WAG Ugh! Re-learning BWOs with my good leg?

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

Well, so it turns out I've been doing my BWOs with my bad leg (right). I've never had much of a problem with using my bad leg, but I've been having problems with getting them to stay on the beam (and by extension, BHS stepouts) because my bad side flexibility is worse than my good side flexibility, and they tend to be longer.


I've planned to just go through all the steps to leaning a BWO originally (BKO, etc.) But that might not be the best approach.

Any thoughts?


Once again, UGGGGGH.

 

[sce]

Do you have a coach to ask these questions? I do know some gymnasts seem to switch legs for certain skill. Not sure why. Which leg do you use for cartwheels? Which foot do you land on, for your BHS step-out?

I am not sure the best approach to learning a skill on the opposite leg. I imagine if you had a good one on one leg, switching legs won't be too difficult.

 

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

[QUOTE="sce, post: 496797, member: 16613Which leg do you use for cartwheels? Which foot do you land on, for your BHS step-out?
[/QUOTE]
So I do everything else left (twisting, roundoff, cartwheel, bar stuff, etc.) and my left side is much more flexible than my right side. However, I do a BHS landing on my left foot, which means I kick up my right foot. It's not really a problem for BHSs, it's for BWOs because they're much easier to keep straight if you are flexible, at least in my experience.
[QUOTE="sce, post: 496797, member: 16613
I am not sure the best approach to learning a skill on the opposite leg. I imagine if you had a good one on one leg, switching legs won't be too difficult.[/QUOTE]

So you think I should just keep doing it with my right leg?

 

[GymDad9.9]

I believe this scenario just happened with my daughter as well. Sounds like it will take some time for my daughter to adjust doing it the "right" way as she is finding it awkward.

 

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

Do you have a coach to ask these questions? I do know some gymnasts seem to switch legs for certain skill. Not sure why. Which leg do you use for cartwheels? Which foot do you land on, for your BHS step-out?

I am not sure the best approach to learning a skill on the opposite leg. I imagine if you had a good one on one leg, switching legs won't be too difficult.

See my earlier reply. I guess the quotes didn't work.

 

[M2Abi]

My dd had to relearn a lot of her skills on the other leg because she was using both of them, depending on skill. I think it just takes time.

 

[ayyyrial]

Just to clarify, for a rightie BWO, you stand on your left leg and raise your right foot in the air in front of you to start - just want to make sure we're talking about "right leg BWO" meaning standing on your left, raising your right.

At my gym we did BWO and FWO on both sides in warm up to make sure we'd stretch both sides of our backs. It wasn't too hard to learn the opposite leg - I don't think we ever did any drills for it, we just went ahead and tried it. Maybe you don't get over the first time, but that's not a big deal. You can go backwards onto a 4-in or 8-in if you are nervous. I can't imagine doing my opposite side on beam though.

Another thing to consider for beam connections is BWO and switch legs in the air, if you need a particular foot in front to connect a skill. Or a regular BWO but step in front instead of behind when you take off for your BHS.

Also, not sure why your flexibility is impacting your BHS step-outs. Since you jump into it, it shouldn't take much back/shoulder flexibility. Leg flexibility isn't super important either since you don't need to snap your legs open to a wide angle or anything. The most important thing for landings is a good take-off, and then staying square to the beam and squeezing your thighs together as you step down.

 

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

Just to clarify, for a rightie BWO, you stand on your left leg and raise your right foot in the air in front of you to start - just want to make sure we're talking about "right leg BWO" meaning standing on your left, raising your right.

Correct. I raise my right foot.

At my gym we did BWO and FWO on both sides in warm up to make sure we'd stretch both sides of our backs. It wasn't too hard to learn the opposite leg - I don't think we ever did any drills for it, we just went ahead and tried it. Maybe you don't get over the first time, but that's not a big deal. You can go backwards onto a 4-in or 8-in if you are nervous. I can't imagine doing my opposite side on beam though.

Another thing to consider for beam connections is BWO and switch legs in the air, if you need a particular foot in front to connect a skill. Or a regular BWO but step in front instead of behind when you take off for your BHS.

I do both BHS and BWO with my bad leg.

Also, not sure why your flexibility is impacting your BHS step-outs. Since you jump into it, it shouldn't take much back/shoulder flexibility. Leg flexibility isn't super important either since you don't need to snap your legs open to a wide angle or anything. The most important thing for landings is a good take-off, and then staying square to the beam and squeezing your thighs together as you step down.

Oops, let me clarify. Because I have trouble with BWOs, I can't connect them to BHSs on beam because I don't land square. I don't have much trouble with BHSs (well, at least not from this )

 

[ayyyrial]

Ok, I see. In that case you can work on re-learning BWOs on your other leg, but since you'd also have to learn the BHS on the other leg for that to work....maybe just working on correcting your BWOs/the connection would be easier. You can work on your HS - split (on whatever leg you BWO on) step down to BHS to help with making sure you are square as you are coming down. Make sure when you are in your split handstand (or the middle of a BWO) that your legs are square and your butt is squeezed, and that you are pushing through your shoulders. Other common problems for BWOs are not stretching up tall enough before you go, or putting weight on your front foot as you are leaning back. To correct those you can work on doing BWOs where you start with your front leg held in the air at horizontal for 3 seconds before you go backwards (so it never touches the beam until the end).

 

[Sarah_the_gymnast]

Ok, I see. In that case you can work on re-learning BWOs on your other leg, but since you'd also have to learn the BHS on the other leg for that to work....maybe just working on correcting your BWOs/the connection would be easier. You can work on your HS - split (on whatever leg you BWO on) step down to BHS to help with making sure you are square as you are coming down. Make sure when you are in your split handstand (or the middle of a BWO) that your legs are square and your butt is squeezed, and that you are pushing through your shoulders. Other common problems for BWOs are not stretching up tall enough before you go, or putting weight on your front foot as you are leaning back. To correct those you can work on doing BWOs where you start with your front leg held in the air at horizontal for 3 seconds before you go backwards (so it never touches the beam until the end).

Thanks! I'll try those.