Gymnasts having problems with leaning the shoulders back out of support and turning over in one body unit for under-shoot dismounts, may benefit from learning how to make a complete back hip circle without having any momentum from a cast.
Once the gymnasts can make their front hip circles to the support by themselves, two important goals are to minimize bending of the arms when coming back to the support and to begin connecting their font hips circles to a nice cast.
This used to be an old common way to begin the front hip circle. Starting with an arched position before falling down to a pike in order to speed up the skill. Although some gymnasts still use this initial approach, the pike to speed up the circle can be initiated as well from a body falling down in a hollow position which is the more accepted present approach. Regardless of the front hip initial position it is more important to assure that the final cast changes position before the body swings up beyond the horizontal line. An excessive or prolonged arch during the cast is a recognize execution deduction.
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.
