Women BHS Beam Arm Swing

[gympoppop]

My daughter is working on her BHS on beam and she is able to do it well if she swings her arms. However, one of the coaches is now insisting that she learns it without leaning her chest forward and with zero arm swing (arms stay locked at the earns like a BWO). Is this an unusual approach? It just seems odd to me b/c every top gymnast I watch videos on (Liukin, Johnson, Biles, Douglas etc.) bends the chest forward and has a big arm swing when initiating the first BHS of the series. I suspect this no swing approach makes it easier to connect a second skill later (BWO BHS etc.), but I would think it is much easier to perform a second skill w/o an arm swing when the gymnast already has linear and angular momentum coming out of the first skill. This is just starting to frustrate my DD b/c she feels like she can already do the skill but now needs to relearn it. Thanks for any insights!

 

[Aussie_coach]

The coach is probably preparing her to take the BHS into a series.

 

[CuriousCate]

Our coaches teach it this way as well for the reason you state - seems easier when it is time to connect it in a series.

 

[gympoppop]

Thank you both for the helpful replies. I suspected that is what is going on. I’m still working on just laying back and trusting the process.

 

[LucyRobinson]

At our gym, we usually learn the BHS with the arm swing. After that, we will learn it without the arm swing if coaches think it would make us more comfortable with our series. But we still practice BHS with the arm swing- the goal of doing it- at least at my gym- is to help you feel more comfortable for a series, not to change the BHS forever. (and for some girls, doing the BHS without arm swing is more of a challenge than a help.) I think a lot of the upper optionals girls can do it both ways, but gyms are different. I would listen to your daughter's coach.