WAG Half On Help

[flipping.out]

So my half on was pretty decent in my opinion in August, but when I went on vacation for a week or so and I came back to practice, my half ons have been terrible consistently. My arms always bend and I don’t really know why. My feet are also going over the side instead of going straight over my head. I have had this problem before, but it was fixed. Before, I was doing tsuk timers and could maybe flip my vault, but now it just sucks. My coach says my chest is down and my shoulders aren’t open, and I am trying to fix those, but it doesn’t seem to work. I also don’t feel my arms bending in my vault the way I could feel them bend in a front handspring. So I don’t know if my arms are bent unless my coach tells me. I have been growing a lot too these last few months if that could also be a reason. Any tips would help. Thanks!

 

[Mthegymqueen]

How far away do you run? Increasing your run helps you gain a lot of power to get over the table. I had this problem when I was starting out half ons as well, and increasing my run from 31 feet to 47 feet in this past summer has really helped me get over the table better (and helped my form as well)

 

[superNova08]

Since you say you've grown, I would look at your run distance, the height of the table, and the distance of the springboard from the table. I found that when I grew I needed the springboard farther away from the table (I was too powerful and so wasn't getting enough airtime which meant my legs were going sideways) and needed to run further (to be able to control my jump).

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

So my half on was pretty decent in my opinion in August, but when I went on vacation for a week or so and I came back to practice, my half ons have been terrible consistently. My arms always bend and I don’t really know why. My feet are also going over the side instead of going straight over my head. I have had this problem before, but it was fixed. Before, I was doing tsuk timers and could maybe flip my vault, but now it just sucks. My coach says my chest is down and my shoulders aren’t open, and I am trying to fix those, but it doesn’t seem to work. I also don’t feel my arms bending in my vault the way I could feel them bend in a front handspring. So I don’t know if my arms are bent unless my coach tells me. I have been growing a lot too these last few months if that could also be a reason. Any tips would help. Thanks!

Growth spurts are like that. If it makes you feel any better, you'd almost certainly still be struggling even if you hadn't gone on vacation.

You'll likely have to make adjustments to your run distance in order to hit full speed with your now-longer strides. But also, growth spurts are hard and there's no real way around it. Your progress will slow or maybe even regress while you're growing, and that's normal. Frustrating, but normal.

The solution is just to stick with it. Eventually you'll stop growing, and then your strength and technique will be able to catch up to your new body proportions. But it takes time, and there aren't really any ways to speed this process up.