Coaches overweight gymnast - advice please??

[Charlie]

sorry for the length

i recently had one of my former gymnasts (now 23 years old) come to me wanting to train again. she had a rough end to her career when she was 20 and has some unfinished business with the sport. i coached her to level 10, and was well on her way to elite. i have agreed to work with her again and i have to admit im pretty excited myself. she's one of those kids that coaches love to work with. shes a very hard worker and hangs on my every word at the gym. shes admittedly not a talented gymnast, but the work ethic sets her well above all the other girls. anyway my dilemma is that she has gained an ungodly amount of weight. she had been on medication that was not properly monitored by a doctor that made her very prone to weight gain, and her being embarrassed never went back the doctor to address the weight issues. she is now off the medicine but has a lot of weight to lose. last time she trained she was 125lbs of muscle, now shes about 210lbs. she is able do do basics. walkovers, her leaps/jumps look ok although a bit low, handsprings, solid handstands, ect... she has expressed a lot of concern about not being able to get the weight high enough to flip. and bars just aint happening. now i can spot her just fine, thats not an issue at all but she wants to be able to do skills on her own obviously. for the record, we laugh a lot about it and she's pretty open about it and not ashamed.

my question is, should i just have her doing cardio/endurance until she gets to a reasonable weight? say 160ish. or should i keep her in the gym working basic skills and a lot of drills? i have some concerns about her picking up bad habits to compensate for the weight, suck as kipping to her stomach on bars instead of keep strait arms and things of that nature. on the other hand gym has some great physical benefits. but if shes going to get bored and frustrated, i dont know. i told her i would think about it and decide what to do over the weekend. 210 lbs is a lot of weight to try and throw around a gym. but whatever i decide, she will be weight training 1 hour per day and running 1.5 miles ON TOP of the 2 hours i have with her at night/five nights per week. so what do you guys think? endurance/cardio or gym/drills?

 

[Aussie_coach]

I think once she gets into her new training program the weight will come off quickly and easily. She is still young and if she is exercising that amount it will naturally come off. I would get into the skills and drills as they will keep her excited and motivated about being back in the sport.

As a former level 10 gymnast she will have a great amount of body awareness even though her size has changed significantly and should be able to keep herself quite safe. The only danger is if she gets frustrated at not being able to do what she used to be able to and pushes herself too far.

 

[gymdog]

She was "well on her way to elite" but "not talented"? Either you have the physical properties to be a high level gymnast or not. There may be some range but it's not like there's anyone who just flat out doesn't have the physical talent. Also gaining almost 100lbs in a short period of time, especially for a naturally small person, is a medical issue. Off the medication? Was it replaced by something? If this is true, it's something that needs to be monitored by a doctor. You are not a health professional and you cannot navigate significant medical issues. If she stopped taking medication other treatment may be necessary, or there may be outstanding medical issues that still need to be addressed that affect weight loss/gain.

She's not ashamed in the gymnastics environment but too embarassed to go to a doctor? This is all really interesting.

 

[Charlie]

She was "well on her way to elite" but "not talented"? Either you have the physical properties to be a high level gymnast or not. There may be some range but it's not like there's anyone who just flat out doesn't have the physical talent. Also gaining almost 100lbs in a short period of time, especially for a naturally small person, is a medical issue. Off the medication? Was it replaced by something? If this is true, it's something that needs to be monitored by a doctor. You are not a health professional and you cannot navigate significant medical issues. If she stopped taking medication other treatment may be necessary, or there may be outstanding medical issues that still need to be addressed that affect weight loss/gain.

She's not ashamed in the gymnastics environment but too embarassed to go to a doctor? This is all really interesting.

what exactly are you insinuating there gymdog? no she is not a naturally talented kid she has to work three times as hard to get skills the others girls got considerably easier. thats why it took her until she was 19 years old to reach level 10 even though she started as a toddler. why would anyone make something like that up? weirdo. you didnt even answer the question. yes she was ashamed to go to the doctor when she gained 100lbs in a year and a half, then another year and half went by, i dont know she obviously came to turns with it. no shes not embarrassed of herself in front of her old team mates and i. she grew up around these girls. yes she under doctor care who gave her the go ahead to lose the weight and if she wants, to start training. im not stupid obviously all of this has been taken care of. all i wanted to know was if other coaches were leaning towards strait cardio or gym. thats it. and for the record, i did in fact research the medication myself, and yes it rare cases it can cause extreme weight gain. if you're not going to answer the question please don't bother replying at all next time. especially if it is just to insult someone.

 

[Gymnast1775]

I answered you in the Adult Gym forum but I figured I'd answer here as well...

Ha no way we had a similar situation with a girl at our gym class with a former level 9. But the problem was more with the girls joints and such hurting. I mean she could hold a good solid handstand for like a million years but then complained her wrists were killing her, and I remember her knees hurting a lot too. She did eventually shed the weight by the way with just gymnastics as her "exercise". I'd say as long as it isn't hurting her stick to the skills/drills. Be sure there is a lot of open communication to make sure she's not in pain. If she's one of those girls who doesn't complain much if something hurts ask her often how shes feeling. You don't want her to trash her joints or anything.

 

[gymdog]

I found there were holes in your story, if you clarify them I will be more than willing to believe it. As far as I am aware we are allowed to respond to threads by asking questions to clarify, and my answer was that it is vital she is getting regular guidance from a physician (this was not mentioned in the first post, just that she was too embarassed to go to a doctor). She may even need specialist care. I don't necessarily think the weight will just come off, at this point she has had an extreme weight fluctuation and medical issues. It is possible she has a metabolic disorder or another medical issue at this point. A second medical opinion wouldn't be out of line here if she wants to go ahead with this.

However, carrying that much excess weight on a small frame is going to be hard on the joints. Even running may start to cause issues, much less impact on non weight bearing joints like the wrist and elbows. Cross training with low impact exercise like swimming is probably the best idea, especially in the summer.

 

[bogwoppit]

As we do not discuss weight or diet on the CB, and we also do not encourage the dishing out of medical advice, I am going to close this thread and it's twin. Clearly this gymnast needs to visit a doctor.

Thanks for remembering the rules.