Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012; 26(8) 2119 2129. Why Do Gymnasts Lose Flexibility In The First Place? This is where the third layer comes into play, the muscular soft tissue. Although I highly encourage people to review it and read the evidence for themselves, their thoughts follow in line with the ideas noted above related to changes in sensation or tolerance of stretching, rather than true muscle tissue changes. For a giant to be technically sound, many sub components must be present. Glutes, Deep Hip Rotators, Core, etc. Part of this may be inevitable for high-level gymnastics, but we should be doing anything we can to reduce risk given the scientific information and coaching expertise available. 2014 Jan;28(1):61-8. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182956569, Peacock CA, et al. This creates a situation where the femoral head has more access to move in larger ranges of motion, creating significantly more hip mobility in all planes. Although there is a lot of research and textbook chapters written on these concepts (38-40), I have found that a multi step warm-up seems to be the best approach for this goal. These cases are much less frequent in gymnastics but do exist. 2017 Apr;21(2):446-451. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2016.11.006. This is commonly tested with something called a Beightons screening. Kalichman L1, Ben David C2. Place your left arm across your chest to the right side. Tones and strengthen muscles Improves posture This often happens when the gymnast is working one legged leaps or jumps, takes off for a skill off balance, or lands with their weight more onto one leg. I also have taken some of the most effective and popular flexibility circuits Ive made for male and female gymnasts and put them into a quick PDF to use in the gym. For example, this research study (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26944667) recently looked at x-rays from professional ballet dancers during full straddle splits. Self-soft tissue work refers to using foam rollers, lacrosse balls, tennis balls, or other implements to help massage different muscular areas of the body. Being able to achieve a full over split, or even a regular full split for that matter requires many things to be going well from a movement point of view. This is usually why they were noticed as a good candidate for competitive gymnastics, as they naturally had full splits and bridges. Phys Sportsmed. 95 97 In theory, it incorporates not only neural encoding but also motor skill acquisition and deliberate practice. For many people in the gymnastics community, it comes down to a professional discussion on taking away overly aggressive flexibility methods, following the science of shoulder anatomy and making subtle changes in training. You can download all three here below, and I will also be sure to share lots of other free resources throughout this blog post for people to use at home. Splits on line, back to wall overhead shoulder motion, crab position for a male gymnast to assess parallel bars and pommel flexibility Self-Soft Tissue Work, Soft Tissue Prep They say not to worry about it, and that this is something that can be trained through. It is worth noting that both authors have extensive experience in elite level gymnastics, spending the majority of their career researching gymnastics biomechanics, injuries, and sports performance. Along with this, no stretching shoulder produces excessive soreness longer than the end of the day, as prolonged soreness may indicate microtissue damage. Click here to read our full privacy policy. Weppler CH, Magnusson SP. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2004. If not regularly and appropriately trained, flexibility can become something that really holds an athlete back from making progress in skills or possibly contributes to elevated injury risk. I typically have gymnasts perform moderate pressure that does not cause pain, for 10-30 seconds per muscle group, away from bony areas. Warm-ups are typically best looked at as a time when you can prepare the available joint range of motion that a gymnast has. Andrews, J., Reinold, M., Wilk, K. Current Concepts in the Evaluation and Treatment of the Shoulder in Overhead Throwing Athletes Part 2: InjuryPrevention and Treatment. Naturally, hypermobile kids may do well in sports like gymnastics and baseball. Arabesque - a body shape on one leg with the other leg extended behind the body Nakamura M., et al. Scand J Med SCi Sports, 2010: 136 144. In Cardinale M, Newton R, Nosaka K,Strength and Conditioning: Biological Principles and Practical Applications. However, we need to understand that forcefully pushing oversplits, not being open to learning basic anatomy, or ignoring serious pain complaints from gymnasts is not tolerable. If the gymnast is already hanging out in a down and in position, they are predisposing themselves to continuously catch their over and over, leading to the re-occuring injury part mentioned above. I will say take these research studies with a grain of salt due to their methods, smaller sizes, and sometimes using cadavers as subjects. Opplert J, Babault N. Acute Effects of Dynamic Stretching on Muscle Flexibility and Performance: An Analysis of the Current Literature. Beardsley C, Skarabot J. In its most basic form, stretching involves taking a muscle to its end range of motion, and holding the elongated state for a period of time. gymnastics flexibility exercises pdf gymnastics flexibility exercises pdf. Its important to recognize that the range of motion a gymnasts hip, shoulder, or other joints display are directly related to their underlying anatomy. (36-38). (18, 38-40) I do think its an important distinction, but due to cultural norms for gymnastics, I will not be super specific to go by medical jargon like these terms and more. Examples of gymnastics skills that require dynamic flexibility are a walkover and a handspring. This is because a large body of manual therapy and self-soft tissue work does not recommend very intense/painful pressure, or extremely long bouts of foam rolling are needed to gain the positive benefits. I think there are not yet studied boney adaptations to the hip joints of gymnasts when correctly performed and consistent stretching occurs in younger years. Place your right hand on the left arm's elbow and pull toward the chest. Gymnastics is, therefore, a sports discipline that seeks to provide strength and flexibility to the body, through specific exercise routines. Lastly, I have made a Gymnastics Pre-Hab Guide that includes daily soft tissue work, stretching, and weekly circuits to help with reducing the risk of injuries in gymnasts. 2011. People assume that progress is being made, rather than having some comparative baseline for observing changes. Naturally tall kids may do well in sports like basketball or volleyball. Second, most times there are a lack of pre and post-tests (line splits, checking objective shoulder flexibility screen against a wall) to see if what is being used for exercises is effective. Due to these reasons and the research I have read about the human body, there will likely be a very limited long-term change in flexibility that change gymnastics skills. In Jeffreys I., Moody J. They include rope, hoop, ball, clubs, and ribbon. Effect of self-myofascial release on myofascial pain, muscle flexibility, and strength: A narrative review. With slightly more difficult exercises and higher volume, the workouts are still only up to 45 minutes in duration. J Bone Joint Surg Am, 2013 Sep 18; 95 (18): e133, Dumount GD. Conflicting Research on Foam Rolling and Other Soft Tissue Care, Why Movement Assessments Are Key For Finding The Root Problem, Components of Splits and Handstand Flexibility, Not Feeding The Fire with Strength and Physical Preparation, How to Help Working In Complexes vs Just Stretching, Points for Knee/Elbow Hyper Extension and Ankle Toe Point Safety. Using proper movement assessments, understanding the anatomy, and a consistency over intensity mindset is what will reduce injury risk and increase gymnastics performance. J Athl Training 35(3):278285, 2000. 2007 Oct 17;(4):CD004577. An alternative version based on anatomy would be to flatten the spine position as well as the pelvis, and then perform a similar stretch with core/glute engagement. For choreography or specific drills, this may be very appropriate when not pushed quickly to extreme ranges of motion. Through very sophisticated mathematical models, they did show evidence of, a mechanistic multiscale model for stretch-induced sarcomereogenesis, in which chronic muscle lengthening is characterized through a scalar valued internal variable, the serious sarcomere number.. By the end of a few months, they usually just throw their hands up and say he/she is just unflexible, they have bad genetics. The athlete is encouraged to round their upper back to create upper back flexion. Just as with the warm-up concept above, it is only one piece of the bigger puzzle to increasing shoulder or hip flexibility long term. Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, arms by your sides. Role of the Acetabular Labrum and the Iliofemoral Ligament in Hip Stability: An In Vitro Biplane Fluoroscopy Study. This capsular and ligamentous hypermobility is not inherently a bad thing, as it is part of what makes a gymnast good at the sport. 30-60 seconds per targeted muscle group, no more than 5/10 discomfort level. These ligaments more specifically are the medial and lateral arms of the iliofemoral ligament and the pubofemoral ligament. Before kicking this off, please keep in mind that I wrote an entire book chapter on gymnastics flexibility, which you can download and find for free here. More specifically, the inferior glenohumeral ligament and capsule, as well as possible parts of the middle glenohumeral ligament and capsule. We must educate ourselves on what components go into a full handstand or split positions, then be able to reverse engineer why a gymnast is struggling. When you combine these three areas, along with the already discussed points about not having the best science behind flexibility methods to stress muscular tissue and spare joint capsules, it certainly makes sense why gymnasts may struggle with their flexibility. I view it as a tool to open the door for gymnasts to then perform strength, technique, and control work for gymnastics skills. These studies mainly look at chronic immobilization, like when people unfortunately need limb lengthening or tendon elongation procedures. Seated Overhead Screen with Stick Sitting at the wall with the lower back flat and head against the wall, the gymnast raises the bar overhead with the arms shoulder-width apart and palms down. Thomas E., et al. To really see if it is true I would need a dynamic MRI machine, a super slow motion high def camera, and someone way more technologically savvy than me (anyone want to put in donations?). 387 403. Heres 3thoughts about why. Although its not as common as the hip and shoulder post, I still have seen it quite a few times when in gyms. JOSPT November 2014. Andrews, J., Reinold, M., Wilk, K. The Athletes Shoulder. Everyone in gymnastics should understand that there are many subcomponents of split, overhead handstand, or behind the back patterns that must be worked on. These are the muscles themselves, to a small degree the tendons that connect muscles to bones, and largely the nervous system. There is a lot of medical and science nerdiness in there. The systematic review by Chris Beardsley and Jakob Skarabot in 2015 outlines (41) that when analyzing various studies, foam roller use appears to lead to acute increases in flexibility in the majority of investigations despite a few studies not reporting acute changes in the range of motion following forms of foam roller use. Jumping and landing athletes are already at a huge risk for ACL tears, not to mention the even higher risk for young developing female athletes. 2014 Jul 1;7(3):202-211. eCollection 2014. I strongly suggest people who may be unknowingly pushing knees down more in oversplits, or feet elevated pike stretches stop and think about why they chose to certain stretching interventions. My thoughts on hip mobility and why we choose certain exercises closely echo my thoughts on shoulder mobility, and I again will not go into much depth as this was covered in an earlier chapter. J Bodyw Mov Ther. This said, I believe the majority of the effects of stretching come through neurological means. Is there a distinct pattern to the acetabular labrum and articular cartilage damage in the non-dysplastic hip with instability? What About Static Stretching? The biggest concern I have withthe use of ankle weights is related to two concepts ofhipimpingement and hip instability. For one, proper movement assessments are rarely done before these large flexibility sessions. As a younger coach and medical provider, I absolutely did not study enough and use proper flexibility methods. The Relationship Between Stretching Typology and Stretching Duration: The Effects on Range of Motion. Many gymnasts struggle with excessively tight hip flexors, inner thighs, and quads. From looking at self- myofascial release and manual therapy literature reviews, this is thought to be through changes in perceived soreness, neurological relaxation, and possibly blood flow / water content shifting within the muscle. 2015 Jun;25(3):346-55. doi: 10.1111/sms.12228. North Am J Sports Phys Ther 1(1):1631, 2006. I want to emphasize that proper stretching and soft tissue work is not the only method to improve flexibility and performance for gymnasts. This is especially true when notallowing compensation from other body parts or excessive swinging for momentum. Many people want to know what the best approach is, either static or dynamic, if they should be aiming to increase range of motion, what are the best drills, and so on. I will dive into the physiological thoughts on this in the recovery chapter. The down portion or plantar flexion is what makes up a toe point. Warm ups and cool downs are another common topic that comes up when discussing flexibility. Dave They tell me they often times find temporary progress, but nothing seems to stick long term and actually show up in their skills. Within the sport of gymnastics, a large majority of athletes who get involved have underlying natural hypermobility. Acute Effects of Stretching on Passive Properties of Human Gastrocnemius Muscle-Tendon Unit: Analysis of Differences Between Hold-Relax and Static Stretching. The ACL tear and knee injury rates in gymnastics are already high enough. Alongside this, strength deficits, limited full range control, technique issues, fatigue, or adjacent areas of the body may be the reason behind an apparent lack of flexibility. In conjunction with this, due to the gymnasts underlying lack of static stability from the ligaments and capsule, they will need absolutely pristine strength, physical preparation, and dynamic stability from their muscles around the joint. Its very important to remember that certain joints are not inherently built for lots of flexibility. Improves flexibility in shoulders, feet, and hamstrings Wall sits - To do a proper wall sit start with your back flush to the wall, and position yourself like you are sitting in a chair. Gymnasts are already notorious for having really tight calves because of how much time they spend in a toe point along with doing so much jumping and landing. My best recommendation is that people become more familiar with the research, practice, and use of self-soft tissue work. The aim of this study was to review the tests used to measure flexibility in gymnastic disciplines. Please keep in mind that application of this material is a personal choice, and in no way is the author responsible for those choices. Ive been fortunate that now after learning from many people and textbooks, I really have a good handle on the concepts that seem to work, and those that dont really tend to make a big difference in the long term. Rainman, Thornburg. Sports Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach 2(2) 2010. Also adding in regular soft tissue work and mobility drills would be very important. When correctly applied certain stretches into this position can augment skill development. Some research has suggested it can also be helpful to reduce perceived muscle soreness, enhance blood flow, and make an impact in recovery (41-43) I encourage all athletes that I work with to do some form of light, soft tissue prep before every workout. It may very well be a minor strain. Weber AE, Bedi A, Tibor LM, Zaltz I, Larson CM. Drill progressions for skills, strength and conditioning, managing fears, and dealing with pain or injury are among the most discussed. This natural selection type introduction to gymnastics presents an essential background foundational concept of flexibility training. Doing slider crawls are a great core training replacement to reduce some of the leg lifts that may be creating ongoing headaches with limited split flexibility. I have found that it not only can yield quick changes in flexibility, but it can also make longer-lasting changes that show up in gymnastics skills. This allows for more inherent weight-bearing stability but may limit the natural mobility the hip can achieve. Clinical Examination and Physical Assessment of Hip Related Joint pain In Athletes. 2008;108:379390. One of the most effective methods that I have come up with to increase flexibility, make changes stick, and not risk injury with aggressive stretching techniques is to work in complexes rather than performing only static or dynamic stretching. Sadly, many young gymnasts are requiring hip surgery, or are retiring due to hip injuries of this nature. There has been conflicting research on the long-lasting changes in range of motion from various stretching methods as well as self-soft tissue work.

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