MAG upper arm support swings

[robbiecop]

I was wondering what physical impact upper arm swings might have for the chest. Sometimes one of my gymnasts can't hold it in a front or back uprise and feels a lot of pain in the chest area. One of them even felt a rip in the chest and pain in the arms.
My kine told me it was nothing bad, its tissue between skin and muscles ripping. On the other hand I heard it could be quite damaging for the chest. Anyone has an idea?

 

[profmom]

I'm not a coach, so I don't know, but I do know that my son occasionally gets corrections to prevent this kind of pain, and he has had chest pain a few times from doing the swing back in upper arm support in the L5 routine. He has a very flexible back, and he swings big. Both of his coaches say that the pain means he's doing something wrong -- not activating the right muscles in the swing and relying too much on back flexibility to get it done.

 

[BlairBob]

These little guys are not physically prepared for upper arm swings apparently.

Basically you aggravate your sternum doing these if you aren't strong enough. BTDT when i went insane on dips one day.

I've heard of little guys tearing their sternum because of the load induced by the position or doing skills. Quite often the bars, even when set all the way in, can be too wide for some little guys.

They need to be doing way more static holds in the position with either a spot or self assist device (toes on block or feet in band) and eventually doing "chicken dips" which are shrugs in upper arm support.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you can tear the cartilage that holds the 2 sides of the sternum together. the physical technique needs to be corrected. or else...

 

[sbonham]

Upper arm support swings can be painful for young gymnasts. The muscles stressed are the same ones used to hold still rings iron crosses. The pectorals, lats, teres maj&min, triceps & biceps. Dips, and bar walks and shrugs - and upper arm shrugs ("chicken wings") go a long way towards developing support strength. For kids that have pain - the bars should be narrowed to minimize leverage. AND know that the arm positioning is CRITICAL. When in an upper arm support the elbows MUST be in front of the shoulder joint. Many beginner have the elbows to the rear of the shoulder (a VERY weakened position)! The gymnast should be able to see the elbows with peripheral vision.

Hope this helps!
Steve

 

[BlairBob]

One of the biggest issues is many tiny level 5's are still too small to swing safely even with the bars all the way in.

 

[profmom]

Interesting conversation! (And I'm very glad that all this stuff you guys are saying seems to conform with what my son is hearing from his coaches and the strength drills I've seen him do.)

Very recently, his coach taught him how to roll out of an upper arm swing to handstand (basically going the rest of the way over). Is this just a safety thing or is it building toward some other skill?

 

[BlairBob]

Safety thing.

 

[BlairBob]

Also great if you can build to doing forward or backward shoulder rolls out of a swing for transfer to ring inlocates/dislocates.