Twisting!!!

[GetaGrip]

I'm in level 7, and often we work ahead on tumble track with twisting, but I have some problems with it. I twist to my right forwards, and to my left backwards. I can twist to my right backwards, but I'm not as good at it. I literally CANNOT twist to my left forwards though. We were on tumble track, and trying to do round off layout-halves into a front tuck, and I either did a full, or fell on my back. My coaches said that I was going too low, but I don't know how to fix that either...

Another problem I have is that I can do fulls, but not halves. What's wrong with me! I want to maybe even do a full or a half in level 7, but I need to learn how to do it! Any suggestions on how to twist or which way I should go?

Help is much wanted!
Thanks!

-GCG

 

[NotAMom]

Why are you concerned about skills that you don't need while you still don't have the basic requirements for a meet coming up in two weeks? (based on your other post) Focus on what you need now so that you can compete at the level you're at first.

I cannot post on your other thread because of my group affiliation so I'll say it here. Without all the basic skills for L7 (requiring spots on more than one element), it would be silly to compete at anything but L6 for now.

I know you're desperate to move up and you have all these ideas in your head. But, it's best if you face what's in front of you before chasing after the dream. Otherwise, you'll just come out with crappy scores which will lead to even less confidence. Just stay focused and be patient. Good things will happen to you when you're ready for them.

 

[GetaGrip]

Honestly, I could probably with in this next week do all my skills by myself, it's just about when my coach will let me or not. And about the twisting, my coach said we had to go on tumble track, and he told me what we had to work on twisting, and it actually is something I need to work on. Many people work on skills sometimes two levels ahead of the one they are in currently, so it's not unusual.

 

[NotAMom]

Many people work on skills sometimes two levels ahead of the one they are in currently, so it's not unusual.

I understand that and am all up for uptraining. But, your meet is two weeks away and you don't have all your skills yet. To me, it's not time to focus on one/two up skills.

BTW, even if you get your skills in the next weeks or so, what about practice? Unless you're a perfect executioner, you need time to tweak quite a bit to work off those kinks. Many gymnasts spend the whole summer doing that.

Otherwise, even with all the skills in place, deductions from form alone will kill you, especially with the new optional requirements. You don't enjoy getting 5s and 6s, do you?

 

[Itstrueimagymnast]

Umm, NotAmom, I aam pretty sure Gymcatgirl is not in charge of her own training schedule, if her coach thinks she needs to work on twisting, she needs to work on twisting, I know this might sound a little weird for you with a meet soon, heck, it sounds weird to me, but it sounds like gymcatgirl might have all her skills, and about the practise part, maybe they just wanted to have some fun after a long day of practise, I know in my gym, we do routines on all four events, then we have 30min of free gymnastics time, then we perfect all of our routines, it could be somethinglike that. Oh and to answer your question, gymcatgirl, if you can twist one way better, and your coach doesn't really think it matters, then twist the most comfortable way, as I am not your coach, you should really talk to him/her about it, as it turn into a problem later.

 

[gymdog]

The big mistake a lot of people make with half twist is trying to twist...and then stopping themselves after a half. The rhythm of a half can be a little tricky, but you don't really need to try to twist very hard. It's not the same as twisting and opening up past a half. Kind of hard for me to explain. When I do a half, it's more a slight movement to the left. Think about what you'd have to do if you were going to try and flip, and land on your back. It's not a lot of pull into the twist. It might help to try a standing half...I guess that's only thing I can think of that doesn't need a set-up. You may have been going too low in attempt to fix overtwisting, but you were going easier on height or rotation rather than pull. As an aside when I do half twist punch front it's more of a whip half with a good turnover, so I personally don't have problems with that technique. You can do more of a true half punch front (I used to do it as a L7 or 8) but in my experience when you want to do a layout out of it, the whip technique is what you want. But I basically agree with getting the half twist timing down first before doing a whip turnover into it. It's how I teach it.

Personally, I'm mainly buying the school of "twist the same way front and back" now (although there's some disagreement over that) so unless you were already having a lot of success with the way you're twisting, I'd probably try and switch you over to one way. But that's mostly something you should address with your coaches. This stuff isn't really something that can be fixed over a message board.

Edit: I also should say, the open out of a half twist comes pretty fast, and you need to open up into the correct punching position with your hips leadings, etc. This is where you really need to work with a coach on these basics. I did tons and tons of bounding skills (with hands) before I started punching out of back twisting. And tons of half twist to bounder. It's not just the half, it's the contact position into the front.