Men Are 'Baby Giants' useful if you already have Giants?

[Sasha]

Just curious, on high-bar, if a boy (or girl?) already has Giants, what is the benefit of mastering the Baby Giant? Does it progress to something else besides the Giant?

I just keep hearing that the Baby Giant is a progression toward Giant. Wondering if there is more worth to it than that...?

(I don't have a good video, but by Baby Giant I mean where you cast then swing under the bar, swinging legs forward, up, then back over the bar with your hips touching it - finishes kinda like a back hip circle. Sorry I'm sure that explanation is horrible to someone who better understands this skill!)

 

[GlobalNomad]

DD keeps going back to baby giants as a drill. She tends to arch on the top of her giant. She can't arch in a baby giant, so it's good for her for form work.

 

[Lyddie27]

if the giants aren't perfect, it's a good drill to work on, as it lets them focus on the hollow-arch-kick motion without worrying about getting over (aka sacrificing form to fling themselves around the bar).

 

[thefellowsmom]

Interestingly, my dd learned giants from old bar coach. They did a ton of baby Giants, especially when they started getting them around but not consistently. I know my dd and her teammate had issues with their kick and went back and forth from giant to baby giant and back a lot in the last months of really getting it solid.

I could definitely see how this might be used to try to correct a form issue in someone who "has" the skill already.

New coach is teaching giants to the kids learning them now bent leg and then straightening them out.

I would be curious to know the thoughts and mechanics of one vs the other, just having watched both ways start to finish.

I can say both groups have nice giants. Very few archy backs in our gym. They spend a lot of time and put a lot of emphasis on shapes, strength and technique in all of their gymnastics though.

 

[munchkin3]

Baby giants are used in our gym to reinforce FORM......the coaches are sticklers for the form and they dont want ANY ARCHING except for the bottom tap.....
they do a TON of baby giants......then some regular ones, then back to babies....correct correct correct.....arms, toes, hollow....tight....over and over and over....

so from my position....YES

 

[profmom]

DD's coach used more hollow overs than baby giants, but they're pretty similar, and even as a second year L8, she still does them sometimes to work on shaping. For the boys, well, they are a required element in the L6 routine, even if a boy is competing both giant bonuses. Pretty sure DS took .2 to .3 on every 3/4 giant he competed for bending his arms to slow down his momentum, so I am glad he's rid of them in the competition context!

 

[gymdog]

Yes, it's a drill, but men's high bar is also different from unevens, usually giants are at the end of WAG routines before flyaway, men's high bar is differe since it's just one high bar. So in the developmental levels sometimes they "exit" a full giant with a baby giant and then underswing into something else that they might not be ready to combine to a handstand. So it's another "dismount" from a giant.

 

[ascarter1]

Dd, level 7, never did baby Giants. She went straight to Giants. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen anyone do them at our gym.

 

[sce]

Dd, level 7, never did baby Giants. She went straight to Giants. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen anyone do them at our gym.

If they scored out of level 5 they did baby giants

 

[ascarter1]

If they scored out of level 5 they did baby giants

Dd went from level 3-6 last season. So she never competed 4 or 5, just did a really low key, minimum in house score out.

Our gym doesn't compete 5.

 

[sce]

Dd went from level 3-6 last season. So she never competed 4 or 5, just did a really low key, minimum in house score out.

Our gym doesn't compete 5.

I guess I'm confused. Low key or not they had to perform the level 5 routines right? I assume that they did not all leave a bar skill out?!?

 

[raenndrops]

Dd went from level 3-6 last season. So she never competed 4 or 5, just did a really low key, minimum in house score out.

Our gym doesn't compete 5.

Baby giant is the long hang pullover in level 5.
So your daughter DID do one in scoring out.

 

[ascarter1]

Baby giant is the long hang pullover in level 5.
So your daughter DID do one in scoring out.

I know what they are and I know that she did not compete one in the score out meet.

 

[ascarter1]

I guess I'm confused. Low key or not they had to perform the level 5 routines right? I assume that they did not all leave a bar skill out?!?

They all must have because no one in my dd's group practiced or competed baby giants, ever.

 

[profmom]

Huh. So she must have gotten deducted for a missing element.

It's an interesting training strategy to skip this skill altogether. Did the gym just work on a lot of hollow overs instead of doing anything with 3/4 giants?

 

[ascarter1]

Huh. So she must have gotten deducted for a missing element.

It's an interesting training strategy to skip this skill altogether. Did the gym just work on a lot of hollow overs instead of doing anything with 3/4 giants?

That must have been what they did. I guess since it isn't "needed" in 6 they skipped that skill all together.

 

[Clover]

Seems like kind of a risky strategy for scoring out of Level 5. They took a bunch of girls and scored them out of 4 and then 5. They omitted an element in L5 bars, which is typically tough to score well in anyway. Isn't that double the value deduction? What were the scores like?

 

[munchkin3]

I have been told that hollow overs and baby giants are the same thing....
long hang pullover is also a different skill, however the are all progressions of the same skill....

 

[profmom]

I have been told that hollow overs and baby giants are the same thing....
long hang pullover is also a different skill, however the are all progressions of the same skill....

I know that terminology can vary, but there's a clear distinction between a 3/4 giant or baby giant on the one hand and a hollow over on the other in my kids' training. The 3/4 or baby giant ends with the hips touching the bar, whereas for the hollow over, the gymnast keeps the hollow shape all the way around and does not come down onto the bar. At this point neither of mine ever does a 3/4, but DD still does some hollow overs now and then. DS is simply subjected to occasional irritable shouting about head position and "your SHAPE! your SHAPE!"

 

[munchkin3]

I know that terminology can vary, but there's a clear distinction between a 3/4 giant or baby giant on the one hand and a hollow over on the other in my kids' training. The 3/4 or baby giant ends with the hips touching the bar, whereas for the hollow over, the gymnast keeps the hollow shape all the way around and does not come down onto the bar. At this point neither of mine ever does a 3/4, but DD still does some hollow overs now and then. DS is simply subjected to occasional irritable shouting about head position and "your SHAPE! your SHAPE!"

I guess mine does not either.......mine is doing exactly what the video shows.....hollow overs.......and then they mix in regular giants as well......she spent 3 months ONLY doing these hollow overs first though.....

The Level 5 training these are still very afraid of casting and swinging big, so at this point they are still at long hang pullovers.

Now, my sons baby giant was a big swing, all the way up, and then hips to the bar (but they never actually hit) right to a undershoot.....very different from DD.
his training was more do the giant and fix the form later.... with the same training technique of yelling.