Anon Non athletic body

Geoffrey Taucer said:

At anything below the absolute top level (ie "currently preparing for the 2024 Olympics"), body type is simply a negligible factor.
As far as nutrition is concerned, the most pressing concern for a developing athlete is making sure they're getting enough to eat; the specifics of what they're eating are a comparatively minor concern.

That said, puberty is rough, especially for female athletes. Here's the best way I can describe the process:

Imagine you buy yourself a car. Specifically, a reasonably nice 2-door coop. And you drive it for, say, 10 or so years. By the end of that, its handling is second nature to you. You know exactly how hard you have to push the gas pedal to get the acceleration you want. You know exactly how big of a gap you need to squeeze through. You know exactly how hard to push the break to stop in a given distance. You know exactly how far to turn the steering wheel to get through any particular turn, and you know exactly how fast you can push through that turn (and, let's be honest, you definitely get a bit of a thrill from pushing it to the limit on this from time to time). All of this has become second nature to you; it's not something you consciously think about, it's just something you feel while driving.
Now you switch out your sporty 2-door coop for a big honkin' SUV. In the big picture, it works exactly the same way: you have a wheel that turns it, a gas pedal that makes it speed up, and break pedal that makes it slow down. But that feel that you've developed, that second-nature sense like the vehicle is just an extension of your own mind, that all suddenly has to get thrown out the window.
Now all this stuff that was simple and intuitive, you have to relearn from scratch. The wheel still turns, but it doesn't turn the way you're used to. The gas still accelerates, but it doesn't do it the way you feel like it should. The break still slows you down, but it's not as responsive as you've learned to expect.

That's what puberty is like to a gymnast. Yes, all the skills technically function the same way, but suddenly the vehicle doesn't handle the way they thought it would, and all this subconscious control has to be relearned from scratch.

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Anonymous Post said:

So my Gymnast is just entering her teenage years, her head coach has said she doesn't have an athletic body. Since last year her body shape has changed, she has hips that are round and a much fuller chest, but she isn't anywhere near fat, she isn't stuck thin either, but i know that this is what her coach would prefer as every girl in her squad seems to be more of the expected body shape, and coach feels like this is making her sluggish in gym and hindering her moving onto bigger skills.
She does 20 hours per week and 2 hours of PE at school. She doesn't have a bad diet but I have been making sure that she is eating better more consistantly by making her lunch to take to school and this normally consist of natural yogurt, granola and berries either blueberries or raspberries or a mix of both. Chicken pesto pasta using wholemeal pasta, tuna pasta etc

She isn't a big breakfast eater, so we have compromised with a protein shake in the morning. She has a quick snack before school and gym which is normally a banana or a sandwich with ham and cheese. After gym is normally something light and not a full meal as she finishes fairly late and by the time she is in and fed and getting ready for bed it's close to 10pm.

Nothing seems to be helping. I don't want her to lose weight, but considering how much exercise she is doing then I agree that she could be a bit leaner.

I am full of mixed emotions and the last thing I want is to make my child feel like she is fat or overweight or feel that she has to watch every little thing she eats.

Honestly I think I'm just looking for some advice of how to get through this initial puberty burst while keeping her with enough energy for gym.

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Anonymous Post said:

I don’t do NEAR as much gymnastics as your daughter but I still partially understand. I also have a few more, uh, curves than what is normal compared to the other girls in my gymnastics group and they’re all the same age as I am, 12-15 (I’m 13). I am not fat and I am getting more visible abs (unless I’m bloated), but by no means am I super lean or skinny. I’m normal. For reference, I am 5 foot 6in and 120lbs. Very, very typical (but healthy) weight for someone my height.

I have given up on trying to lose more weight because it’s just not going to happen. I have accepted that. All the girls in my family are a bit curvier and that’s ok. The point is I’m healthy.

I went through a HUGE growth spurt last year where I grew 6 inches and a heck load of other changes that every girl goes through , and that was the year I started doing gymnastics. Not pleasant, to say the least.

My question is this: is your daughter healthy? If so, it’s fine. I feel 100x stronger with a 28 inch waist as opposed to when I was starving and it was 25in . I also have ridiculously thick thighs and even when I lost fat from my stomach my legs were always a bit fatter. I also accepted that. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be the best, leanest, healthiest version of yourself- but accepting things you can’t change, even momentarily, is probably best to avoid feeling like crap about yourself.

Another reason she could be ‘sluggish’ is growing pains. My ankles hurt a lot as I grew taller, and so did my legs in general.

It will pass.

Also, you probably know who Katelyn Ohashi is. You know, the viral video where she got the perfect 10. Does she have the most athletic body ever? No. But Is she athletic? Obviously yes, nobody does a double layout without being athletic.

Seeing I don’t do intensive gymnastics I couldn’t really give any advice- this was just my personal experience.

Good luck to her!

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Anonymous Post said:

Nothing seems to be helping. I don't want her to lose weight, but considering how much exercise she is doing then I agree that she could be a bit leaner.

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Anonymous Post said:

So my Gymnast is just entering her teenage years, her head coach has said she doesn't have an athletic body.

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Anonymous Post said:

There are a few episodes of Christina Anderson’s gymnast nutrition podcast and some free resources on her website and Instagram that address this. The short of it is that most older gymnasts need more calories than they are getting (this was counterintuitive to me but Christina Anderson explains it well), puberty is vital and how athletes builds strength and muscle, and the old-fashioned talk about having a certain body type to be successful is garbage. Watch some college gymnastics and you’ll see body types just like your daughters.

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Anonymous Post said:

Why is it a weird thread? I am asking for advice on something that im sure thousands of gymnasts have been exposed to and how best to deal with it. I 100% have not expressed anything of the sort to my daughter, and never would have. Gymnastics is cut throat as it is, I'm not going to add this pressure on her shoulders, hence why I have came to ask advice.

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