Gymnasts Double back hip circle

[Deleted member 29746]

I started less than a year ago in gymnastics as a 11 year old, and have been working rlly hard to level up (I’m lvl 3 rn) but there is one skill that is holding me back on bars, it’s called a double back hip circle and I have been working so hard to get it!!! My coach said I had a good cast and a back hip circle but when I try to do two, I have a huge pause and my hips slip right off the bars! Please help me I have been working so hard!

 

[estamey21]

You are not completing your first back hip circle. You are not completing your back hip circle because you are losing your candlestick shape in the second half. You are losing your candlestick shape because your arms are bending. The arms should never bend in a back hip circle. (See attached video of where things are going wrong.) You need a rock solid candle stick position with straight arms in order to successfully do a back hip circle.

I would keep working on your first back hip circle before trying to connect a second. You should be finishing in a strong front support (hollow body, straight arms). You have a decent candlestick shape at the start of your back hip circle, so your focus should be holding onto that shape. I recommend doing hollow body rocks on the floor to build up your core strength. Even better, do hollow body rocks under a floor bar with your hands on the bar so you can practice putting pressure on the bar with straight arms.

Last note…it looks like you might be getting too big for your bar at home. You are applying a lot of force on the bar (which is a good thing) but that bar is not designed for that level of force. I would stick with professional gymnastics equipment, which is safer and will help you learn good technique. If you want to continue using your bar at home, you can practice holding basic shapes like L-hold, candlestick, chin hold.

Keep up the hard work!

 

[HopefulGymnast]

I agree that you're not finishing your first hip circle, but I wonder if a big factor is that you're not shifting your wrists until after you stop your hip circle. Your cast looks strong, but if you don't shift your wrists on top of the bar during your hip circle, you won't be able to get all the way around and you'll lose all your speed. You also do seem to lose tension half way through a bit, like the person before mentioned.

In addition, I agree that you may be outgrowing that bar set, and especially if you're doing casts that high and double hip circles. I can see the bar wobbling as you go, and that'll also be taking some of the momentum out of your skills (on top of safety concerns), so I agree that it's time to stick to proper equipment only.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

First: that bar set is designed for kids less than half your age doing simpler skills with a spot. It's not safe to use it as a practice bar for anything beyond basic strength skills.

Anyway, to get to the substance: what makes a back hip circle work is the drop back in the chest and shoulders to initiate it. To practice this, work on doing a single circle from the smallest cast you can. Then smaller. Then smaller.

When you get to the point where you can do a back hip circle with little or no cast, then just do that twice in a row.

 

[gympoppop]

I also think one of the main reasons you are not completing your bhc is your wrist shift. It should be smooth shifting all the way around the bar and it looks like yours get stuck at the end and then you try to do one last big shift at the end. I would guess that you may be gripping the bar too tightly and that is why you are getting stuck.