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Gymnastics Training Information

Posts about balance-beam

Straddle Over Beam Mount

March 8, 2011

This is an interesting mount that can usually be accomplished without too much trouble. Starting on the spring board, the athlete jumps up and a little back, straddling the legs as much as possible and quickly placing the hands on the apparatus.

Basic Standing Jump Dismounts at the End of Beam

February 9, 2011

Once the gymnast have learned how to perform some basic jumps on floor and have a good understanding of how to land safely, they may also practice basic dismounts. In the tuck jump, emphasis is placed on bringing the knees up close to the chest. For a pike jump, the gymnast brings the legs up close to a horizontal line. The goal is to show a deep pike at peak height. The straddle jump dismount must emphasize hip turn-out so at peak height the front part of the legs are facing up toward the ceiling. We don't recommend half-turn or full turn jumps for novice gymnasts because they are hard to contact and land safely.

Gainer Dismount at the End of Beam

February 9, 2011

For this gainer dismount the gymnast takes off from a single front foot while the back foot swings forward helping to kick the knees and hips up to create the somersault rotation.  To assure that the skill travels away enough to clear the beam, during the take-off the athlete aims to bring her center of mass forward  so the dismount does not travel vertically.  During the last step, the arms perform an underswing to help set up the skill.  This young gymnast needs to work on her head position which is moving too far out, detracting from the tuck somersault technical lines.  In general, for all back tuck somersaults, the rotation is created at take off from the trunk area.  The head can be neutral or in some cases slightly out for visual purposes.  Throwing the head out does not have any rotational value.