Time commitment

As I await the arrival of my books and DVDs with childlike anticipation, I was just wondering how much time the young athletes we see in the pics and video commit to training per week?

How many hrs a day and days a week do your athletes train?

I'm curious to get an idea of what type of time commitment and training schedule they have.

I assume they also have normal lives and go to school as well?

Greek, since your in Ras Vegas there are a few really good gyms you could probably go sneak a peek in and ask.

L4's 6yo probably about 9-11 hours at the top clubs. 3-4d

L5's 7yo probably 10-12 3-4d

L6's probably about 11-13 4d

optionals L7 about 14-18 including L8 ( something for incoming JH/HS age boys ) 5d

L9/10 16-20, sometimes 25-30. at least 12yo, perhaps 10 or 11 training L9. 6d

Some optionals do home school, but you don't see the push for home school/private tutors as much in MAG compared to WAG ( Women's Artistic Gymnastics ).

Ideally, if I hit all the adult gymnastics classes in the area I could train 3 days for 5 hours. 1.5h during the weeknights and 2h on sat. My old gym had open gym from 4-8 though so an adult gymnast theoritically could train much more than at most other gyms.

Percentage of Time Spent

My own level 4s train for 3 hours; 2 days per week. My Level 5s train for 10 hours; 3 days per week. My level 6-8s train 16 hours; 4 days per week. And finally my level 9-10s train 24 hours; 6 days per week.

From a fitness perspective however, it is important for the fitness enthusiast to separate the amount of time spent in technical skill refinement from that spent on physical preparation. My own athlete's spend 4 hours per week on strength training and another 4 1/2 hours on flexibility and joint preparation work. It must also be understood that for the fitness enthusiast this level of flexibility and joint preparation work would be unnecessary.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks for the details, Coach.

Thanks Coach, right now I train about 2 hrs a day, 6 days a week. Usually an hr or so in the morning and same at night/early afternoon.

How much flexiblity/joint preparation work do you think the fintess enthusiast needs? I think this work is very important.