Women HELP! Froggy back handspring needs fixing

[Gymmum16]

My daughter has always struggled with keeping her knees together in her backhandsprings (I think it’s something to do with her hips) but it’s much more obvious in her round off backhandsprings (see attached pics). She ends up squatting really low with her knees open and throwing her head back which she gets heavily penalised for at comps. Has anyone got any advice on how to fix?

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Short answer: rows and rows and rows of multiple backhandsprings from a stand on tumbletrak, and lots of straight jumps on trampoline.

Long answer: the problem is most likely not the backhandspring itself, with the transition between the roundoff and the backhandspring. The snapdown and subsequent takeoff.

Doing rows and rows of connected backhandsprings from a stand is a good way of practicing this motion without the complexity of a roundoff, many times in succession, making it easier to feel where things are going wrong. Doing lots of straight jumps on trampoline works both the strength and the muscle memory of going from landing to takeoff with clean form and maximum power.

 

[Gymmum16]

Thank you! Yes I’ve taken her to fast tracks for her to practice basics like continuous flics and even seat drops to flics but she seems to be able to keep her knees together (and have pretty good form - attached video) so it’s really confusing!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I'm not a fan of trampoline parks, or of working tumbling at home. Happy to discuss what I'd focus on as a coach if she were at the gym working with me, but let the records show I do not encourage going to trampoline parks to train without a coach.

Anyway, having said that

If she's doing ROBHS, she practices that key transition once per tumbling pass. If she's doing a row of three or four backhandsprings from a stand, she's practicing it three or four times in the same pass. Much more efficient.

The fact that it's so much cleaner on tumbletrak confirms to me that the problem is that she doesn't have enough power to do it cleanly on floor. So again, lots and lots of straight jumps, and lots of standing backhandsprings to build the strength and muscle memory.

 

[Gymmum16]

I'm not a fan of trampoline parks, or of working tumbling at home. Happy to discuss what I'd focus on as a coach if she were at the gym working with me, but let the records show I do not encourage going to trampoline parks to train without a coach.

Anyway, having said that

If she's doing ROBHS, she practices that key transition once per tumbling pass. If she's doing a row of three or four backhandsprings from a stand, she's practicing it three or four times in the same pass. Much more efficient.

The fact that it's so much cleaner on tumbletrak confirms to me that the problem is that she doesn't have enough power to do it cleanly on floor. So again, lots and lots of straight jumps, and lots of standing backhandsprings to build the strength and muscle memory.

That makes so much sense, I did think it was a power thing so will definitely look to focusing on multiple standing flics and jumping. Thanks for taking your time out to help!

 

[Gymnast_13]

This might not fix the root cause but she could do multiple connected standing BHS on tumble track or rod floor or normal floor with a sponge in between her knees so she learns to keep them together. Something else I've seen coaches do (and experienced myself) is that every time the sponge drops, five push ups (or more). Hope this helps!

 

[Gymmum16]

This might not fix the root cause but she could do multiple connected standing BHS on tumble track or rod floor or normal floor with a sponge in between her knees so she learns to keep them together. Something else I've seen coaches do (and experienced myself) is that every time the sponge drops, five push ups (or more). Hope this helps!

Great idea! I’m going to try this and hopefully after loads of repetitions it will become muscle memory. Thank you x

 

[Gymnast_13]

Great idea! I’m going to try this and hopefully after loads of repetitions it will become muscle memory. Thank you x

You're welcome!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

This might not fix the root cause but she could do multiple connected standing BHS on tumble track or rod floor or normal floor with a sponge in between her knees so she learns to keep them together. Something else I've seen coaches do (and experienced myself) is that every time the sponge drops, five push ups (or more). Hope this helps!

Not a fan of conditioning as punishment if it drops.

Otherwise, this is not a bad idea

 

[Gymnast_13]

Not a fan of conditioning as punishment if it drops.

Otherwise, this is not a bad idea

Yeah conditioning as a punishment sucks. Sometimes my coach (he's amazing) uses it to movitvate me to lock in (I hate conditioning) but maybe using a reward (maybe a fun free pass or something with each perfect (as in no sponge drop) set of connected BHS) would help instead

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Yeah conditioning as a punishment sucks. Sometimes my coach (he's amazing) uses it to movitvate me to lock in (I hate conditioning) but maybe using a reward (maybe a fun free pass or something with each perfect (as in no sponge drop) set of connected BHS) would help instead

Rewards are better than punishment, but honestly I tend to shy away from those as well.

We're getting a bit off-topic here, but in my opinion it's best if the skill itself is the reward. There is a well-documented phenomenon in psychology called the overjustification effect. What it means is that offering external rewards for something actually decreases the inherent, internal motivation. In other words, if you take something that somebody already wants to do, and then reward them for doing, it makes them want to do it less, because it shifts the attention away from the inherent reward of the process itself.

It's why professional gamers and athletes (and coaches, for that matter) still suffer from such high burnout despite doing something so inherently enjoyable; when you have to do it for a paycheck, it's automatically less fun.