Coaches Squat on- Help!

[coachmolly]

I have a girl (high schooler) who has been struggling with her squat on terribly, to the point where I feel like a broken record and she's not even getting closer. It's almost there, frustratingly close, but just stuck at that "almost there" stage. She has made them before on and off, never anything consistently, but not recently. I know she's getting frustrated, and her progress on other bar skills is being hurt by it because her mind is stuck on wanting to make the squat on.
The problem is largely that she leans over the bar and then pulls her shoulders back as her feet should be placed on the bar. We've told her repeatedly to lean forward, done drills on a floor bar, and put a resi type mat under the bar to see if that would help, but nothing seems to be working. I'm just hoping someone here has some ideas in terms of drills, conditioning, or even just a new way of wording things that might help? Thanks!

 

[flipflopsalto]

what about having her try to do one without a cast on a smaller bar with a few mats this will help with pushing down on the bar through her shoulders then she can add the cast and see if this has helped

 

[coachmolly]

Unfortunately, we don't have a smaller bar. Just the 1 set of uneven bars and a wooden floor bar which further complicates things.

 

[bogwoppit]

Have you put blocks under the low bar so she can stand on them and jump to squat on? Sometimes doing this until they get the feel for the shoulder position needed can help. Gradually move her feet back from on the block until she is jumping to squat on almost from a push up hollow position. Play around with the height of the blocks so she really gets to feel where her shoulders should be under different conditions.

 

[coachmolly]

That thought did not even cross my mind, thanks Bog! I think just feeling the position needed to get her feet on the bar might be enough to give her the boost she needs.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

put a mat under the low bar that comes within a foot of the bar. have her start in support. now tell her to "pull her pants down to her ankles". when she can get the bar down that low by "pressing" then tell her to put her feet on the bar when she feels that point that she can. and do what Bog said simultaneously using the same mat. she can jump off the same mat and up on to the bar. alternate the turns doing both drills.

 

[meggiibabes]

You might not find this helpful, but it helped me completely. I just looked at the floor, slightly past the high bar, and that kept my shoulders forward, so as long as I got my knees up, I could doit, no problem.

 

[marie83]

Bog's drill is how I learned to squat on and boy did I struggle! haha! I could not squat on for toffee - I could squat through, balance and then put my feet on from the wrong side of the bar though! I teach it to older girls using Bog's method because that is how I learned many moons ago!

 

[coachmolly]

Well, we tried the "pull your pants down to your ankles" and jumping from the block to squat on, and I think maybe we made some teeny amount of progress, more than I can say about the past few bars workouts! We started with the block right next to the bar and she couldn't jump to squat on from there. I think a big part of the problem is that it is just such a learned pattern that it will take time to break. But pushing down on the bar and using the block did seem to help her understand better where her shoulders need to go which I have not been able to do up to this point with any success. So I definitely plan on continuing to use all of your suggestions, thanks again for all of the help! Hopefully I'll be able to report back with greater success soon!

 

[bogwoppit]

One small step at a time eh?

 

[coachmolly]

One small step at a time eh?

If it's better than the no steps we were taking, I'll take it! It also got another girl who has been resisting squat ons tooth and nail to give them a shot and she actually made a few. Maybe not their intended purpose, but I can't complain!