Hi,
my daughter has made a competitive cheerleading squad which requires her
to do a standing back handspring. We have your video and have been doing
the exercises regularly along with handstand push ups on the walls and
handstand front rolls. Still each time she goes to throw it she ends up
on her elbows and knees looking like a frog. There are occasions where
she does undercut it but for the most part she is stretching it to be
the length of her body. She can do the back walkovers beautifully, has
a roundoff, but these arms just keep caving in. Are there any other exercises
to strengthen her arms besides handstands? Help please.
If
your daughter is doing well-formed handstand push-ups... the problem is
NOT strength.
Most likely she's collapsing in the SHOULDERS because the arms are remaining
in FRONT of the head rather than straight above it or behind it when she's
reaching in the handspring for the handstand position. Without actually
seeing her it's very difficult to offer an accurate solution... but that's
my best guess.
My good tumblers can consistently do 10 handstand pushups (bending the
elbows so that the head goes 1/2 way to the floor) with the hands so close
together that the thumbs almost touch. There is NO angle in the shoulders...
i.e.: there is a straight line from wrist to ankle. Make sure she can
do that many pushups in good form AND step back out of the handstand without
collapsing. If she can't do that she's not strong enough to do her handspring
alone. If she is...there's no doubt about her strength and it's ALL an
error in arm/head position.
1) check to see her arm position BEFORE she starts the handspring... when
she's standing still... about to begin... are her arms straight out in
front... down by her thighs or up over her head. My guess is they are
out in front.
Out in front is a "Stylistic variation" that reinforces an angle
in the shoulder which ultimately results in poorly formed handsprings.
Start there... & make sure she reaches STRAIGHT up overhead before
EVERY handspring... and then she can swing them down, through the 'straight
out' position.. and then up again as she's springing. By allowing students
to have the hands in front (allegedly for ? balance? similar to the old
"marine squat" calisthenics) the tumblers are developing habits
of improper head and arm position.
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HOW IS YOUR TUMBLING?
Have ~CoachWayne!
come to YOUR gym!!!
Performance
tumbling for students &
Instructor training for staff
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Coach
Wayne is the Head Coach for the Savannah College of Art and
Design Cheerleading team and Executive Coach of Olympic Gymnast
Zuzana Sekerova. His articles, videos and books have been
used by students and instructors world wide since 1991. Coach
Wayne is available for in-gym instructor training and performance
tumbling clinics throughout the year. For booking information,
coaches/owners should call 912.398.8082. Students and parents
should request coaches/owners to contact Coach Wayne: www.CoachWayne.com,
coach@coachwayne.com or 912-238-1747, 912-398-8082.
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2) Have her SPOTTED in the handspring... but make the
spotter STOP her in a HANDSTAND position. So... she starts in a gymnastic
stand... lean/sit/(arm swing) legs push & she'll spring backwards...
to a HANDSTAND.... STOP!!!!
and stay there...
Analyze the handstand.
Is it in PERFECT form... or did she stick her head out like a turtle (another
mistake caused by the arms reaching in front of the nose rather than above/behind
the head.) Does the handstand look STRONG... or weak?
THEN.... make her SPLIT and step out of the handstand RATHER than snapping
down & rebounding.
So here's the routine: AGAIN: have her SLOW DOWN the standing handspring...
be SPOTTED through the "back spring to handstand"... HOLD the
handstand position STRAIGHT and TIGHT for two seconds.. .then STEP out
(completely finishing in the step out (through lunge position.) and back
to a gymnastic stand.
REPEAT that correctly 14 times VERY slowly...allowing for ZERO error tolerance.
Speed it up to 1/2 speed 12 times. (& if there is a SINGLE error...
repeat the first 14.)
Move it to 3/4 speed with a light spot... still stepping out... repeat
12 times
graduate to FULL speed 10 times... WITH a spot...allowing ZERO error tolerance...
and going BACK to the first set if there is even ONE body part out of
alignment.(yes you still do body length plus arms... marked on the floor!)
ONLY after she's consistently repeated the full speed handspring... with
spot... 10 times... without error should you remove the spot.
You'll probably need to go through that ENTIRE routine 2x per week for
3 weeks before she has a consistent handspring by herself.
My recommendation is to HIRE a spotter.... for a 1/2 hour of private handspring
lessons and have the spotter follow this EXACT routine... hand the spotter
my email if necessary. If the spotter doesn't know how to have her spring
to a handstand and stop...followed by a step-out to a gymnastic stand
(arms overhead body straight and tight)... then you have the wrong spotter.
The only other likely error is an incomplete leg-push followed by a 'pike'
or 'tuck' in the hips.
Again.. you'll see that in the spring back to handstand exercises above...
the LEGS must be completely STRAIGHT before they leave the floor!
I'll be having tumbling/cheerleading camps this summer in Savannah.
Write back and let me know about your results.
~CW
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