Women How important are straight/closed legs in a ro /bhs/+ series?

[gymgal]

I was watching dd's slow motion video of her first L7 competition. And I noticed that she is still opening/bending her legs during her bhs series! Its not quite as obvious in real time, though I know the judges picked up on it because of her scoring. She does not do this when she is doing a series of bhs from standing in practice, only when she is doing the ro/bhs/(tuck,layout or full) . But what is odd is that she is landing her ro properly and landing her bhs properly it's only in flight that she does it. And in her layout and full her feet /legs are together.

My question- mechanically , does this cut down on her power for the next element in the series? She just learned the layout and full in the last few months and she is doing well with height and landings, though they are a little pikey. I know she is getting deductions for it but I am more curious about the mechanics of the open legs to her power/momentum and what it means for the future additions to the series.

 

[gymnastbeth]

I actually don't think it's that big of a deal if her legs are only a little separated, it's very difficult to have them glued together in a BHS. Even if you watch world class gymnasts in slow-mo, a lot of them don't have their feet together all the time! As long as she is landing with her feet together and taking off with them together, it probably doesn't affect her mechanically too much.

 

[fliptwisttwirl]

Maybe just point it out to her so she's aware of it..it will probably fix itself as she gets older.

 

[gymgal]

Thanks. She's 12. She watches her videos so she knows she does it but she says she doesn't feel it when she is actually flipping. She used to (still does?) Practice bhs with something between her feet so she would feel it and it helped but she can't do that in a ro bhs series.

I was thinking it was the landing position of the feet that would matter the most but wasn't sure.

Thanks again

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you got any video of this? there could be several causes including something as subtle as hand placement on the round off or her head position. got video??

 

[iwannacoach]

Ditto to dunno's request for video.......The answer to the power question is that bent or separated legs will reduce her tumbling power, as well as make the skills themselves require more effort. My logic is that everything must work together to get the most power out of your movements.

If her bent legs don't straighten out in unison during her bhs snapdown (for example) she'll lose power.....if her legs separate an un-equal amount during a bhs she'll be less balanced, and if she closes her legs by bringing one to the other instead of both to a common center point her balance decays even further.......anf balance is a big deal when you want to generate power.

Imagine the differences in power when........

A person leans to the left as they dip into a jumping posture to prepare for a verticle jump.

A person tries to jump as high as they can but pushes earlier with one foot than the other.

There are a few limited exceptions to the above that don't apply unless the pursuit of "good form" goes to an extreme, but at L7......I can't think of a genuine exception to the need for staight legs, legs being together, and corect body positions.

And do try to post a video because sometimes the bent legs aren't just bent legs, but are the result of an earlier mistake, and it makes little sense to correct the result with-out finding and eliminating the cause first.