WAG Casting with long upper arms - techniques?

[Sasha]

Hi crowd (particularly coaches, but parent anecdotes welcome!),

This is a curiosity question (not coaching my child)...

Are there particular techniques or considerations when teaching/perfecting casts to a gymnast with long arms, and particularly, long upper arms?

For example, should she "shrug" her shoulders more than an average-arm gymnast so that her hands are up closer to her hips? If she holds a more neutral shoulder position in a front support, the bar is at or below mid-thigh. Her natural tendency is to have a bit of noticeable arm bend in casts (deduction of course), and a little less (but still enough for deduction) on kips. Giants, clear hips and such don't have the arm-bend problem.

Do you coach these gymnasts any differently to deal with the arm geometry difference?

Thanks in advance.

(P.S. She recently told me her coach mentioned something about her long upper arms on bars, but I didn't get details. Made me curious to ask here. I love learning )

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

My opinion is that bent arms while loading a cast should be permitted for exactly this reason, but this opinion puts me in the minority

 

[Vivianflips]

I find this an interesting topic as someone with long arms! I'm interested to see the responses. My coach used to be driven crazy when I was on team because I could never get my arms 100% straight on casts

 

[sce]

My opinion is that bent arms while loading a cast should be permitted for exactly this reason, but this opinion puts me in the minority

I seem to recall a lengthy debate on here about kip cats and bent arms where this opinion was shared, previously.

 

[sce]

I am not a coach but a few things I understand. I think it is okay for the bar to be on the thighs. As well, I think what helps to get a good cast out of a kip is keeping the feet in front of the bar as the kip finishes. Straight arms should make this easier to do.

Honestly though, completely straight arms does not always possible. Watch videos of Nastia Liukin form 2008, she bends her arms one every kip cast handstand.

 

[Sasha]

I do recall that debate about bent arms and kips/casts in general - yes! And I had forgotten how lovely Nastia was on bars - beautiful (slightly bent arms and all)!

I don't know for sure if long arms/upper arms are any harder or easier to keep straight (or no difference), but I just went back and watched some longer-limbed gymnasts I could think of who are great at bars - Kyla, Madison K, Ashton L, and they all bend their arms pretty noticeably either going into the kip, beginning the cast, and/or right before hitting handstand. Anecdotally, in the few videos I watched, I though Ashton was the overall straightest during the kip-cast, yet appears to be the longest limbed. Guess she's just awesome.

So deduction or not, maybe my L7 shouldn't worry too much then

I'm still interested in the geometry point, though - as in, if there are technique differences or considerations between short and long- armed athletes.

 

[munchkin3]

Yes, the debate about bent arm kip cast handstands from a few years ago. I don't remember the conclusion, but it was pretty obvious that MOST elite gymnasts, even Simone Biles will have a slight elbow bend when cranking up out of her kip, into handstand......
I find it a bit strange that then one would be penalized for it if is physically impossible.....(I'm not saying it's impossible, I dot. Know the physics involved)
I think the rules apply differently the higher you get?

 

[azara]

The physics sound really interesting. I'm not a physics student, but I'll try draw some diagrams and see what I can do.