WAG Growth Spurt Question

[my4buffaloes]

So I always hear about how growth spurts can really mess up just about everything for a gymnast. On the one hand, I completely understand why that is. But on the other hand I wonder why it changes everything when they are doing the same skills day in and day out in the gym. Why can some gymnasts work through it, why do coaches dread it, why does it ruin it for some and not for others, etc.

While it may seem kids grow 6 inches over night, we all know that isn't possible. It is really more of a gradual growth that it would seem their bodies should get used to. Is there anything you can do (as a parent or a gymnast) to help ease the transition through puberty? My dd will likely be hitting her big growth spurt in the next year and I hope it doesn't ruin gymnastics for her. If there is something that can be done to help with it all that would be great. I guess I am just trying to understand it all!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

my eldest son has just hit his puberty growth spurt, he has grown an inch in a month and gone up 2 shoe sizes (eeek), his co-ordination has also suffered ( he plays rugby) visably. I think the body is such a finely balanced machine that the slightest change can have surprizingly large effects.

'margo

 

[Sparky]

Another important aspect is that, while the bones can grow quickly, it often then takes the corresponding muscles and ligaments longer to "catch up" - making moves that used to be fluid that much more difficult with the reduced flexibility/range of motion/etc.

 

[maryRS]

I don't know. I do think it hits some harder than others. I also do think some kids do seem to grow 6 inches over night!

One of our coaches stresses that as the girls go through puberty they often need extra conditioning. Her reasoning is that their bodies are changing so much, most and many are no longer 70 pounds of muscle and the sudden growth in height and weight, along with all the other things happening, needs to be helped along with more strength training. I don't know if it's true, I do notice that a lot of girls in our gym tend to struggle more with bars as they are going through this. Eventually it seems to work out though.

 

[thefellowsmom]

I have noticed watching the girls around the gym that there are those that grow more slow and steady and one day you will look down and say "Hey, you got taller" or and it seems a surprise. Then there are other girls that have more dramatic "spurts". You can almost tell by looking at them that their bodies are getting ready to grow taller, like a spring coiled, and then all of a sudden they lengthen out and are three inches taller in what seems to be overnight.

I think where you lie on this spectrum is just part of your makeup. I have even read that slow steady growth is something that coaches may look for in girls that will have long term potential. I can definitely see how it can help as large spurts can really throw things off. I have watched first hand girls lose their skills and not recover from a major growth spurt during puberty.

But there is a flip side to that, from what I can tell. The girls that spurting is normal for may be more used to working through it and dealing with it. I think where it gets super tough is when you combine the large growth spurt with all the other factors of the time of puberty that can derail a gymnastics career. There are so many factors at play and many kids and families just won't make it through. Growing a lot surely can't help given everything else going on.

My daughter is one of the slow steady growers and last spring she grew just under an inch in three days. I measured her one day and then three days later measured her again so I know this happened. It is the only spurt she has ever had and it may not seem a big one but to her who usually grows more gradually it totally through her off. Many things were effected as the change happened literally from one practice to the next. Her stride was longer so vault was off, her center of gravity changed so beam and tumbling was affected. She was just a level four so bars weren't too much of a factor. She came through just fine, but she was seven, not 12. Totally different animal.

 

[iwannacoach]

Sometimes I like to sit and ponder, and others I just like to sit. On those occasions that find me pondering, I'll try to understand some mystery like how a growth spurt turns a kid into a human version of Scoobie Doo. We all rely on our vestibular system to provide us with an ongoing analysis of what our body is doing with respect to position, balance, direction, force, and anything else you can imagine that helps us move under control. That analysis is used in real time when our brain signals various body parts with commands to do this or that to accomplish movements we want to do, or reflex actions to preserve/recover our balance.

Consider the amount of ankle strength/force required to hold your heels slightly off the floor. Imagine strapping a thin, narrow 15 inch board to the bottom of each foot as if they were miniature skis extending from your heels to beyond your toes. Now try lifting your heels slightly off the floor with the same amount of force used in the previous attempt with no "skis." Sure, you can probably "make it work" with a lot of extra effort, but it is way different than what you're used to.

That. in my mind, is an exaggrated but approximate description of the challenges growth spurts inflict on earning gymnasts. So ponder forth on that for a while the next time you're inclined to just sit and do nothing.

 

[sglemon]

Some do grow over night, my son, who is not a gymnast, grew 6 inches over a period of 2.5 months last summer. It did make him a much faster XC runner, practically overnight. I can't imagine a gymnast having to deal with that much growth in a short period of time, it will throw everything off, including the center of gravity.

 

[motigymnasticsmom]

Ok, my dd is 10. Her growth spurts are always in winter. She is a firecracker baby. Anyway, her season started in Jan. Nd so did her growth spurt. We went to dr. in early Jan. Got weight/height. Did ok in some competition. Got Severs, milk intolerance. Beam was ok, then not. Went back to dr. for middle school physical dd grew 2.5 in and gained 12 lbs! Dr. said she was 97% in height (gulp) Dr. how tall will she be(gulp) 5.9. Omg, I couldnt imagine, dh and I are average our parents are our other dd is. Now, shes struggling with vault. All in all she did good for season 37AA, and she has passion and is a very hard worker.



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[LizzieLac]

DD grew over 5 inches in a year. The result was a bad case of osgood schlatters last year which really affcted her ability to train. She was a tough cookie! Never missed practice, did what she could and rode it out. This year, the pain is much better and she has been able to train hard. I don't think that with the growth spurt had any impact on her mechanics or anything like that. In fact, I think she gained some strength from the growth.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Two answers:

First, while the change from one day to the next is negligible, the change from one week to the next is enough to alter the feel of a skill. If kid misses a few days of practice, that can be enough for them to be a bit off when they get back.

But I think the far bigger issue is the change in strength-to-weight ratio. During any time other than a growth spurt, this changes gradually and in predictable ways. During a growth spurt, gymnasts (especially female gymnasts) see a relatively fast dropoff in strength to weight ratio. And while this change is not fast enough to be measurably different from one day to the next, it is FAR faster than any change they have experienced before.

There is also a dramatically increased risk of injury during this period. And, of course, if a gymnast is injured and therefore out for a week or two, skills will feel noticably different to her by the time she gets back if she is in the middle of a growth spurt.

If the rate of growth seen during the preteen growth spurt lasted only a day or two, the effects would be negligible. But since this typically lasts months or even years, the relatively rapid cumulative change is extremely difficult for many gymnasts to keep up with.

Even if there are no "injuries," per se, there is an extremely high rate of issues such as Sever's, Osgood-Schlatter's, and so on.

 

[iwannacoach]

First, while the change from one day to the next is negligible, the change from one week to the next is enough to alter the feel of a skill. If kid misses a few days of practice, that can be enough for them to be a bit off when they get back...... Geoffry Taucer.....May 2013

I agree with you on the whole time span issue. I like to think in terms of six weeks at a time as being the normal span of time to bring about a noticeable change. I started thinking in terms of six weeks because it seems the norm, sorta, to heal a broken bone. So I suspect it may take six weeks to readjust, as a growing kid, to the new you. This would seem too easy because all a kid would have to do is to hand in there for the six weeks to get get to the point of learning those lost skills....again.

Well, it's not that easy, because if a kid grows in significant bursts every 8-10 weeks, they'll be in a cycle learn/lose/learn, followed by more lose/learn/lose/learn. I also think the six week theory applies to strength, and is most noticed in kids who've only built up jut enough strength to make their skills work. When these kids gain just 4 lbs, it's enough to mess with their skills, so in my mind they'll need six weeks for their strength to build back up. About the only thing that works, based on what I've seen in the gym, is to have a bit of strength "head room" to minimize this problem.

 

[JBS]

Wingspan...baby!

Ever not spotted a kid on a clear hip for six months? I have...only to find out that her arms grew 6 inches or more. Wow...it was like she just kept rising forever once I launched her towards handstand. No wonder she couldn't perform the skill anymore. If I can notice...the kids can notice.

 

[sglemon]

Another thought, when girls go through rapid growth, around puberty, it is also common to develop a slight curvature in the back. It doesn't mean they have or will develop scoliosis. It will almost always straighten out on its own. My older dd is currently being monitored, which is how I know.

 

[GymBee97]

well for my kids they didn't grow evenly so to speak. DD had the long legged look for awhile then her top "Blossomed" out all throwing off her center of gravity. So with that she had to sort of relearn how to throw her body to do the tricks. For son he was a tiny stick of a kid until puberty then the muscles came in and the weight of those muscles now had to be thrown for tricks. Both my kids weren't the slow growing type they would grow 2 inches in a month no problem. I remember one august I purchased new sneakers for son at start of school 4 weeks later he was telling me they were hurting his feet. I'm thinking in 3 weeks his feet didn't out grow those brand new sneakers so I told him put on better socks. A week later he was begging for new shoes as these ones hurt his feet. I gave in and yup his fee grew not one but 2 shoe sizes in 3 weeks!! Did I feel like a bad mom. You just never know how growth is going to effect how they move.

 

[Krystan]

I think we're in the middle of one now! Dd went about a year and a half without growing and, in fact, losing a few pounds. All of a sudden, she's gained about 10 pounds and a few inches just over the past couple of months. I'm noticing that clothes that fit her in January now are obscenely tight! I ALSO noticed that she could NOT do her standing back tuck the other day at open practice. She kept landing on her knees, and she's had that skill for a long time! So she brought out the folding mats and did it with the full stack and then gradually made it smaller. She stopped when there was only one layer left, so I don't think it will be a huge problem, she just has to re-teach herself. I don't think she's ever grown this fast; hopefully it will slow down soon! Luckily, this is the time of year that they're doing a lot of conditioning in the gym, so maybe it's balancing it out. They have two weeks off in June; hopefully this spurt will be over by then!

 

[shelovestoflip]

Interesting thread. My daughter (14 Level 8) has never had a growth 'spurt'....she's always been slow and steady....never more than 2" a year in height. Her dr said some kids never spurt. She has said that kids follow that % curve and it's the best predictor for ultimate height....so, my daughter should hit 5'2", I hope!!

That being said, another girl on her team grew 4" over the past few months and she has struggled with everything as a result! It's been so hard for her. Sometimes I'm not sure the coaches are putting 2 and 2 together.....though perhaps!

 

[htimcj]

DD grew 4 inches in one summer. The coaches and I definitely noticed a difference. Of course it was right in the middle of learning her kip! Since then is been very slow and steady. She's never had a growth spurt in weight though. It has always been 4 lb a year if we are lucky.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

it's a very easy concept to understand. when you get on a plane, passengers do not sit on one side of the plane only. or if weight shifts, like the video you saw recently of the military cargo plane...well...not that drastic in the gymnast but easy to understand. growth is very subtle. and it's not just the bones vertically going up. the bones become more dense changing their weight. the muscles become more dense and heavy. your organs get larger and take on more weight in ounces. and finally, as i've posted before, the body does not grow evenly.

walk around with a 1/4 inch lift in 1 of your shoes for 2 days. you'll be subtly crooked and you will feel the consequences of that in 24 hours.

put a water bladder of a 1/2 gallon hung to one side of your body/belt for 2 days. your imbalance and compensation to counter the effects of that imbalance will be almost immediate.

and then there are body fluids. you produce lots when you are actively exercising. and less when you are at rest. so close your eyes for a moment and visualize yourself as a water balloon. visualize yourself going thru your normal day with the water oscillating up and down and around and sideways inside the balloon. THAT is what is taking place inside the body of your gymnast. now add to that a 1/4 inch of growth and density on one side of the body for a couple of weeks. then on to the other side of the body. all that imbalance and sloshing of fluids. and then your muscles and energy systems trying to keep up with the new demands of this growth.

now close your eyes and visualize yourself doing what you see your gymnasts doing every day. then visualize them as water balloons. and when you grow your body becomes unstable at the joints for a period of time. NOW understand GRAVITY as a force of nature. and that force effecting all of that growth and all of that sloshing of body fluids along with unstable underpinning at the joints for a period of time.

so then, to answer your 2nd question. all that can be done is to increase conditioning appropriately to keep up with the strength weight ratio (SWR) of the body. changing what is done every few weeks so that the body has no time to adapt and placing different 'loads' on the body to stay ahead of the gravity that is effecting the movement patterns of what you see your kids do.

then think of the 3 body types i've mentioned in other posts. each have their own distinct patterns of growth resolution. and to be redundant but consistent, gymnastics is the most difficult endeavor your child will ever encounter. yet, it is the most beneficial from a physical training point of view. there is NOTHING like gymnastics and this is why all other sports 'borrow' from us.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Lots of great insight into growing girls. We will see what the next 6 months or so hold as she is just over 12.5 years old now. We are already dealing with scoliosis and are watching that. I think I like the steady growing rather than the spurts. Dd has never spurted up before, none of my kids have, but puberty is a different animal and seems more likely to cause the spurts. Thanks for all the great input!

 

[Granny Smith]

My dd was a steady grower, albeit slow and also had delayed puberty. She entered HS looking like a 12 year old and basically went through puberty her freshman year. Nothing fast or furious but when she became a Sophomore she finally looked like a teenager. With gymnastics, she never lost any skills or had any "side effects" of growth or weight gain, but one day I just looked at her and was like WOW, she's looking all grown up now!