Back walkover on beam help!!

[gymnast4]

I am trying to learn my back walkover on beam. I've been practicing it on a 1" high mat beam thing. I can land my feet straight on it but can't get my hands together on it. Does anyone have tips for keeping your hands together so they go on the beam?

 

[iwannacoach]

Put something small like a ping-pong ball between your wrists, with your arms extended over and behind your head. Hold it there for 10 seconds as you try to "crush" it between your wrist while keeping your arms completely straight. All of the energy for the "crush" should be coming from your shoulder area, and you should be able to feel those muscles working to crush the ball.

When you do a back walk-over you have to use those same muscles to keep your wrists and hands close together as you arrive at the beam. You shouldn't just "think" about the hands being close together, you should reproduce that muscle effort you learned while standing with your arms in position while trying to crush the ping-pong ball. So don't "just do it", you need to "feel it".

 

[coachmolly]

Not necessarily specific to getting your hands closer together, but great for general alignment of the skill, is to stretch up tall as you prepare to begin the backwalkover. It's kind of like imagining you're "growing" as you stand on the beam. It helps get your body aligned and, like iwannacoach mentioned, gets you feeling it rather than just doing it.