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Improving in Competition

The issue of getting your coach to come to the YMCA to coach you may be hard to do.  One of the things you need to decide is what type of program you want to compete in.  Some of the club programs have a recreational program that also competes, but on a limited schedule.  One of the things you could do is check www.usa-gymnastics.org to see what USAG clubs are in your area.  Also try the yellow pages - often there are AAU clubs or possibly a different YMCA that is close enough to travel to on a regular basis.  Aside from these suggestions, the best thing you can do for yourself and to show your coaches that it would be worth putting you on a team, is to do your best and progress through the classes so that the next logical progression in your gymnastics is to compete (wherever that may be). 

Finally, let’s talk about the issue of improving your upper body strength.  This is probably the easiest of the questions you asked.  It sounds like you are at a YMCA so this should be easy for you to work on.  My suggestion would be to sign up for a weight lifting class that is age appropriate or take some private instruction from a personal trainer.  This will allow you to learn the proper ways (form and techniques) for lifting.  The trainer can also help you design a program that will help you become stronger and target the muscles necessary to improve your gymnastics.  If the trainer is not familiar with gymnastics it may be a good idea to invite the trainer to a practice so they can see the different muscle groups at work for your specific sport. 

I hope this information is helpful.  Good luck with your gymnastics.  Please let me know if you have any other questions. 

Sincerely, 
Coach Mike

This section has been created to help all gymnasts answer questions about their sport one-on-one with a trained coach.  Email our coaches your anonymous questions and we'll post our answers so that we can help you and your fellow gymnasts!