Coaches Bent arm FHS vault!

[gymnastike30]

How do I fix this?!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

video would be helpful, but usually it is caused by piking off the board. sometimes the piking is due to the gymnast hitting the board with their feet too far forward the hips or too far behind the hips. sometimes the piking is due too lack of power combined with weak muscles that can't support a powerful and tight punch required for the body to leave the board in a straight position.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

yes, and rope climb

 

[Gymsanity]

As mentioned, a vid would be nice. However, without one I would say that too many coaches have the kids hit the horse too low, long before they are physically ready. I have my girls come on high (very high if needed, almost a front layout) until the arms and shape look great. As they get stronger and better overall, I then have them start to come on lower and lower until we find a chink in the armor and then work from there. Hope it helps.

 

[coach.e]

Block blocks on the floor would help.
I don't know another term for them so I hope you know what I'm talking about.
If arms are bending on the second..or first..handstand then go back to conditioning. Core and arms.

 

[gymnastike30]

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[Deleted member D3987]

sorry, can't see it. black screen,

 

[gymnastike30]

Ok I think I fixed the problem. Hopefully.

 

[iwannacoach]

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Not really a vaulting savant or guru, but it looks like she's landing and jumping off the board (kinda) instead of punching quickly. That means her feet stay glued to the board as her shoulders move toward the table and that creates a situation where her legs need to catch up to her upper body's position before she can get upside down enough to block the table. I think she has a second contributor to her problem because she has her shoulders higher than they should be as she moves to the table. That creates a need to plop onto the table after dropping from the high position, or requires her heels to lift hard enough to force her shoulders down to allow her legs to go up because you can't vault with both ends of your body rising at the same rate. One end has to go down to allow the other end to go up, or one end has to go up to allow the other end to go down.

Her head position as she comes to the table gives me the impression she's fighting the vault's requirement to be upside down because her head surely seems to want to stay in an upright posture. If you aligned her body with her head posture her angle would be about 30 degrees below horizontal.

I always correct the earliest (try to anyway) mistake before getting serious about the next mistake because sometimes the first mistake is causing a reaction that leads to the second mistake. With that in mind you should try to figure out drills to teach her a lower hurdle and a fast punch. Have her work those drills 70-80 percent of her vault session (after all the other warm up and drill work) and have her vault for 20-30 percent after the new drills have been done. You could skip the vaults ecept you need to see if the drills are having any effect on her handspring work.

 

[Gymsanity]

Not sure what to say after IWC, but I'll try First I would say she looks like she is doing a very good job, and will be a great vaulter one day. What is the table set at? It looks too high to me, and probably to her also! She is probably so worried about just getting over the thing she is unable to focus on her arch, head and arm alignment, straight arms, etc. Actually, I would imagine at this point she would find it very difficult to make it over at all if her arms didn't bend! I would lower the horse down as low as it takes to get the shape you are looking for. Just make sure that doesn't introduce a pike because she is reaching down for the table. As I mentioned above, I try and introduce it as a front layout. On FHS vault rotations I have the girls do front layouts on tramp in between vault turns and it really seems to transfer for them. Looks like you are really close, just keep at it!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

when it comes to vault i use a base technique, but every kid is a little different, due to power, muscle twitch etc.... so you have to try a few different things with her, i recommend starting with the hurdle and arm position. if you notice her arms are bent in the arm circle/swing,,, so when the board compresses you can see her arms are already up and kind of "shot putting" instead of reaching with conviction. , then she has to reach down... to fix this ask her to try having her arm circle/swing just a tiny bit later and most importantly the arm circle/swing needs to finish more forward, not up, with straighter arms. i will often delay the circle/swing in the developmental stages just to get the arm swing angle correct, then they eventually end up circling a little earlier, but so long as the swing angle is correct you are good. also, warm her up on her setting, then drop 2 notches to try any of this. once this is fixed, then work on the elbows. my definition of swing angle is the transfer of energy, not just running down and hitting an angle, hope that makes sense.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

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sorry still can't view it.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Sage advise already provided! I agree with the posters mentioning that bent arms and pike is commonly a strength issue. Easy judgement without seeing the vault.

With the vid posted up I do see confirmation of strength and body alignment issues. The position on the board (at the conclusion of the hurdle) gives, IMO, contributes to the vision of bent arms/bent body. The hard part of the answer, IMO, to a post like this is that their is a combination of issues. Strength, speed, dynamic balance in hurdle, and body shapings all contribute and I (from under my coaches hat) see they all need to worked.

I summize that the athlete has an arch as she is trying to gain rotation by shortening the body. Shortening the body sacrifices height and bent elbows are one effect of this. Arch thru open hips to gain rotation is prefered vs. thoracic extension.

For me, the good fortune with bringing athletes up from L3-L7 HS's is that you can work the issues a bit at a time. (1) Run, hurdle technique and dynamic balance in the hurdle would be the first place to work with an athlete in my gym. Specifically I would be interested to see a series of vaults to watch the accelerating run ( perhaps using Coach Eye to look into the accompanying run mechanics). My side stations would be alignment HS based. Static and if she was able to handle, dynamic stations.

Lift and rotation I would address with a low table and even working flat back shapes to a mat stack higher than the table. Side stations working lift to an early straight shape.

I like a long, low hurdle with straight legs on contact. I teach moving to a straight body alignment once they have gotten their hips above horizontal. I teach eyes looking into the thumbs. This alignment gives the gymnast the potential to elevate the shoulder girdle (strength) and to open the shoulders a bit during the block. This puts dynamics and alignment together for post flight. With developing athletes I put only limited effort into stick landings as they need to focus on the vault and building dynamic strength.

I hope I have assisted gymnastike30. (BTW: I love the Gymnastike website and use it all the time.) SBG -

 

[gymnastike30]

Wow! Thank you all for the advice. This gymnast just so happens to be my daughter, she has become very frustrated with vault lately. I really appreciate all the feedback.