tumbling danger

i've worked on the mushroom a lot and have hurt my elbows and wrists a lot, but after resting a bit, i'm ok.

 

i've never hurt myself on the rings or paralletes.

 

but at my gym, i've noticed that people get pretty serious injuries tumbling.  i popped my ankle two months ago doing handsprings and have been doing 30 min. of rehab exercises every day.  i'm still not completely healed.  some guy damaged his knee pretty badly last month.  i haven't seen him since.  another guy at the gym told me he tore his ACL tumbling.  and another girl dislocated her shoulder doing backhandsprings, and today, the same girl dislocated her finger tumbling.

 

is getting a serious injury inevitable if you do a lot of tumbling?

would you say that there is a high injury rate in tumbling?

in terms of danger, how does tumbling rank vs. the other gymnastics events?

Yes, the injuries are indeed inevitable if people:

 

1) insist on engaging in dynamic work without having first built up the proper foundation.

 

2) do not follow the proper progressions or programming for their movement training.

 

Has no one considered why Movement One is just now on the schedule for being released, despite Foundation now having been out for over one year?

 

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

I would have to say that getting a serious injury is inevitable if you are doing things above the level for which your body is prepared, which alas is all too common.  If you go into a weights gym and try to clean and jerk 200kg straight off the bat then I would also say that serious injury is inevitable!  To perform good tumbling, you will begin from a solid foundation of very basic exercises such as front and back rolls until they are second nature.  Things like handsprings, you'll want to have undertaken a LOT of basic strength work to ensure that your shoulders and wrists are stable and can handle extreme forces.  Next you'll want to ensure that your body line is perfect before attempting any rotation.  Then, through appropriate progressions with the support of good coaching, spotting, and the assistance of various foam blocks you will learn the movement patterns until they are locked in muscle memory.  Eventually, you will practice your various movements into a  foam pit to ensure that you don't break your ankles when you inevitably land poorly.

 

Tumbling is fun and impressive, people want to be able to run before they can walk, because it is more exciting, but if you want to do it without setting yourself up for injury, it is a very long road.  I'm reminded of an episode of the motoring show Top Gear, when Richard Hammond, an accomplished driver, attempts to do a lap in a formula one car.  Despite his experience, he can barely drive the car 100 yards without stalling or spinning out, because the car is just completely beyond his abilities.

 

If undertaken properly, I'd say that tumbling is no more hazardous than any other gymnastic endeavour.  Make sure you have a good coach, and practice each progressive element over an over and over in safety before attempting the skill.

 

Personally I've given up all mushroom work until I'm more advanced in the H1 wrist prep series, because injury just isn't worth it for me anymore, it takes too long to heal, which just slows my progression.

Coach,

 

Does your answer indicates that the Movement Series will teach us to do tumbling elements?     

It indicates it will prepare us to do tumbling elements.

None of the courses will include technical instructions as far as we know.

I was a pretty decent tumbler (in the world of mortals) in high school times. A couple of times per year I would get some nasty injury to my lower back due to - now very apparently - weak arch strength and imbalances in general mobility and strength. Now after fixing my self to a degree with F-work I feel so much more control and power when chaining backhand springs and other basic tumbling stuff. Can't wait until mastery of Foundation 

Same here. My basketball years I did hours of plyometric work, hill sprints and just playing the sport itself. Got some back pain from all the activity. My stretching routine at the time only nursed the symptoms instead of fixing the original problems. I just wish Foundation was around when I was playing in 05-09. Wouldn't have dealt with the back pain and would have been even stronger. Atleast the program is at my fingertips now : )