Back Handspring Tips

This seems to be a hot topic, so here are some tips for how to do a great back handspring!

1. Practice the squat!! The squat is so essential to the backward motion of the skill. You've probably heard it many times, but it should be as if you're sitting in a chair. You need to get a good bend in the legs and sit back. The backwards motion starts here!!

2. Get a strong arm swing. You should practice without the arm swing, too, so you can figure out how to push hard with your legs to make the handspring. But once you know you have that down, the arm swing will get you some good momentum. You should, of course, combine this with the push from your legs as you extend your legs and spring off those toes.

3. As you begin the first phase of the handspring, really open your shoulder angle (note: that does not mean that you should throw your head back!) and open your hips so that you find that nice tight arch position over the top.

4. Over the top of the skill, your arms need to be tight at your ears with your head staying in place, chin tucked in slightly. Of course, straight legs, tight core, and pointed toes. At this point, you can start spotting for the hand placement with your eyes.

5. Immediately after your hands hit the floor, you need to block as hard as you can off of your shoulders. Do not bend your arms and push off - the block should happen all with shoulder power, and of course with straight arms (not locked, but straight) and your fingers slightly turned in to prevent injury to the elbows.

6. Now you're ready for the turnover. What you're going to do now is to snap your legs down towards the ground for the rebound. You can do snap-down drills by kicking up into a handstand on a panel mat and snapping your feet down, first controlling the landing by bending the knees and landing with a hollow chest, then trying the same thing with a high rebound once your feet hit the floor.

7. During the rebound, your knees should not bend. Similar to your hands hitting the ground in the handspring, you do not want to lock the knees but they should be straight. The rebound really comes from pushing off the toes as hard as you can. After you get a great rebound, you can start working on sets for a back tuck!

8. Coming down from the rebound, bend the knees slightly to control the landing and extend your hands our in front of you for balance. Keeping a tight body throughout the skill and the rebound is going to help you to stick the landing.

Following these basic tips you should have a pretty nice back handspring :) Remember to stretch out your back with bridges and back walkovers before jumping right into the handspring! Happy flipping!

Gymnastics Movies and Books

Just thought I'd point you guys towards some books and movies about gymnastics that you might be interested in! Unfortunately you don't see gymnastics in the media too much, but I have found a few things I enjoyed.

My FAVORITE gymnastics book is called "Gymnastics: The Trials, The Triumphs, The Truth" by a guy named Dan Gutman. I have loved this book since I was a little girl. There are a few bios in there of famous gymnasts, both men and women, of the past. It provides general descriptions of all the events and has a "gym talk" vocabulary section, which is pretty funny :) It also talks about some of the down-sides of the sport, like some occurrences of eating disorders in elite gymnasts. My favorite part about the book is the stories/biographies of Nadia Comaneci and Olga Korbut and their journeys in gymnastics!

There is a movie called "Nadia" that also gives an overview of Nadia Comaneci's life, being trained by Bela Karolyi in Romania and reaching success at a young age. It's a little corny but VERY interesting and definitely worth a view, in my opinion. It gives you some insight into her life, and you learn that she had to overcome many obstacles. You may be able to find this at a library, but you might need to do some searching. I also know that is available on VHS from Amazon.

Another is a Lifetime movie called "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes" about a gymnast who moves from her more fun, relaxed gym to a very serious gym to follow her elite dreams. The movie deviates a little bit from the real world of gymnastics (ex: at the meets, the gymnasts compete with spotlights moving all around them. It's just little things like that), but if you're willing to look past that I think it's a worthwhile film.

This next one I would direct both to you as gymnasts as well as to your parents. It's called "Gymnastics" from the Sport Psychology Library. I have not read it myself but have heard it's immensely helpful in giving insight on how to overcome the mental obstacles that gymnastics presents.

Then, of course, we've got "Stick It" and "Make it or Break it" :)

Who knows, maybe I'll write a gymnastics novel someday. But only if all my blog readers promise to read it and pretend like they like it :D

Nastia Liukin Biography

Nastia Liukin!

DOB: October 30, 1989
Country Represented: United States
Coach: Her father, Valeri Liukin. She trains at WOGA, which is owned by her family.
Best Event: Based on scores and overall presentation, I'm gonna have to name UB as her best event.
Best Known For: Her 2008 Olympic AA win! :)
Currently: Still training. Nastia has also made a few TV/movie appearances and has her own GK leo line.
Interesting Fact: There are so many! Excuse me for listing more than one, but... Nastia was born in Moscow and is fluent in Russian. Both of her parents were champions in the Soviet Union, her father a gold medalist in gymnastics and her mother a World Champion rhythmic gymnast. She is also a spokesmodel for Covergirl!

October Questions and Comments....

Please post here. :)

How to Help Prevent and Take Care of Rips in Gymnastics

My coach used to try to make us think rips were cool. He would say, "Getting rips means you're a hard worker and a great gymnast." Maybe that's true, but nobody likes to get rips, so here are a couple of tips to help prevent them and to take care of them when they happen. There's not a whole lot that you can do about rips, unfortunately, but I'll tell you everything I know.

1) Use tape. If you feel like you're getting a blister or if you already have a rip, use a little bit of pre-wrap and then wrap your hand in athletic tape. It doesn't necessarily take away the pain, but it does help to prevent the blister from ripping further. (Ew, I hate the word blister. I bet you do, too. I don't blame you. Bear with me.)

2) If you are getting to the level where you're starting to learn things like clear hip handstands and giants, now is the time to get grips. They do NOT prevent rips like some people say they do, but when you are performing skills that require so much hand-to-bar time, they do reduce the friction a little bit. Of course you'll also need them to help you grip the bar, which is clearly their intended purpose.

3) If you get a callus on your hand, you can use a pumice stone or some other sort of file on it to reduce it a little bit. You don't want to go overboard with this, obviously, because if your hands are completely callus-free, they'll get sore pretty quickly on bars.

4) This one is a little controversial, but some girls like the "sock method." Put some lotion on your hand and then put a sock over it while you sleep. Take it off in the morning. Supposedly it has healing powers, though I've never tried it myself.

5) Try some Neosporin and a band-aid if all else fails.

6) If you're really in a lot of pain, ask your coach if you can work on low-friction skills for a while. Examples of that would be casts, cast handstands, squat ons, jump to high bar, pirouette drills, release moves, transitions, etc. depending on your skill level.

Happy bars. :)

Poll: Name One Skill You're Working on Now

Name ONE skill you're working on right now in the gym, and I will in turn provide you with ONE tip for successfully learning that skill. :)

Dominique Moceanu Biography

I thought it would be fun to do a Gymnast of the Month, based on birth month :) Born in September is the lovely and talented...

Dominique Moceanu!

Bio -

DOB: September 30, 1981
Country Represented: America, but is of Romanian descent
Coaches: Marta and Bela Karolyi
Best Event: This is debatable, but I always loved to watch her on beam. She had a pretty cool mount and her routines were chalk-full of difficult skills (Get it? CHALK-full? Eh? Changed the spelling for a little gymnastic humor there :P Lol)
Best Known For: Her position on the 1996 Women's Olympic team - the Magnificent Seven, who brought home the American team gold.
Currently: Retired from gymnastics, she is married and a mother of two kids, Carmen and Vincent.
Interesting Fact: With the money she earned from her career as a gymnast, she helped build a gym called Moceanu Gymnastics, Incorporated. It opened in 1997.

Thanks to Wikipedia for the information!

September Questions and Comments: Please Post Here :)

Any questions, comments, updates, personal gym news, etc. for the month should be posted here and I will respond to them, either in a comment or a separate blog post, as soon as I can! Thanks. :)

Meet Tips for Gymnasts and Gym Parents

With the competitive season coming up, I thought it might be helpful to give first-time competitors and first-time gym parents a general overview of your basic gymnastics meet, along with some tips and tricks to make everything run as smoothly as possible. This might be a little lengthy, so bear with me! I'll try to make it as precise as I can, though there's quite a bit to say. (Girls, tell your parents to read, too, if they're interested!)

Basic Meet Schedule:
Your average USAG meet will last about four hours and will follow a standard schedule. There might be a few exceptions to this rule (ex: Capital Cup or Chicago-style meet), but most meets will follow the exact same format, and you will soon know it by heart. It usually goes like this...

Check in (get your designated number)
Warm up/stretch
Timed warm ups
March in
Competition
Awards ceremony

You'll want to arrive about twenty minutes before the scheduled warm up time so the gymnasts can get situated with their teammates and consult with their coach.

Random Things You Should Know (gymnasts):

1) When you have downtime at a meet, it might help you to visualize your routines. See yourself acing the move that you're getting a little nervous about. Watch yourself sticking the landing. Thinking positively is enormously beneficial. If you think you can, you can. The Olympians will tell you that.

2) Prepare your gym bag the night before. It's nice to know that you're all ready to go and you have nothing to worry about except your routines. Throw some things in your gym bag ahead of time. Your bag should be labeled with your name on it. Items you might want to bring include your leos (warm-up and competitive) and warm ups, a hairbrush, hairspray, extra hair ties, a water bottle, your grips, icy hot for sore muscles, ibuprofen, healthy snacks to eat between events (such as a few granola bars, trail mix, etc.), wrist/ankle/knee braces if you need them, athletic tape, and, if you're like me, a good luck charm. I brought my green teddy bear to every meet, even when I was a teenager :P

3) You are not allowed to wear nail polish to a meet. You should remove it the night before. Take off all your jewelry before the meet as well.

4) Get enough to eat! Stomach aches at meets are no good. The night before a meet, carbs are always a good dinner option for a boost of energy. In the morning, have a bowl of cereal, a waffle (whole wheat would be best), toast, a banana, a bagel, or something similar. Make sure you're staying hydrated.

5) Go out to eat or do something fun with your teammates after the meet!! After all that, you deserve it. At travel meets, especially, you'll want to have some fun with your friends.

Random Things You Should Know (parents):

1) Get ready early. Obviously you'll want your daughter to get all the sleep she can get, but sleeping in and then rushing to get to a meet adds unnecessary nerves and pressure. Plan ahead for the time it will take to fix up your daughter's hair on the morning of a meet. Sometimes it takes longer than you think it will, especially if you're planning on an intricate braid. Allow extra time in case you get a little lost on the way, and of course take note of the weather (I can't even count the number of times my parents and I got lost, or got stuck behind a snow plow the whole way there, etc. etc.) Unforeseen problems do tend to arise, and it's best to just be prepared no matter what.

2) If you are at a travel meet, you may find it helpful to make a test drive from the hotel to the site of the meet the night before. That way you can watch out for unexpected road closings and detours, and it will just takes a lot of stress off your shoulders.

3) Focus on your daughter making her best effort and having a good time, rather than on winning. My father used to grill me in the car on the way to meets about pointing my toes in my beam routine and getting a higher cast on bars, and, though I know now that it was coming from a place of concern and wanting me to be happy with my own performance, it made me very nervous then. I felt pressured, and I also felt a little annoyed, because I knew he had no idea about the mechanics behind the moves I would be performing. I felt like, "Hey, I already have a coach. I don't need another one." Trust me, the coaches put enough pressure on as it is. Your job is simply to be supportive. :)

4) Bring cash with you to meets. There are entrance fees, and there will typically be concessions as well as other merchandise related to the meet (like cool t-shirts, grip bags, leotards, stuff like that). Some meets also provide a professional photographer, and you will have the option of purchasing photos of your daughter after the meet. Also, bring a book or an ipod or something else to entertain yourself or your other kids. Your daughter will actually only compete for a total of about four minutes, so there will be a lot of idle time in between.

5) I said this in the section for gymnasts, but staying hydrated and eating enough is obviously important for your daughter. Carbs are recommended for the night before, and non-acidic foods (cereal or bagels are always good) in the morning.

6) As you probably know, flash photography will not be allowed for safety reasons, so if you're planning on taking photos, turn your flash off right away.

Good luck to everybody and enjoy your season! Again, if you have questions pertaining to this particular post, please feel free to comment and I'll get your question answered as soon as possible. If you have a question that does NOT relate to this post, please ask it in the post below this one, until I can get a "Questions and Comments" post up for the month. Thanks!

Poll: When is your first meet this season?

I know the competitive season is coming up fairly soon. For some reason I was thinking it began in October, but I'm not quite sure. Again, please forgive my fuzzy memory. It's been way too many years since I've competed. So what is the date of your first meet this year? I want to make sure that I can be thinking of you all and wishing you luck on that day! Though I'm sure you don't need the luck, because you're all so fantastic. :)