Coaches My athletes keeps on PEELING

[GymnastCoachJudge]

I have an athlete, who for months had BEAUTIFUL tap swings. I'm not sure what's happened- poor kid peels every. darn. time.

For obvious reasons, she's scared and honestly so am I. What are common reasons for peeling? We've tried less chalk, more chalk, grips, no grips. She's hollow in the backswing and generally pretty tight (I'm quick to correct if not).

We only have a set of unevens and a set of p-bars, so swinging in straps, on pit bar, or even just high bar isn't possible. She does fine with regrip swings w/bent knees on parallel bars.

What could be going on!?

 

[eucoach]

Is she regripping the bar properly and at the right time? Maybe she is waiting too long now to regrip the bar because she is scared. If this is the case, I would make her swing much lower until she gets confident again and gets the timing right.

Also - how is her grip strength? Is she able to do arms-only rope-climbs?

And....has she grown? Her center of gravity might have changed which would throw the timing of the tap swing and might make her peel if she hasn't been able to adjust.

 

[sun]

Is she young? if her hands are really small, peeling is just kind of inevitable. (I follow the JAOvideo guy's model of either placing a slope mat behind the tap swinger, or always having a coach stand in for tap swings)

Does she regrip on each back swing?

Does it typically happen after a big underswing, or just frequently out of tap swings in-a-row?

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Get up on a block and push her up in the back swing , one hand on thighs other hand pushing up sternum .

 

[sun]

Get up on a block and push her up in the back swing , one hand on thighs other hand pushing up sternum .

this is how I like to spot for shaping, how do you use it as a solution for peeling?

 

[Deleted member 14190]

this is how I like to spot for shaping, how do you use it as a solution for peeling?

It will calm her down and allow her to take turns safely while you figure it out. Sounds mental to me

 

[Scott W.]

We've had a few girls peel off the bars and it scares the hell out of me every time. So now I ALWAYS stand under them while they swing (except for the more experienced gymnasts).

Biggest helping factor I've found so far is making sure toes stay low in the back swing, and grip strength. Like eucoach said, arms only rope climbs or or grip strengthening tools (Link Removed)

 

[GymnastCoachJudge]

Grip strength is good, although our gym doesn't have a rope. I always stand between/under the bars to catch, so she's never been injured; just afraid. Generally the peel happens after a few tap swings in a row.

Thank you all so much for the insight!

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Grip strength is good, although our gym doesn't have a rope. I always stand between/under the bars to catch, so she's never been injured; just afraid. Generally the peel happens after a few tap swings in a row.

Thank you all so much for the insight!

Just start standing on a block

 

[eucoach]

Maybe you can get a short rope and fix it on the high bar.....

Also......if you are not doing this already, work on shape changes without swinging a lot. You can speed them up so that the gymnast actually has to regrip the bar - this will also work her grip strength and give her confidence.

Btw, I don't have the younger girls swing more than 3 times in a row unless I feel they have the strength to safely do so.

 

[GymnastCoachJudge]

Maybe you can get a short rope and fix it on the high bar.....

Thanks for the input. I don't quite understand what this part means though. Are you referring to swinging on the rope, or a short rope climb?

 

[fuzi]

Thanks for the input. I don't quite understand what this part means though. Are you referring to swinging on the rope, or a short rope climb?

Pretty sure they mean a short rope climb. If you can hang a rope from a high bar, you can still get about an 8 foot rope climb.

 

[eucoach]

Pretty sure they mean a short rope climb. If you can hang a rope from a high bar, you can still get about an 8 foot rope climb.

Exactly!

It could also be fixed to a single high bar or a set of rings - then you can get even more height.

 

[Coachjessica]

Is her head in at the top of the back swing, just peeking at the bar? If the head is way out (especially if thumbs aren't in to make a cup shape) it almost indefinitely causes a peel.

 

[CoachTodd]

I stand under the bar and correct the timing of the shape change to hollow on the back swing. Peeling usually means they are coming through the bottom of the swing in the wrong shape. Tell her to start pushing the bar toward the floor as she is coming through the counter swing. Many times peeling is a result of pulling on the bar to adjust the swing and physics straightening that pull out. One thing I used to have the beginner boys do was do a really big hop on their regrip (it was in their routine). This got them to push the bar down more on the upswing to the peel tension isn't there.

good luck.

 

[Aero]

Have someone take a video of her swings while you stand in and spot just in case. Watch the video very carefully sometime when you have a quiet moment to yourself. Really try to see what her hands are doing at every point in the swing, also looking out for any undesirable body shapes, timing mistakes, and errant momentum unloading in the wrong direction. Come up with some theories and solutions based on what you see in the video, and go into the next practice and try them out. Show her the video, and explain to her what you see.

I think it will take lots of spotting/shaping and being patient. Since she had really great tap swings before, it may just be a temporary mental lapse and it could very well snap right back to her and all will be fine. You never know!

As far as conditioning for grip strength, you can't really go wrong with rice bucket exercises. Also, have your girl do some towel pull-ups! Just sling a standard-size bath towel over the high rail and have her grab both parts of the towel in each hand, placing one hand above the other. Start in a full hang, pulling all the way up until the hands are into the chest, then all the way back down. She needs to switch the top hand every set. This will make up for your lack of a climbing rope, and is a great way to develop grip strength and pulling strength at the same time. Oh, and it's very cheap.

We could all give you our personal thoughts too if you include the video here, of course.

I hope this problem goes away for the both of you soon!

 

[strawberries]

Have someone take a video of her swings while you stand in and spot just in case. Watch the video very carefully sometime when you have a quiet moment to yourself. Really try to see what her hands are doing at every point in the swing, also looking out for any undesirable body shapes, timing mistakes, and errant momentum unloading in the wrong direction. Come up with some theories and solutions based on what you see in the video, and go into the next practice and try them out. Show her the video, and explain to her what you see.

I think it will take lots of spotting/shaping and being patient. Since she had really great tap swings before, it may just be a temporary mental lapse and it could very well snap right back to her and all will be fine. You never know!

As far as conditioning for grip strength, you can't really go wrong with rice bucket exercises. Also, have your girl do some towel pull-ups! Just sling a standard-size bath towel over the high rail and have her grab both parts of the towel in each hand, placing one hand above the other. Start in a full hang, pulling all the way up until the hands are into the chest, then all the way back down. She needs to switch the top hand every set. This will make up for your lack of a climbing rope, and is a great way to develop grip strength and pulling strength at the same time. Oh, and it's very cheap.

We could all give you our personal thoughts too if you include the video here, of course.

I hope this problem goes away for the both of you soon!

I love cheap solutions! For some reason coaches want to use all the fancy, expensive equipment, maybe because it is fancy and expensive, but most of it we got along fine without...back in the day....