The Global Media Site for Entertainment.
Menu
One of the most important things to do as a gymnast or a performer is basic daily tracking and body monitoring. I have our competitive gymnastics team journal some very simple aspects of how they feel before each practice. Each of our gymnasts has an individual journal with all of their strength programs, educational handouts, and space for note-taking. Also inside the journal are basic daily tracking sheets.
It is incredibly important for athletes to be in tune with how they are feeling. To understand how outside gym or performance work, (stress levels, sleep, homework, hydration, nutrition, etc) influences their ability to deliver in their work or gymnastics training. For the coaching staff, it gives us an insight into how they are responding to the training we are giving them and how things are going.
Today, I wanted to briefly share a few things I have them track and why, so other facilities can try it out.
The first thing I have everyone log is how many hours of sleep they got the night before. For one, it’s one of the most important aspects of recovery, allowing time for the body to heal, grow, to adapt from training. At first many of the gymnasts didn’t think too much of it, but now everyone makes the direct connection between how they feel, how training is going, and how much they are sleeping.
90% of the time, athletes realize how little they are sleeping and make a positive change to not feel so drained. It also many times fosters a really positive discussion on time management and electronic use before bed between athletes themselves, but also to the coaches.
For me, perceived soreness is more a measure of muscular fatigue that relates to the training the day before. Whether it results from training skills, routines, strength, or cardio, overall levels of soreness are really important. I describe this to athletes as physical soreness, with 0 being absolutely fine, and 10 being cripplingly sore.
For one, it gives insight into how athletes responded to the last day or days of cumulative training. Secondarily, it gives psychological insight into how a gymnast may approach the day of training ahead.
It’s inevitable that gymnasts will be sore from hard training, and in a way we want this to occur to make sure adaptation is being chased. Remember, the proper implementation of training can enhance performance and also be protective against injury as fitness develops. However, we need to keep a very close eye on too high of soreness levels, global fatigue sparking overtraining syndrome, and overuse injury risk escalating.
From being an athlete myself, coaching a lot of athletes, and seeing many gymnasts for medical-based rehab, this aspect can be really important to understanding what’s going on.
In parallel to soreness levels above, I also have gymnasts give a perceived rating of global fatigue. In my mind, this is less of a physical measure of soreness and more of a mental measure of how “drained” a gymnast feels. For me, the soreness levels reflect the actual training – recovery cycles.
The perceived fatigue factors in global stress levels. This can include school work, family life, friends, and other stressors that factor into the global stress response.
Together these numbers are really helpful for the athletes to reflect on, and coaches to understand. Often times I will tweak or individualize the daily assignment if someone is having a rough patch. On the same side, if the whole team is great or very fatigued I reflect back on the training to learn more. I may sometimes even adjust the training if everyone has a particular level of soreness or fatigue.
Resting Heart Rate is a slightly more involved marker for picking up overtraining syndrome or just general elevated stress levels. There is mixed research, but if someone has a true elevation of resting heart rate first thing in the morning and in a rested state before training, it might be something to look further into. It’s relatively simple, they just sit still for a few minutes then measure their heart rate for 1 minute before practice starts, then log it in their daily journal. For most of our athletes, it’s more just another tool I use to help them reflect on their training. For more advanced / older athletes, I have them do it first thing when they wake up in the morning and before practice.
In reality, there are much more involved markers to this such as Heart Rate Variability (HRV) or other things known as “internal markers” of training load. This is just what I have found the easiest for me to look into, and for the gymnasts to quickly do every day.
This is more on a month to month basis, but I think that regularly tracking growth and development in youth athletes is critical. This is for all sports, but gymnastics even more so given its year-round demand and early sports specialization. If you want to read more and see a short video I made on how to track this, check out this blog post here.
For those more nerdy people like myself, there are a few really good resources that I would recommend checking into. I have learned a lot from reading more on this material, and enjoy keeping up to date as technology evolves. Personally, I’m looking into trying to measure Rate of Perceived Exertion following training sessions, aligning it with objective workloads, and seeing if I can build off Tim Gabbett’s great research (find articles here and here) and apply it in gymnastics.
These books dive way more into internal and external training load monitoring, stress physiology, and adaptation principles. For more, check out these books
My advice is to just start with the simple basics. Make up some basic tracking sheets, then teach the athletes to start with hours of sleep, perceived soreness, perceived fatigue, and resting heart rate.
Does Coaching Style Increase Injury Risk In Performance?
Body Science: Are Oversplits Bad?
Dave Tilley DPT, SCS, CSCS is a Physical Therapist who graduated in 2013 from Springfield College. Dave comes from an extensive gymnastics background, being a former athlete and currently still coaching optional level gymnastics in Boston. Dave was a competitive gymnast for 18 years, 4 of them collegiately as part of the Springfield College Men’s Team. Dave has also been coaching gymnastics for 12 years, being involved in beginner, national, and elite levels. His unique background as a former athlete and current coach gives him a one of a kind approach for the performance and rehabilitation of gymnasts. He has successfully treated some of the most talented high school, collegiate, and junior elite level gymnasts in the country. Along with gymnastics, Dave enjoys treating athletes of all sports as well as the specialized treatment of Olympic Weightlifters and CrossFit athletes. He has worked with regional and national level Olympic Weightlifters, as well as Regional and Games level CrossFit Athletes. Dave graduated from Springfield College with his Bachelors in Science, a Minor in Psychology, and Doctorate in Physical Therapy. He became Board Certified in Sports Physical Therapy in February of 2016, and became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach in 2017. His current interests include prevention and rehabilitation of extension based spine injuries, shoulder and hip instability, periodization and strength and conditioning models, as well as the science involved in long-term athletic development, mobility training, and motor control. He participates in ongoing continuing education by attending various courses, collaborating with other professionals, and staying up to date with the most current medical research. Along with treating in the clinic, Dave is also the CEO/Founder of “SHIFT Movement Science and Gymnastics Education”. This company was started in 2014 to help educate those involved in gymnastics, medical fields, Olympic weightlifting, CrossFit, and more about optimal performance and preventative rehabilitation strategies. By combining his roles as a healthcare provider, current coach, and athlete Dave looks to help remold the gymnastics world with current, scientifically backed principles that optimize a gymnast’s long-term potential. His new forward-thinking ideas have been nationally recognized with members of USA Gymnastics, being implemented into JO, Collegiate, and Elite level programs. Dave travels to speak both nationally and internationally at various events across the country including Make It Right Elite Gymnastics Camp, USAG Regional, and National Congress, Power Monkey Camp in Tennessee, and has consulted with many NCAA Division 1 Men’s and Women’s Gymnastics. Dave is very passionate about his work both in the clinic and gymnastics training arena. He aims to deliver the best possible care to the clients he sees and athletes he trains. He hopes to soon become more active in the role of conducting research studies related to gymnastics. Dave is the newest addition to the Champion Physical Therapy and Performance Team.
Read Full Profile
© 2021 TheatreArtLife. All rights reserved.
Thank you so much for reading, but you have now reached your free article limit for this month.
Our contributors are currently writing more articles for you to enjoy.
To keep reading, all you have to do is become a subscriber and then you can read unlimited articles anytime.
Your investment will help us continue to ignite connections across the globe in live entertainment and build this community for industry professionals.
