Gymnasts Jump to high bar shape

[Mthegymqueen]

I have competed squat on jump to hb in my bars routine for 5-ish years, and recently, me (and mostly my coaches) have seen how my jumping shape is very arched with my legs wide apart. But looking back at videos from last year, or even multiple years, my shapes looked better than then they do now!

Do you have any tips to make it easier to maintain the straight body position?

Thank You!

 

[HopefulGymnast]

Just a thought, but maybe you're arching more because you've grown? Do you still fit beteen the bars with a straight body, or do you need more of a strong hollow body to fit?

 

[Mthegymqueen]

Just a thought, but maybe you're arching more because you've grown? Do you still fit beteen the bars with a straight body, or do you need more of a strong hollow body to fit?

I definitely grew a few inches in 5 years, but since then, I have switched to the farthest setting.

I was watching videos to see when my body starts to arch. My body is straight through my jump, its just when I catch the high bar, and swing into my kip is when I arch.

 

[HopefulGymnast]

I was watching videos to see when my body starts to arch. My body is straight through my jump, its just when I catch the high bar, and swing into my kip is when I arch.

This is just a guess, but do you maybe try to tap too early and too hollow?

To fix it I can think of two things, but I'm not a coach so they will know better.
1. Try focussing first on just jumping and swinging, without kipping. This gives you some time to really focus on the jump.
2. Perhaps it can help to focus on not rushing it, for example going: jump, hollow, tap, kip - in your mind. Focus on tension throughout. (I don't know if you tap, not everyone does I believe, but I just put it in there)

 

[estamey21]

The annoying thing about learning gymnastics is that sometimes you have to re-learn a skill several times as your body changes. It’s possible that when you grew, you lost a bit of strength, and now you have to catch up on some conditioning.

Arching on the jump to the high bar is usually a symptom of not being able to maintain strong body tension—especially in the core and overhead shoulders. Maybe you are arching on the jump or maybe you are arching on the catch. Regardless, once you start arching it’s very hard to snap back into the correct position. Thus, it’s important to hit the hollow position as aggressively as possible as soon as you jump from the low bar.

When jumping to high bar, I like to think about pointing my toes down as if I’m about to scoop up a big chunk of ice cream with my legs. If you’ve ever used an ice cream scoop, you know that you need to angle the spoon downward to cut into the ice cream. When your body is hollow, your toes will be angled slightly downward. Don’t pike though!

Some good jump to high bar conditioning drills:

• Hollow hold on back, arms overhead (hold weights as a challenge)
• Hollow hold hands and feet on floor, arms overhead (see how low you can go)
• Jump to high bar with bars closer together (this will help you to practice correct body position without needing to worry about the catch)

 

[CoachPow]

Sometimes it helps gymnasts to think of it as "falling" to the high bar instead of jumping (as long as they are tall enough that they don't need to actually jump much!) When young gymnasts jump, they will often push their chest out as the reach and look up for the bar, which will put you into an arched position. Instead think of tucking your chin a bit, squeeze your abs, and just "hop" off the bar as you fall in a hollow position. Great drill to do on a day when you already have hot hands.