Anon Level 8 bar help

[Anonymous Post]

I am a level 8 gymnast and have been working hard to improve my bars and beam. Especially bars it has always been a weaker event. I have 2 things I am currently struggling on.
1. Doing a giant with straight legs.when I do my giant i arch kick with my legs slightly bent but then to continue to bend them more until I am just about in top of the bar and then will kick them out straight. It’s become a bad habit, any tips to help break it would be great!
2. I struggle to do clear hip to hs. I will do kip to hs and then bring my hips almost to the bar and then try and drop it from their which obviously does not work.Once and a while I will do it properly but only for on turn and then I can’t do it again. Any tips or drills would be extremely helpfully.
Thanks

 

[MuggleMom]

I know what helped my kid with these two skills is lots of strap bar work. Also working back extension rolls helps with the free hip. They worked them with this little portable bar on the floor to help with the timing to open up into the hand stand.

 

[JBS]

2. I struggle to do clear hip to hs. I will do kip to hs and then bring my hips almost to the bar and then try and drop it from their which obviously does not work.Once and a while I will do it properly but only for on turn and then I can’t do it again. Any tips or drills would be extremely helpfully.

It's all about the down side... don't come from handstand... too hard to learn. Kip cast straight body to 30 or 45 degrees and go. You should easily be able to hit handstand from only a 30 degree cast. Hips should be pretty far away. Shift your focus to "how far down you can bend the bar" instead of hitting the handstand.

During separate turns... work kip cast handstand and then smoothly lower down into a back hip circle or double back hip.

Once you can go from little to handstand and from big down and around smooth... put them together.

Also have a coach spot from under the bar... spot the down side of the skill to learn to bend the bar more... not the up side.