Backflip too high - help!!!

[Emmz777]

I have a gymnast who used to have great round-off backflips. We then started working on round-off backsaults which she is very good at. However, when she does a round-off backflip now, her flip is very high and very short. It has been a good few months since she did a nice long backflip and I am desperate for tips and some drills on how to get her backflips back to normal.

Please help - how do I fix a very high and short backflip????

 

[rd7]

Make sure her feet are snapped underneath and in front or her hips coming out of her round off so momentum goes backwards instead of up.

Any reason why you're not working round off flip sault instead?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

i think rd7 means flip flop/back handspring? is that what your part of the world calls "flip sault"? and i would ask the same question. why just round off backs?

anywhoooo, stack some mats up to the athletes shoulder height. then do round off to back drop up on to the high mat. and pay attention what she is doing with her head. the head must rotate with the shoulders/neutral. often the kids will bury their chins in their chest because us coaches tell them to "keep your head in" and they exaggerate the instruction.

 

[wordsmith]

i think rd7 means flip flop/back handspring? is that what your part of the world calls "flip sault"? and i would ask the same question. why just round off backs?

We have an Aussie coach in our gym and like Emmz777, he calls backhandsprings "back flips". So I assume "backsaults" is back salto.

Not sure but I'm wondering if rd7 might be asking why not "round-off backhandspring back flip (salto) instead?"

[(back)flip= (back)handspring and "sault" meaning salto/flip?]

Interestingly enough, last week I had a level 4 gymnast who is pretty powerful in her tumbling but squats quite a bit out of her round-off into her backhandspring. So I had her do some round-off punch jumps. Then I explained to her once again what I wanted her to do- rebound into her backhandspring by overturning her round-off and punching through into the backhandspring. A light bulb turned on inside her head and she was able to punch into her bh with stiff legs- and it was long.

 

[bogwoppit]

I think the OP means that the gymnast had a great ro bhs, then they went to working ro bt and that is where the problem started. So when the gymnast goes back to ro bhs they are too high and short.

My thought would be to take the ro bhs back to the beginning and use a mat stack to jump/push back onto, this will remind the gymnast that the bhs is back and not so much up.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

ahhhh. that makes sense too. ^^^

 

[rd7]

UK - Round Off - Flic - Tuck Back
US - Round Off - Back Handspring - Back Tuck
Au - Round Off - Back Flip - Back Sault (as in somersault I guess)

So the way I read it OP has their gymnast working round off back tuck instead of round off - backhandspring - back tuck.

And since they have been doing this their round off - backhandspring has gone too high.

Think that just about covers it

 

[marie83]

hehe I love how we all say different things to mean the same thing!

If you have access to a trampoline, you could also go back to focusing on making the standing bhs longer - so start on one line, bhs so that hands reach the cross and land on the next line.

I have found that this works well. One or two of my gymnasts have high bhs too and after they go over to the tramp to do 10 they come back and have lovely RO-BHS. We also work on snapping the feet under so that they are leaning backwards at the end of the roundoff, so that they are leaning backwards.

 

[CoachTodd]

I think Round off tucks mess up round offs. A round off tuck is usually a cheer skill since many cheerleaders aren't taught proper round offs. If folks want to round off tucks, I think they should alternate round off handsprings in as well to keep the round off snapping to the correct position for each skill

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yes, they do. ^^^ and they screw up back handsprings also.

 

[Liv...]

If the problem is that they have their set I find that doing a hurdle round off and missing their feet to land on a wedge really helps over exaggerate the position the body needs to be in to go into a back handspring.
Usually I set the drill up off a tumbling track style trampoline (for the hurdle) and then let them place their hands on a hard crash mat. They then scoop through to land on their back on the wedge with the lower end facing towards you.
I find the drill really helps with people who pike out of their roundoff's as well as they realise they do it because they land sitting up instead of scooped.

 

[iwannacoach]

Work up to this in 2.5 cm increments......Stand on on layer of folding mat, lift r/o front leg with ars raied over your head.....Let your self fall forward, touch front foot with nearly straight leg, kick back leg hard and straight up behind you, fall off your front foot while you push with it, finish in a feet late to gether round-off.......get used to drill and increase height to 5cm to allow for more fall speed.

At this point you should be seeing enough push from the hands and enough leg speed to produce a reasonable snap down...If not go up another 2.5 cm. to get more power. Have to kid start the following tumbling session with ten round-off snap downs. Because of the lack of run and the consistency created by falling of the mat, the round-off will be; easier to train due to fewer variables so you can coach the same skill two times in a row

Have a more powerful snap down because of all the compensating taking place with out the run

Better direction which means less energy bouncing from side to side

better posture (if they fall, kick/push) which gives more power during the push off from hands


It's your choice after that...If you have her run into the r/o after warming up as I suggest, she will work the snap down muscles out of habit, and actually snap thru into a ground pounding earth shattering lightning fast back handspring. If I were you I wouldn't let her run too far, and since she's not experienced enough to know to adjust her snap down to compensate for flips vs. tuck saltos, I'd appreciate it if you'd spot her as the first one will be the best one she's ever done if she follows through (most do)
but it could be so fast she freaks out ( about 1 in 40 ). So keep her safe and always go to that drill until you can watch them as they tumble straight toward you, and correct if you see anything other that the posture you'd like to see in a handstand....it should ALL go straight over the top as if on balance beam. And no more r/o salto tucks until they have about 2-3 hundred r/o flips so they can develope muscle memory.

 

[kalgymcoach]

Is the hurdle entry going up or out? I find that some gymnasts seem to hurdle upwards if they are saulting!

 

[iwannacoach]

IMO, the the best tumblers will have less " up and down" motion in their hurdles. It makes sense if power requires speed, timing, posture, and angles, that a straight "line" with the least changes in direction (verticle & horizontal) will produce the most energy. That why arrows with feathers travel with more energy than arrows with-out feathers. I don't think it's possible to successfull co-ordinate a "heightless" hurdle, but a high hurdle, while producing an argument among coaches, just can't produce as much power.

If your question came about from the drill I suggested......That drill is good for teaching the gymnasts to let their momentum do the work. It also allows them to learn in "slow motion", where they can really get a sense of what their body needs to do to conserve energy as they move through the skill.