Create Stronger Athletes.

I was a gymnast from the time I was 5. I only had 1 injury that really affected my training and that was caused by an irresponsible coach at a training camp. I was considered a “very lucky” gymnast. But I don’t think it was all luck, I was well rounded.

I really think that the reason I built the kind of strength I did is because I played multiple sports all the way through High school. I danced until I was 7, I played Basketball from 5th grade though 8th grade and played softball from the ages of 9-18. Now, I did focus pretty much only on gymnastics starting my freshman year but still played softball on a rec. team through my senior year. I also snowboarded, skateboarded, biked, rollerbladed, and so much more. Now, I say this because I know so many gymnasts that not only have never played another sport but never really did any of this, not even for fun. They were gymnasts and that was that. They were made so fearful of injury that they were never kids. They never played. We as coaches make them choose. But here’s the thing, I truly have always believed, and research is supporting this more and more, that year round athletes get so many more injuries and are much more prone to burnout than athletes that that play multiple sports.

The longer I coached the more I saw this. Injury after injury. And the thing is I coached at a club that was pretty much as balanced as you could be and still turn out strong athletes. These injuries encouraged me to make a change. I restructured how I did strength with them. I started to do strength that I would do in a normal HIIT class. Strength that was not gymnastics focused. Just normal balanced strength. The crazy thing is this was really hard for them. They were using their muscles in different ways. Most importantly it gave their body a rest while still allowing them to get stronger. The human body, a kids body, can only endure so much and we as coaches often don’t see the aftermath. These kids live with the back pain in their twenties and the hip pain inter 30’s, we don’t.

All athletes, regardless of sport, benefit from certain physical traits and qualities. All athletes benefit from being stronger and faster. Most importantly, all athletes benefit from being more resilient to injury and even more importantly every athlete benefits from increased confidence. Non-sports specific strength training provides all of this. 

OrthoInfo states: More and more young athletes under the age of 12 are focusing on just one sport, and training year-round. Sports specialization in youth is defined as engaging in a sport for at least three seasons a year at the exclusion of other sports. Kids who specialize early are more likely to develop overuse injuries because of repetitive movements, be stressed, and quit sports.

• Overuse injuries in children happen gradually over time, but can have a lifelong effect on their game, health and quality of life.

• When a young child whose body is still growing and developing, and repeatedly participates in one type of athletic activity, their body does not have enough time to heal properly between resting and playing.

• Intense and repetitive training can lead to pediatric trauma and may require surgery to young shoulders, knees, elbows and wrists.

• While most experts agree that some degree of sports specialization is necessary, there is much debate about how early intense training should begin

  https://www.orthoinfo.org/onesportinjurySports specific

The Orthopaedic Journal suggests that youth athletes should not play a single organized sport for more than 8 months out of the year. Athletes who participated in a single sport year-round were more than twice as likely to sustain an overuse injury during the study period compared to non-year-round athletes 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6700911/

Now again, I coached gymnastics for a long time. I understand the feeling that these kids need to train year round. But ask yourself why do we think that? Is it because thats what everyone does? Have you ever tried taking spans of time off from sports specific training? In this pandemic all sports were put on hold. Some of my old athletes came to me worried about their skills. Would they lose them? I was confident in telling them that they wouldn’t. I said “if you stay active, keep doing strength this break is going to be good for you. Give your body and your mind a rest. That doesn’t mean you wont get strong. You have the opportunity to come out of this break stronger and healthier than you have been in a long time. I could do all of my skills right now at 38, if I was strong enough, your body doesn’t forget. If your mind is fresh and your body is fresh that is when you are unstoppable.” And surprise, they didn’t lose their skills. So much of this is mindset.

Now, we haven’t even talked about the programs that don’t do enough if any strength training and conditioning. If you have an athlete training a sport and they never do strength training, not only are injuries on the horizon but you may never know what the athletes true potential is. This happens a lot because there isn’t enough time allotted in the practice or the coaches don’t see the importance. I see this a lot in dance. Dance requires an enormous amount of strength, especially in the competitive arena and these girls are being asked to do things that their bodies don’t always have the strength to do. This is when those injuries not only happen in real time but happen later on in life. The hips take the grunt because the quads aren’t strong enough. The back takes the grunt of it because the core isn’t strong enough. Until you discover their true strength you will never know how good they could actually be.

I also am a firm believer that your strength coach shouldn’t be your regular coach. I know this is often times not realistic but It is just too hard for the coach to separate themselves from the sport. The athletes also respond very differently to a strength coach. When those athletes know the goal of that strength coach is to solely make them stronger they take out the emotion which is very important.

I could talk about this forever. I truly believe in non-sports specific training. I think 2 weeks here and a month there off from their sports will do wonders. Again, that doesn’t mean they just sit on their butt. I think the stress we are putting on our kids, on our athletes bodies is unsustainable. One of the main goals of Poppy Fitness is to not only be place where non-athletes can come and find a love for fitness but a place where athletes can come and train. I want to provide in-season and off-season training for girls to come and strengthen their bodies and their minds which in return will make them better athletes.

If you are an athlete, if you are the parent of an athlete, or a coach take a step back and think about if it necessary to train these girls year round how we are or if there a better way to do it that will ultimately create stronger athletes not just physically but mentally.

Note: I do understand that certain bodies tend to be more prone to injuries than others and there is never a way to guarantee and athlete wont get injured but I do believe that there is a better way to give them a fighting chance.