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Gymnast Research Paper

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Why is training as a professional gymnast so demanding on gymnast’s bodies? To partake in gymnastics it takes a vast amount of upper body strength. This strength alone is hard to build and maintain. ‘Trainings are extreme with any hours, lots of physical demands as well as mentally challenging’ . Great bursts of energy and power are needed to use this strength. Also a great amount of advanced physics come into executing skills perfectly. All of these aspects effect gymnasts can be positive and or negative. One of the major issues that effect gymnasts is the age they begin. Most elite gymnasts begin from the ages two to five From these young ages there is no holding back, overstretching strenuous hours, immeasurable amounts of conditioning all …show more content…

Also early preparation for gymnastics is one of the most important aspects. From personally knowing older gymnasts who started at ages three to five I know that this early intense training affects them immensely, both physically and mentally. ‘Recreational coaches have stated that a the age of three children should not be training or competing competitively.’ However elite Coaches believe that beginning to learn and over stretch children will assist with their gymnasts in later in their career, however this is not the case after this career is over. ‘The current methods for teaching gymnasts are extremely demanding at advanced levels, require that children give up many areas of their lives. This can have extremely negative effects on developing children.’ ‘Girls in gymnastics are especially vulnerable to delayed puberty. Menstrual cycles are often delayed and or stopped for an extended amount of time. Both girls and boys are susceptible to stunted growth due to over training and excessive dieting and the extreme stress that is associated with gymnastics.’ A gymnast’s career is usually from childhood to possibly early adult hood ages four to twenty seven. After this time many gymnasts begin to break down either physically or mentally. Their bodies cannot handle the pressure and they no longer have the power or strength to do the hard skills. Starting gymnasts at such a young age is mostly to get the most of their time and effort into gymnasts before they ‘burn out’. Its not necessarily the gymnastics that is disadvantaging the gymnasts it’s the amount of strenuous hours and injuries that occur during the trainings. ‘Some retired gymnasts had to retire at a very young age because or joint injuries. The intensity that they had to train at was extreme, and it was stated that it was hard to train when their joints could not

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