WAG Curse of the bent elbows

[Flyaway]

My dd "suffers" from bent elbows. This affliction is killing her scores. Kip= bent elbows. Front handspring vault= bent elbows. Back handspring= bent elbows. Is this poor technique? Lack of arm/upper body strength? Inattention to body position? Purely to drive mom crazy? [emoji23].

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I wish I knew! My dd is finally getting better with the kips but they still show up on vault and the BWO on the beam. She has great upper body strength so I tend to think it's a technique thing but not sure. Sorry I don't have any advice but wanted to let you know you're not alone!

 

[Muffinsmom]

The bent elbows in your examples may largely be cured by more power and momentum. My DD has nice straight arms on her kip, fhs vault and bhs when she's able to generate a lot of momentum, however the elbows are a hot mess on all 3 if she doesn't get a nice big glide swing on her kip or a great, powerful run on the others.

 

[duyetanh]

My kid only had them on the kip...her vault and bwo somehow managed to develop unscathed....and once she got help on both technique and strength, all of a sudden one day I happened to get there to see her do bars....and the bent elbows were gone. So....I kind of think it is a combination. Heck, I am almost certain of it, just from my dd's evolution. But that is just for the kip. For the vault and bwo? Sorry. No idea.
ETA: when my kid is absolutely fried tired, the bent elbows sometimes reappear....which leads me to believe it is a combo, as her form is not as good when she is tired either, nor is she as strong. Just my two cents, unsure if it is worth a gumball, lol....

 

[Flyaway]

The bent elbows in your examples may largely be cured by more power and momentum. My DD has nice straight arms on her kip, fhs vault and bhs when she's able to generate a lot of momentum, however the elbows are a hot mess on all 3 if she doesn't get a nice big glide swing on her kip or a great, powerful run on the others.

Power could definitely be an issue. She's about 55 lbs soaking wet and although she has muscle, she's just long and lean.

 

[triplethreat+1]

My DD has this curse too, things like bwo and bhs, some bar skills (no kip yet tho). She is capable of straightening her arms, has good strength in chin-ups and rope, but my theory is she is unbalanced and has less overhead strength. But maybe power/ momentum would help, she's could certainly use more of that...

 

[ayyyrial]

Bent arms on the kip will almost certainly improve with improved strength and getting the technique down - this comes through practice, conditioning, and drills. It comes slowly, but eventually it will be easy for her - I see many gymnasts learn a bent arm kip and slowly progress towards straight arms.

However, bent arms on the FHS vault and BHS are likely not to be an issue with power or strength, unless her run for vault is slow. Otherwise these are probably technique issues, but there are many different mistakes that can lead to bending the arms in either skill. For example, on vault: not getting the feet in front of her on the board, not understanding how to block through her shoulders, sticking the head out onto the table, reaching too low on the table, etc.

These are three complex and very different skills that take a long time to perfect, so I suspect the bent elbows are not caused by one general problem.

 

[mommyof1]

Bent arms on the kip will almost certainly improve with improved strength and getting the technique down - this comes through practice, conditioning, and drills. It comes slowly, but eventually it will be easy for her - I see many gymnasts learn a bent arm kip and slowly progress towards straight arms.

However, bent arms on the FHS vault and BHS are likely not to be an issue with power or strength, unless her run for vault is slow. Otherwise these are probably technique issues, but there are many different mistakes that can lead to bending the arms in either skill. For example, on vault: not getting the feet in front of her on the board, not understanding how to block through her shoulders, sticking the head out onto the table, reaching too low on the table, etc.

These are three complex and very different skills that take a long time to perfect, so I suspect the bent elbows are not caused by one general problem.

This is an interesting perspective that makes intuitive sense to me. My kid is capable of doing a BHS with straight arms but goes through long stretches where she will always bend her arms. During the rare periods when she has straight arms, her legs are also straighter and more likely to stay together. When the arms are bent, everything else is sloppier too. Her kip is only a couple of months old but from what I've observed she is having more success with straight arms on the kip than with tumbling. She is a tiny little string bean and not a powerful tumbler, but seems to have relatively good core and upper body strength for her size thanks to conditioning. She also seems to understand the timing and the physics of skills better on bars than on the other events.