legs/pointed toes at times. While I keep telling myself that these things take time, I was wondering if anyone can tell me if body position and tightness is something that takes a long time to develop or is my daughter the exception? Thanks.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

this might answer your question...

http://www.youtube.com/v/1M7TCo69Eo4?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param

 

[gymdog]

It's a continual process. While general body control does develop, each skill tends to have its own learning curve to some extent anyway. For example, the kid may have a good RO BHS on floor but take awhile to learn the body shape for tap swings on bars.

 

[emm'sgymmom]

thanks

Thanks for the info. It just seems like such an "easy" concept....keep your legs straight....Obviously, easier said than done...

 

[MdGymMom01]

Yes--body awareness takes time to develop. If you are concerned with your dd's body awareness and lack of tightness, I would suggest a ballet class if her schedule allows. Ballet is great for teaching body awareness, balance, grace and bulding a strong core which helps with overall body control.

 

[dancengym]

Thanks for the info. It just seems like such an "easy" concept....keep your legs straight....Obviously, easier said than done...

It is an easy concept to keep your legs straight and toes pointed IF that is only what you are doing. Remember, they are also constantly learning new and tricky skills and their concentration is elsewhere. I consider myself a dancer and am classically trained for years, with a masters in dance. As I am certain many know, ballet dancers spend a large part of their training on barre, concentrating on pointing toes, legs straight, pulling up, etc. Just keep reminding your dd to do so until it becomes second nature. It is rare that you'll see an advanced ballerina with bent legs or toes not pointed. But many advanced/higher level gymnast still have the problem.

 

[gymdog]

Thanks for the info. It just seems like such an "easy" concept....keep your legs straight....Obviously, easier said than done...

I wanted to comment on this because I had the opportunity to hear a lecture on motor learning. One thing the presenter mentioned was that in the skill acquisition stage if you look at a scan of the brain you would see a lot more areas lighting up than during the "expert" stage of skill performance. This is because the brain is recruiting a lot more in order to learn what not to do. In order to learn how do it at an expert level (say, how a much higher level gymnast - who probably has a BHS on beam - could do it on the floor) they have to learn all the things not to do, which is a pretty long process.

Basically that translated to a theory, sort of like muscle confusion in strength training, that during the skill acquisition and development to get really good at something, you have to do it under many circumstances. The example given was teaching kids to write, and if they just always were to only use a pencil to do the same thing, the same size, in the same direction, they would not get very good at writing and they would not recall it as well. Instead studies showed that when the kids were given a specific task (like learning a specific letter) and they had to draw the letter in different sizes, in different places, between lines, tracing, etc, they recalled it better under another circumstance than when they were just told to copy the letter the same way for multiple times. So we know something like that is a continual process - that's very obvious to us - the more they write, draw, practice, etc, the better they get at it as they develop control.

In gymnastics we're pretty good about this and tend to do many different things to develop the skills. For example with a preteam group who comes twice a week we worked on BHSs but I made sure to change the stations. One day we did it down an incline mat, and the other day we did it on a flat mat. One day we used an arm swing and the other day we didn't, etc. The more you build the base library of movement (i.e. the more they just practice gymnastics ) the better they get at being able to transfer those patterns of movement to different circumstances and different times. So sometimes you'll see that during one drill or isolation your daughter is doing something great - for example perfect standing BHS on trampoline drill. Then she goes on floor and does her RO BHS and it is not perfect. This can be frustrating for all. But it's a process, and usually once they start getting better at doing the skill right in one place, it will transfer to the other places eventually - the brain will get more efficient at using feedback to orient the body in space.

 

[emm'sgymmom]

It is funny you mention breat BHS on tramp....I did get my daughter a tramp when she started gymnastics, and it has been great for her...Her BHS are great there....but, when she adds a RO to the equation on the floor, they get a little floppy....(bent legs - although they are improving greatly). It's just a slow process, and I can see from the responses that patience is a virtue!!