January 14, 2011
This low single rail drill helps gymnasts to understand how to cast to a handstand with straddled legs. Beginning from a hollow prone support the gymnast moves down to a tight arch, and from there quickly snaps the hips up, aiming to bring the body weight on top of the arm support without letting the legs come down too much. The straddle cast handstand action somehow mimics the regular straddle press handstand on the floor, but the feet and legs should not come dramatically down when the hips move up or the whole action becomes neutral and does not go up to a handstand. The goal is to bring the piking hips on top of the support with the straddle legs also moving up.
January 14, 2011
Technically correct front pirouettes on the horizontal bar or the uneven bars must be completed by the vertical or even slightly before. Kicking up with an undergrip short of reaching a complete vertical handstand performing a front pirouette and falling over flat in overgrip lend the athlete valuable understanding and experience about how to begin an early pirouette ahead of the body reaching the vertical line. The drill also helps the athletes to train their body weight transfer actions so their front pirouettes finish totally square, not tilted or swinging down crooked. When the gymnast kicks up at the same time that the arms support moves on the pirouette direction, the rest of the body from the feet down must move together with the arms and shoulder support.
January 14, 2011
This low single rail drill helps gymnast beginning to learn a higgins to understand how to transfer their body weight over the post arm. Gymnasts must aim to keep a straight body line, and during the turn, maintain eye contact with the bar for catching the rail. Athletes with flexible shoulders can finish the skill with their eaglegrip closer to shoulder-width for better presentation and a more ample swing.
January 14, 2011
Low single rail full pirouette drills can be trained to a mixed-grip first, and then to a complete eagle grip. Some of the goals are to keep the body fully stretched during the turn without any arch or pike, and when coming down, to land straight on the soft mat instead of crooked to either the left or right side of a perfect perpendicular line in relation to the rail. The gymnasts can also learn how to keep visual contact with the rail to for catching it, and aim to grab the bar close to shoulder-width.
January 14, 2011
In this drill the gymnast begins with both hands in an eagle grip and jumps up to a handstand with eagle grip support afterwards to land flat down while maintaining a fully streched position and without loosing the grip on the bar. The drill can also be performed bouncing from a board, but either way, one of the goals is to show a vertically supported handstand without any pike before falling down. In these examples the male gymnast is moving over a little too quick before showing a fully extended vertical handstand. For eagle giants male gymnasts tend to keep the head neutral during the handstand support while many female gymnast approach the skill keeping a visual contact with the rail. Either way is valid as long as the body shows a great extended line during the eagle grip handstand support.
January 14, 2011
In this stalder drill the aim is to land in a pancake position with the arms straight and shoulders pushing and stretching away from the bar. Gymnast that have some personal difficulty with the pancake position need to develop better flexibilty to be able to perform great stalders. During the stalder drill the gymnast should not rush to straddle right on the handstand but planche down a little and then push away while moving into the pancake position. Keeping good form in any training drill helps to establish long lasting excellent presentation habits.
January 14, 2011
This is another example of the useful variety of bar skills that single rails help to introduce and develop. The goal is to jump back and get familiar with catching the bar and immediately push away to facilitate a good swing for any subsequent skill following the reverse hecht.
January 14, 2011
Horizontal bar reverse hechts require a quick opening of the shoulder angle before the body swings down beyond the horizontal line. Training low single rail back bails with the shoulders opening prior to landing down on the mat helps to develop an understanding of this technical action. The shoulder angle opening is combined with a tight arch that must not be loose on the back and knees.
January 14, 2011
Though male gymnasts tend to perform the higgins while already bailing down, this skill can be performed beginning in the handstand support as optimally seen on the uneven bars. Spotting the gymnasts on a low single rail allows them to experience the body weight transfer and technical motions required to move and turn from an overgrip on to an eagle-grip position.
January 13, 2011
Straps training is another great tool to introduce and refine many uneven and horizontal bar skills. Coaches must teach their gymnasts how to use the straps correctly and in a safe manner. These clips are examples of the proper straps and hands placement to train over grip skills. Notice how the hands after going through the strap loop grab the bar on the inside of the hanging straps. 2nd clip Look very caferul here at the right way to hang the straps over the bar before the hands go through. 3rd clip 4th clip Observe again the gymnast straps preparation and placement to train overgrip skills. It is extremely important that a gymnast never attempts to perform any skill with straps that are too loose and not holding his wrists firmly mainly because in such circumstances his hands can easily slip off the bar and out of the strap loops with potential for a serious rip off the bar accident. Until the gymnasts are very familiar with straps training and safety procedures coaches must carefully supervise the athletes making use of this excellent learning device.
