How to Have Your Best Competitive Gymnastics Season Part 1

This week on the podcast, we are kicking off an extremely exciting four-part adventure that has been highly requested by people in my online group; Hero Lab, about how to get the most success out of the competitive year in gymnastics.

If you want to watch the entire lecture series and join our discussion group you can check out The Hero Lab HERE

When you look at the competitive year in gymnastics people often become overwhelmed with what they should be doing differently throughout the year.

What should you be focusing on in the preseason versus the in-season versus the offseason?

What should I do, to get ready for meets?

What is the best strength conditioning?

What’s the best cardio?

What’s the best approach to gymnastic skill work and routine development?

I don’t have the golden answer that’s going to fit for every person and possible scenario.

But I’m super lucky and super fortunate that over the last 10 years, I’ve worked with 1000s of gymnasts, as a coach, medical provider, consultant, researcher.

Plus learning from phenomenal coaches and Olympic elite level gymnasts; I have been able to practically take all of their experiences with my scientific background, and turn it into a successful model of how to approach the competitive year.

Something that coaches can keep coming back to and referencing when they’re going through different phases of the competitive year.

Over the next few lectures, I’ll be sharing this model which I’ve seen great improvement and success from regular competitive clubs all the way up to international elite clubs and highly competitive gymnasts from all disciplines.

My goal with this lecture series is to share everything that I think is super important from my experiences but blend that with the scientific evidence and say to the everyday coach and parent, here’s what you can do practically, to help your athletes be as successful as possible.

Successful in terms of what your goal is in gymnastics, whether that’s competitively with a score, trying to make a team, or performing for your friends and family at the end of the year show.

In this first lecture, I am going to take people through my state of the approach of what I do right now, starting with some background principles, things we have to know to be successful first, for all parts of the seasons.

I really believe that the mental and emotional well-being of the athlete during competitive season is absolutely paramount as the gymnastic season can be extremely brutal on athletes between school, the stress of competing, and life stress with friends.

There can be a lot of anxiety, depression, and social issues that come up if we don’t proactively take care of the athletes and really think about their well-being ahead of time.

Then in the following lectures, I will break down exactly what you should maybe be doing in each season for skill development, routine development, strength and conditioning, what is the science behind doing certain sets and reps, cardio and energy systems, and what we’re doing to take care of athletes.

I discuss: