All-Star Gymnastics Conditioning: What Is It Like?

[WinstonsGirl]

Ohhhhhhh ok. I was thinking it was something completely different.

They're a great tricep workout. Just keep your elbows tucked right beside your ribs. Hands are generally a bit narrower too, to accommodate the elbows being in.

 

[Official OWECheer]

They're a great tricep workout. Just keep your elbows tucked right beside your ribs. Hands are generally a bit narrower too, to accommodate the elbows being in.

That would be an amazing exercise for bases and backspots.

 

[Hetta]

Oh my life, props to all you gymnasts!! And I thought our conditioning was hard....

 

[kristenthegreat]

We never did anything quite that high unless we were doing "games" to see who could do the most. We would do timed push-ups, where we would have 1 minute to complete 60 push-ups, perfect form, touching chest and chin to the ground with our elbows by our side.

I think the most I ever did without stopping was 75-90? But they weren't the slow pushups.

I remember one kid tried to complain during our MS fitness test that I was cheating. I literally stared him down as I finished my last set lol

 

[getsum]

wow. what kind of pushups are you all doing and what angle degree do you arms make, at least 90 degrees?. 587 or even 150 pushups in a row sounds kind of crazy unless your are breaking in the plank position.

 

[sportygal2012]

I don't know much about cheer conditioning, however I can tell you my practice schedule and the conditioning in each practice.

I practice 5 days a week for 5 hours each day (during the summer) as an excel diamond which is around level 7/8, I am planning to switch back to JO and compete level 7 or 8 this season.

The first thing we do at practice is we run a mile and a half outside, and use the app called runkeeper to keep track. Then we go inside for warmup, we have lots of conditioning combined within the warmup. During the warmup we stretch, and we also do 2 straddle presses for a minute each, 2 pike presses for a minute each, pike and straddle leg taps, 45 wide armed push ups, 45 reg push-ups, 45 elbows in(there the worst!!!). Then we have to do 5 handstands held for a minute each, 10 bounce straddle handstands, 10 press handstands. We do 5 handstand push-ups, 25 handstand taps, and we have to do 5 handstand walks across the floor and back.

We then have stomach circuit, which consists of hollow body holds, hollow rocks, and hollow ups. We do 3 hollow body holds for a minute each, 2 sets of 50 hollow ups and 2 minutes of hollow rocks.
Then we roll over to our stomach and do 2 arch holds for a minute each, 2 sets of 50 arch ups, and 2 minutes of arch rocks.

Then we have 3 rope climbs without legs, and 2 with legs pinching and 1 with full body. While we wait for the rope we have 100 jumping jacks, 50 v-ups and we also have bars conditioning.

We have to do 25 skin the cats, 15 pull-ups, 25 leg lifts, 10 muscle ups, 5 l hand pull ups, 5 tuck pull ups, and 5 wide arm pull-ups.

We also have 5 casts to handstands, and 15 kips cast handstands.

We then have 75 frog jumps, 50 mountain climbers, and 100 tuck jumps on a resi.
Then we have to do 5 sets of pyro which is jumping on a mat jumping down jumping back up for like 5 mats down the rod floor, then running around the gym, jumping in the pit and running through it and going over one beam under the next over then under and then restarting.

Depending on how fast we complete conditioning and how many girls there are it lasts from around 45 minutes to an hour and a half or so.
Then we cool off with a 15 minute water/snack/bathroom break.

Then we go back in and start practicing and we have some conditioning drills mixed in.

At the end off practice we do 5 laps around the floor, and then oversplits each leg for 2 minutes, and we do bridge walks across the floor.

It is really hard at first but once you get used to it, it gets much easier and also that's summer conditioning. I know starting next week we go on the school year schedule, and we have practice 4 days aweek from 4:00 to 8:30.
I hope this helped!

You pretty much beat me to it. This is pretty much how my conditioning went when I was a gymnast.

 

[kristenthegreat]

wow. what kind of pushups are you all doing and what angle degree do you arms make, at least 90 degrees?. 587 or even 150 pushups in a row sounds kind of crazy unless your are breaking in the plank position.

We were allowed to break at any time (to sitting or squatting or whatever), we just had to complete 500 total. Full 90 degrees.

 

[Official OWECheer]

We were allowed to break at any time (to sitting or squatting or whatever), we just had to complete 500 total. Full 90 degrees.

My old cheer coach once told me that she knew a guy that coached an elite cheer team (better than allstar, not as good as premier) and he would require them to do 2500 crunches per practice. They could break them up any way they wanted, but they had to do the full 2500....is that possible in 4-6 hours? I would be so nauseous.

 

[Nikaa]

Maybe @Brandon Madsen can tell us?

 

[gymnastyetafanofcheer]

Maybe @Brandon Madsen can tell us?

Is that Laney Madsens dad? Laney is such a great gymnast, and I can't wait to see her compete! @Brandon Madsen

My old cheer coach once told me that she knew a guy that coached an elite cheer team (better than allstar, not as good as premier) and he would require them to do 2500 crunches per practice. They could break them up any way they wanted, but they had to do the full 2500....is that possible in 4-6 hours? I would be so nauseous.

It is, you can easily do 1500, in 30 minutes. We have had to do 300 per girl who fell of in a beam routine and 5 of us fell off doing 1 1/2 turns on the beam however though with lemon squeezers, (little did we know the humidity had caused it to be slippery).

Oh my life, props to all you gymnasts!! And I thought our conditioning was hard....

What conditioning do y'all do?

 

[kickdblcj]

My old cheer coach once told me that she knew a guy that coached an elite cheer team (better than allstar, not as good as premier) and he would require them to do 2500 crunches per practice. They could break them up any way they wanted, but they had to do the full 2500....is that possible in 4-6 hours? I would be so nauseous.

I made my kids do a combination of ab workouts that totaled to around 500 a practice. The entire program had great core strength tho so it wasn't too much for them to handle

 

[Momager]

Wow, impressive. I have heard gymnasts talk about being able to crank out hundreds of pushups at a time, but is that true, or does it just apply to elite/Olmypic gymnasts? And how much training is considered too much training for kids in different age groups?

My gymmie could do 100s of pushups when she was 8 or 9 years old, level 6. Her dad would challenge boys on the soccer team to contests with her, and no one else ever got past 50. We were at a military academy football game and the marines had a pull up bar. Lots of young men were doing 8-10 pull ups for a free towel. My gymmie, now a teen, had been out of gymnastics for a few years, but went over and jumped up to the bar (2 feet over her head) , cranked out 10 pull ups and turned around to ask if that was enough.

It's hard to say what is too much training. Some people say that too much causes injuries, other say it prevents them. There are lots of growth plate issues in gymmies, Sever's and osgood schlatter's that are aggravated by training. I think the amount of time that one must put in is what drives many good gymnasts out of the sport. Lots of kids drop out between 12-14 at level 9 and 10.

 

[Official OWECheer]

My gymmie could do 100s of pushups when she was 8 or 9 years old, level 6. Her dad would challenge boys on the soccer team to contests with her, and no one else ever got past 50. We were at a military academy football game and the marines had a pull up bar. Lots of young men were doing 8-10 pull ups for a free towel. My gymmie, now a teen, had been out of gymnastics for a few years, but went over and jumped up to the bar (2 feet over her head) , cranked out 10 pull ups and turned around to ask if that was enough.

It's hard to say what is too much training. Some people say that too much causes injuries, other say it prevents them. There are lots of growth plate issues in gymmies, Sever's and osgood schlatter's that are aggravated by training. I think the amount of time that one must put in is what drives many good gymnasts out of the sport. Lots of kids drop out between 12-14 at level 9 and 10.

There is definitely a mental component to it as well, most people can't handle training 25-40 hrs a week.

 

[NatalieB97]

I was a training level 8 gymnast, and we did a lot of upper body work. we would spend often an hour or more conditioning every practice! we did a lot of rope climbing, cast handstands, pull-ups, bar work, handstands, and press handstands. we also would have a cycling day where we would go on stationary bikes for about 30 minutes to work cardio. my coaches made us do a lot of plyometrics, like punching up and down on panel mats. we also did abs like leg lifts on the bar, hollow holds, etc. at my gym, conditioning was a pretty static thing--we didn't run a lot. it was a lot of stations and rotating between them. when i moved over to all star cheer, i found it much harder than gymnastics. there's a lot more cardio involved in cheerleading. also, in gymnastics, you have longer practices but you aren't moving the entire time. at my AS gym, i'm always on the floor and always doing something, so i find it challenging cause it's like a long 2hr cardio/strength workout haha

 

[jessicasophia1516]

I recently switched to allstar cheer and the amount of conditioning and the time we spend on conditioning is significantly less than what I did as a level 8 gymnast