Sport Specialization and Fitness and Functional Task Performance Among Youth Competitive Gymnasts

Abstract

Context Gymnastics trains fundamental movement skills but has high rates of early sport specialization. Early specialization is associated with increased injury risk. Gymnasts devote time to developing technical skill, but whether specialization status influences performance is unknown. Objective To describe the participation and specialization characteristics of youth club gymnastics participants and determine whether the level of specialization is associated with fitness and functional task performance. Design Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting A single gymnastics facility. Patients or Other Participants Data on youth gymnasts (n = 131; 84 females, 47 males; age = 10.9 ± 2.9 years, height = 142.14 ± 16.23 cm, mass = 38.15 ± 12.93 kg) were reviewed. Main Outcome Measure(s) Specialization was assessed using a 3-tiered classification. Fitness measurements consisted of the Gymnastics Functional Measurement Tool, Men's Gymnastics Functional Measurement Tool, and core strength. Functional tasks evaluated hop performance, dynamic balance, and jump-landing technique. Separate analyses of covariance, covaried by age, hours of training, and years of gymnastics participation, were used to identify differences in fitness and functional performance among specialization groups. Pearson product correlations were calculated to evaluate the relationships between training hours per week and years in gymnastics with fitness and functional performance. Results Most gymnasts were classified as moderately (50.4%, n = 66) or highly (35.1%, n = 46) specialized. Only 14.5% (n = 19) were classified as having a low level of specialization. Weak to moderate correlations were present between years in gymnastics and most fitness tasks. Moderate to strong correlations were noted between training hours per week and most fitness tasks. Low-specialization gymnasts scored lower on right lower extremity Y-balance (P = .004), upper left extremity Y-balance (P = .033), and right hop performance (P = .039) tests. Conclusions Gymnasts reported high proportions of moderate to high specialization, and many exceeded guidelines for hours participating in gymnastics per week. We did not observe clinically meaningful group differences among specialization status and fitness or functional movement tasks, indicating no clear benefit of gymnastics training to the exclusion of other sports for increased performance.

The association between sport specialisation and movement competency in youth: a systematic review

“…7,28,31,33 Of the remaining studies, seven showed some measures of movement competence were worse in high specialised athletes, but other measures did not differ. 3,24,25,27,30,32,34 Some differences were evident in measures of jump landing mechanics and performance, LESS, muscular strength and endurance, Y-balance, aerobic endurance, and flexibility.…”

“…[32][33][34] The majority involved early to mid-adolescent participants (age range 12-16), 3,7,24,27,28,[31][32][33] with three studies including younger participants (as young as 6 years in one study). 25,30,34 Two retrospective studies included adults (aged [19][20][21][22][23][24][25], who were grouped based on high school sport participation. 26,29 Methods used to classify specialisation…”

“…30,32 Muscular endurance was assessed in three studies, including the number of repetitions performed in push ups, 30,34 pull ups, 30 sit ups, 34 or the duration of abdominal hollow hold 30 or front plank. 30,32…”

An analysis of movements with or without back bend of the trunk or large hip extension in 1stJuniors’ Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championship-2019. Is there injury risk for gymnasts?

“…Injuries detrimentally affect the final ranking position with higher availability rates associated with better outcomes on athletic success (Drew et al, 2017). Despite not being very healthy, observational studies show that between 23.5% and 43.5% of gymnasts participate in training and competitions when they are injured (Root et al, 2019). Thus, the resultant increase in injuries must be taken into matter when determining training schedules for elite gymnasts.…”

Selected components of physical fitness in rhythmic and artistic youth gymnast

“…Both RG and AG are international sports, recognized by the Italian Federation of Gymnastics (FIG). Both these two forms of gymnastics share many similar attributes but differ in terms of events, rules, and style [9]. For females, AG events include performances on different equipment (e.g., vault, uneven bars, balance beam, and floor), while RG events are all performed on the same equipment-a padded floor, that can vary according to the specific support utilized (e.g.…”