Optional Arm Conditioning

Today I thought I would share a small portion of the Optional Conditioning lecture I did at Region 3 congress.

My conditioning goals:

  • Based on a 5 day workout week:
    • Legs 4 days (3 events are based on leg strength – it’s KEY) 2-3 days impact, 1-2 days non-impact
    • Arms 3 days a week in conditioning and skill specific arms + every day on bars
    • Core 5 days (ie. every day) – core is not just stomach – it involves the entire trunk and often parts are neglected

So today, I thought I would share a few ideas for arms. Based on the goals you see above I would normally do 3 days a week of an arm circuit – typically 8 stations, 1 minute at each station, 2x around. Then additionally after each turn on bars 30 seconds – 1 minute of a conditioning or shaping station.

This first video is an example of a 6 station circuit:

Push-ups with legs elevated (keeping body flat)

Pike HS push-ups

Bent arm pull backs with band

Tricep push-ups

Arm pull-ups in hollow with band

Foam roller leans

This video includes a lot of pushing (tricep push-ups, pike hs push-ups, push-ups with legs elevated) – when creating circuits try to make sure that you are putting as many pulls in as push-ups. So things you might add are theraband pull-downs, rope climbs without legs and any form of pull-up.

This second video is just some ideas of things gymnasts can be doing instead of chalking up. If there are more than two people in the chalk bucket whoever got there third can go do 30 more seconds of a drill or conditioning so that they walk away from bars having used their time as productively as possible. This is by no means exhaustive – just to give you an idea of how much conditioning gymnasts can get done in between turns.

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