Coaches Casting on Bars

[bdemi701]

I have a couple gymnasts that struggle with holding proper shaping to cast to horizontal. We drill for it every day we have bars yet their middle drops as soon as they start to cast. We work core religiously during conditioning. What are some new drills for shaping and over all strength to get their middles up to make it horizontal.

 

[estamey21]

Are they able to hold hollow on different types of surfaces? At our gym we hold pushup position (hands on a floor bar) with feet on a small barrel or athletic ball. Then we rock forward and backward, emphasizing flat hips. Students are challenged to lean as far over the bar as they can when they rock forward to get used to the feeling of having their shoulders over the bar.

Here are some other "fancier" setups that can drill casting shapes (and can be easily modified to the student's current ability):




Two other things to consider:

1. Are your students scared? Sometime bad casting comes from a fear of landing hard on the hips or a fear of falling forward. Achieving correct form can actually be quite scary for beginners. Have your students practice on a bar that's close to the ground and add some padding on the bar. That might help them work up some bravery.

2. Is shoulder strength the problem? It's great to "work core religiously," but for casts, you also need shoulder strength to maintain tension on the bar. Perhaps your students need more upper body conditioning? I recommend shoulder shrugs: on a single rail, between parallel bars, in a pushup position...anything to get them thinking about shape change with respect to the shoulder blades—elevated vs. depressed, pinched vs. rounded.

 

[Dahlialover]

Are they able to hold hollow on different types of surfaces? At our gym we hold pushup position (hands on a floor bar) with feet on a small barrel or athletic ball. Then we rock forward and backward, emphasizing flat hips. Students are challenged to lean as far over the bar as they can when they rock forward to get used to the feeling of having their shoulders over the bar.

Here are some other "fancier" setups that can drill casting shapes (and can be easily modified to the student's current ability):




Two other things to consider:

1. Are your students scared? Sometime bad casting comes from a fear of landing hard on the hips or a fear of falling forward. Achieving correct form can actually be quite scary for beginners. Have your students practice on a bar that's close to the ground and add some padding on the bar. That might help them work up some bravery.

2. Is shoulder strength the problem? It's great to "work core religiously," but for casts, you also need shoulder strength to maintain tension on the bar. Perhaps your students need more upper body conditioning? I recommend shoulder shrugs: on a single rail, between parallel bars, in a pushup position...anything to get them thinking about shape change with respect to the shoulder blades—elevated vs. depressed, pinched vs. rounded.

My son has excellent core strength—recently held a plank for 60 minutes straight—but he really struggles with his cast above horizontal, his swing to handstand on parallel bar, and his press to handstand on p-bars. I think it’s a shoulder/arm strength issue. Any ideas for home exercises? We have therabands.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

It's rare that a single drill can solve all problems with a particular skill, but I think casts are one of those rare cases: support swings easily solve almost all casting problems.



Easy shaping, easy huge numbers of reps with minimal fatigue and no spotting.

 

[sbonham]

My son has excellent core strength—recently held a plank for 60 minutes straight—but he really struggles with his cast above horizontal, his swing to handstand on parallel bar, and his press to handstand on p-bars. I think it’s a shoulder/arm strength issue. Any ideas for home exercises? We have therabands.

In my experience kids having difficulty casting to (and beyond) horizontal are "heart-centered shy." That is; they are hesitant to position their center of mass (I call this the "heart") above their hands. The best place for them to learn this position is standing at the low bar - gripping bar with hands shoulder width (AND thumbs wrapped! VERY IMPORTANT for control and confidence!) while standing on a mini tramp, The bar should be about chest height when they are on the tramp. The spotter stands on the side of the bar opposite the mini trampoline. The gymnast bounces up-foward and attempts to balance at horizontal with heart over the bar. Body shape can be hollowed or straight but NOT piked or arched. Once they can achieve the position they move to the next drill - bounce upward again to the heart-centered position then while maintaining the heart over the rail - swing downward while VERY slightly bending arms and shrugging shoulders (to cover ears) while lowering their hips (hip bones just atop the rail) into a folded position and then CAST to the same heart-centered position. Ganba!

 

[Dahlialover]

Good news! My kid went from barely casting to horizontal to casting to handstand with straight legs in under a week with just a couple drills! The drills that did it for him were pike press to handstand on paralettes that were set against a wall with a wedge mat to lean against. After a couple days of those, we switched to pike presses on a single floor bar. Then I put a mattress in front of a low bar and had him do a cast to a straddle on top of the bar and then fall forward onto a mattress. This drill apparently broke through whatever fear barrier was limiting him and after about 5 repetitions, he just spontaneously did a cast to handstand with a nice tight flat-back fall over the bar onto the mattress. Then I taught him to go over and turn to land on his feet so he wouldn’t be scared. Voila! Kid can cast to handstand like a champ!

I guess, like some of you suggested, he was just too scared of falling forward to commit to the lean. It’s crazy how the right drill can work like magic! Thanks for the advice! While I couldn’t follow it exactly due to equipment limitations, you got me onto the right track.