Gymnasts undercut backhandsprings

[ri3la]

My round off back handspring has been bothering me for years. I don’t back twist so the only back pass I work is double back. I have a solid one on trampoline and I have it on tumble track as well but it hasn’t been super consistent and I’m at the point where each turn is entirely dependent on my very random round off back handsprings.

My hands end up about a foot or two away from where I jump, and my body goes into a C shape and I make contact past vertical.

Are there any drills I could work on to finally fix it? As I’ve grown and started working harder skills it’s made back tumbling really scary. My coach is leaving and our gym hasn’t found a proper replacement yet so I’m just training myself and working basics in the meantime.

 

[gympoppop]

We would really need a video to diagnose the issue, but in my observations (not a coach) there are two primary reasons for undercutting in the RO-BHS. The first is that you need to scoop your feet in front of your chest when landing your round off. It is really more of a pike down than a hollow coming out of the RO (see Simone Biles slo mo video). If you land with feet behind, your knees are going to have to go way in front of your feet in the transition and that is going to cause an undercut BHS. You need to keep knees behind feet. The second reason is if you are not sitting/leaning back enough out of the round off to have the BHS take off at the correct angle. You need to keep the momentum moving backwards and not put the brakes on. A good simple drill for this is to do mountain climber to fast cartwheel and then fall backward onto your bottom on a mat.

I will also plug this video that has helped me and some others. I would suggest doing the part where you work two standing backhandsprings in a row until you can connect them to help feel the sitting back part that is required in the connection with the RO.