Gymnastics Workout Article – Floor Split Jump and Balance Beam

As basic as the split vault is, there are still a large number of gymnasts who cannot perform this skill correctly. Many gymnasts achieve a 180 degree leg split, but don’t keep the hips square, in line with the shoulders. Once the gymnast has become accustomed to rotating the hips to achieve a larger leg split, it can be very difficult to correct.

Training a gymnast to keep her hips square during a split vault should be a goal from the day she walks into her first gym class. If she trains herself to stay square from the start, there will be a greater chance that her split jumps will be performed correctly throughout her gymnastics career. It is helpful to encourage gymnasts to keep their hips square as they stretch for splits, perform splits, vaults, vaults, and cartwheels.

Another common problem with the split jump is that many gymnasts have enough flexibility in the hamstrings, but not enough flexibility in the hip flexors and quadriceps muscles to properly split the legs for the split jump, among other skills. The hip flexors are the group of muscles that lift the leg forward and up. When these muscle groups lack flexibility, the opposite movement of raising the leg back and up (for the split) becomes difficult.

Here’s a simple way to assess your gymnast’s hip placement and flexibility regarding a split and ultimately their split jump. Have your gymnast perform a split the way she normally performs this skill. Even if she can’t get to the ground in a split, this assessment can still be made. Once your gymnast is in a split, ask her to bend her back leg so that her back foot comes off the floor and reaches a 90 degree angle with that leg. Your gymnast’s back foot should not touch the ground and her back knee will remain on the ground. If your gymnast’s back foot naturally points toward a wall rather than the ceiling, she may benefit from some additional work regarding hip placement. Your gymnast may also benefit from increased flexibility training for the hip flexor and quadriceps areas. If her back foot is immediately pointing toward the ceiling instead of a wall, she may already have correct hip placement.

Your gymnast may need to lift her body slightly from the split to perform this gymnastics assessment or make adjustments with hip placement. If you have discovered that your gymnast’s hips have not been square while performing this simple gymnastics assessment, you can easily help her correct the hip placement by instructing her to pull the hip on the same side of the back leg forward. Once asked to pull the hip forward, the gymnast’s back foot can point toward the ceiling. At this point, many gymnasts can feel the difference between correct and incorrect hip placement during splits. Sometimes awareness is all it takes to correct the hip placement problem, but many gymnasts will also require a change in their flexibility training.

You may have determined that your gymnast will benefit from further stretching the hip flexor and quadriceps areas. The following stretch is simple, but very effective for gymnasts of all levels.

Hip flexor block stretch.

Have your gymnast lie on her back on a stack of mats or a support block.

Make sure your buttocks area is at the edge of the mat stack or block.

Instruct your gymnast to bring one thigh to the chest with the knee bent.

Next, instruct your gymnast to place her hands on top of her shin to keep that leg close to her chest during this stretch.

Next, instruct your gymnast to raise the other leg over her body so her toes point toward the ceiling. This leg can be slightly bent/relaxed. The knee and heel of this leg should be in line with the hip bone and shoulder on the same side throughout this stretch.

Once in the starting position, instruct your gymnast to slowly lower the raised leg so that her thigh is level with the block and then lower than the level of the block.

Once lowered as far as the gymnast’s hip flexor muscles will allow, that leg will hang below the top level of the mat block or stack.

Once again, make sure that the leg that is hanging below the level of the block is in line with your gymnast’s hips and not out to the side.

Allow your gymnast to stay in this position to stretch her hip flexors. Gravity will do the work of slowly and steadily stretching your gymnast. If your gymnast has done this stretch before and feels that this stretch is no longer effective, allow her to use a light weight on her ankles.

For safety, your gymnast should hold the opposite leg in place to keep her lower back on the block.

This second stretch is quite common, but many coaches do not ask their gymnasts to bend their back leg, thus depriving their gymnasts of a full stretch in this position.

Hip flexor/hamstring stretch

Instruct your gymnast to kneel on the floor with one leg in front of her body.

Next, instruct your gymnast to shift her weight to her front leg, pressing her hips down and forward.

Once your gymnast’s hips are pressed down and forward, instruct her to lift her back foot off the floor, bending at the knee. Make sure you keep your knee on the ground.

Make sure your gymnast’s front foot does not go past the knee for the safest and most efficient stretch.

Watch your gymnast’s back foot to see if it is pointing toward the wall or toward the ceiling. If your back toe isn’t pointing toward the ceiling, your hips are probably not square. Instruct your gymnast to pull the hip on the same side as the back leg forward and press the hip on the same side as the front leg forward.

For Hamstrings: Keeping your feet in place, have your gymnast move her hips back, then flex her front foot to stretch the hamstrings of her front leg.

Make sure your gymnast is not sitting on her back foot. If she is sitting on her back foot, instruct your gymnast to move her front foot forward.

To help your gymnast understand how to stay framed in this stretch, you can ask her to make sure the tops of her inner thighs are touching each other. Stretching square will help keep your gymnast’s splits and vaults square.

Focus on the position of your gymnast’s hips in relation to her shoulders in all stretches of this nature because once you allow a gymnast to rotate at the hips instead of staying square, you will allow the muscles to move and gain flexibility in the hips. a different address than expected.

It takes time, focus, and a commitment to excellence to insist that a gymnast perform her warm-ups, vaults, flips, and flips with her hips squared, but the safety benefits and time saved when training advanced skills or routines are invaluable. .

The Gymnastics Drills and Conditioning Drills book has a section on dance drills that includes drills for the split jump and the straddle jump.