Beam- front tucks

[gymnasticsfreak]

Hi, I was wondering, I started doing front tucks on the real beam with mats piled under it yesterday. I did 7 and landed all of them. But I was always a little under rotated and close to falling on my but. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, and neither could my coach. JUst so you know, I have the highest front tuck in the gym, and i always take off with a straight body.
What could I be doing wrong?
Thanks

 

[Deleted member D3987]

video, please.

 

[gymdog]

Beam is not as good as the spring floor so it is hard to compare front tuck on floor. Really it's rotation more than height if that makes sense. You can have a high front tuck on floor that rotates relatively slowly, and when you move that over to the beam it's not likely to cut it. You should probably be able to do a standing front tuck (from a releve, slightly arched stand) onto at least one 8-incher if you're going to be successful on beam (do not overdo this drill at first. Maybe try 5 times). Then, stretch jump, front tuck and assemble front tuck onto a panel mat (no run and punch). Then if possible on either lower beam or a higher beam (just use more mats), at the END of the beam build the mats up to HIGHER than the beam (obviously easier to do on a lower beam). Of course this must be stable and you should initially have a spotter to avoid falling back on the beam. Then work on two-three steps, punch front tuck onto the higher mats, to practice your takeoff from the beam without worrying about the landing. Also front tucks are very hard on the feet and so these drills will be an efficient use of practice time with less pounding. When you have a good landing position on these drills, then think about beam with a mat. I don't generally think that just building mats up to the beam and throwing the skill on the beam is efficient preparation, although it seems to be a common course. My advice is that whenever you're looking at a beam skill, if you want a good landing you need "more." This allows you to land with stable knees, not too far over the ankles, on the balls of your feet (rather than too far on your heels, flattening the foot, stretching the achilles and plantar fascia, or with the knees thrown over the ankles. So being able to do your run and punch and then land up to something is advisable before trying to just do the skill on the beam with floor level mats.

Conditioning: tuck rocks with ankle and/or wrist/hand weights, focusing on pressing through a round back back and keeping the shape. Punches on beam holding a small weight or medicine ball overhead (obviously.,.be careful...I'm assuming you're a teenager and level 9 or so, so use common sense) focusing on eliminating any sway in the back and ankle instability. Punches compressing a block of foam between your calves to tighten the lower body (make sure you're really squeezing, not just holding it). Tuck up leg lifts (all the way up, knees through your arms) for speed and tightness. Hanging sit ups. Basically for these skills on beam you need to really push your conditioning, not just to do them but to do them in a way to avoid lower extremity injuries. Unfortunately the prevailing wisdom on beam seems to be "take skill the gymnast can do on floor and have them throw it on the low beam."

 

[SuperGirlmlm]

Try to tuck as much as you can, gather as much power as possible, and make sure your arms are in it as well. I hope this will help.