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humorist-workshop
Back handsprings
I a 16 year old girl, soon to be 17, and I need help to get my 2nd back handspring. I have the standing and round off back handspring, I have the 2nd one, but its so slow, so I don't really land it. I need help on some ways to make it faster. I will be going back to gymnastics this summer, but we have cheering try outs on wensday, and I was hoping to at least get my 2nd one looking nice. And what are some ways to get ready for my tuck. I WONT try it on my own, but maybe some exercises or something I can do to help make it easier. I was learning a couple years ago, but then I hurt my knee two years ago, and I haven't been to gymnastics really since. Only to refresh my back handspring.
So my questions
-Ways to make my 2nd back handspring faster in my roud off
-Exercises or drills I can do to help get ready for my tuck
I would like answers to be from real gymnast or cheerleaders that can already do these tricks. No "my friend does this" please.
THANKS! =D
hollister_lover09
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Oh man, gymnastics is just one of those things you CANNOT explain in writing, you like NEED to be there to show you, so please bear with me as I try my best.
I just graduated I was on cheer all 4 years of high school sideline and competitive and I did middle school cheer. I had the exact same problem you do up until competitive season senior year. I had my roundoff bhs (although slow). And I could connect up to 4 but they were slow too, like it almost looked like I stopped or something before doing the next one. We had gymnastics every single monday in high school and I always felt like I was holding everyone else up. I finally sped up this year but without knowing what your actual problem is, (being slow is often a result of you doing something wrong in your bhs) I cant really tell you what to do to fix it.
How does your single bhs look?
Do you sit really low first, or only bend your knees a little bit?
When you sit, are you leaning back a lot or sitting straight then jumping back to compensate?
And also, how's your arch in the spring itself?
I can tell you what my problem was and how I fixed it, and maybe that'll work for you.
I was sitting and leaning a normal amount, but when I was jumping, I didn't jump backward enough. Therefore I was going upward too much, and bending my back more than I was supposed to in order to compensate for going too high. It wasn't even a crazy amount of too high, either. The slightest amount can mess you up. So I figured out that the reason it looked like I was stopping in between was because when I was coming down for the snap down, it was taking more time than it was supposed to since I jumped too high.
What actually helped me fix it, was my senior year competitive season, the JV coach had to become the varsity coach because the old varsity coach was having a baby, and my new coach said something to a freshman about jumping with the balls of your feet and using them to propel you backwards, instead of jumping with your whole foot. (try standing straight up, then point one foot, put it in front of you like a little off the ground, then keeping your legs locked
in that position, fall forward onto your pointed foot, then at the very second the ball of your foot hits the ground, rebound backwards. your back, locked leg should come off the ground and your whole body should go backwards with you only using one leg) Then once you get that motion of using the balls of your feet, put that into action during your spring only with both legs.
I'm not even kidding, the first time I did it like that, it was like a epiphany moment. I was like "so THAT'S what doing it right feels like. And everything was IMMEDIATELY fixed. Then when you go to connect, you have to make sure that you jump with the balls of your feet EACH time (It's kinda hard to do it off a round off)
Also, when your connecting, it helps me to go faster when I don't think of it as individual springs, but as feet, hands, feet, hands, etc.
And just make sure when you're connecting off a round odd, you're getting enough speed built up in your round off, cuz it'll make all the difference on the speed of your springs.
Okay, so it was sufficiently difficult for me to put that all in writing, like I said, gymnastics is just one of those things you cant learn in writing. So I'm not even gonna scratch the surface on tuck stuff. I would just let your gymnastics coach help you with that one.
My one tip with tucks though, over jump as much as you can. Believe me, you wont over jump at all. And find your set point, then PULL LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW. it may fell like your gonna jump through the foot and pull your knees through your chest, but that's what it's gonna take to get over.
And DON'T be afraid to throw your tuck on your own. Worst case senario, you under pull or under jump and land on your knees. It may hurt for a minute, but if your coach sees that your willing to throw, he/she will be SO much more willing to give you the extra tips and help that you need to finally land it. After all, would you rather spend your time helping someone stick it that really wants to go for it, or someone that just says they want their tuck but wont throw?
Sorry it's so long, I just wanted to get it all out there.
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