Back Handspring form correction + drill suggestions please!

[Kenneth Saathoff]

Hey all,

I've been working on back handspring progressions, but I think I've gotten stuck. To me it looks like the biggest issue is that I'm not fully opening my hips, and/or my legs are bending instead of staying straight. What do you think? And what are good drills I can do to help me progress on whatever the main weak point is?

Thanks!!

 

 

 

 

[Alessandro Mainente]

Hi Kenneth, before giving a suggestion I would like to see your floor bridge and back walkover. Without proper bridge and back walkover, you have practically zero chances to develop a decent and correct back handspring.

[Frank Santasiero]

Hi Kenneth,

I am not a gymnastic coach but it appears as if your handspring is not traveling backward enough. The issue with bent legs appears easier to fix as you probably have to practice keeping them straight. I am also an adult (over 50 in my case) trying to learn this skill and I have the same tendencies that you do. In my case I can not do a proper bridge and definitely not a walkover. I am working the thoracic bridge course but my shoulder flexibility is so bad that I have a ways to go before I can do a respectable bridge so in my case a proper back handspring as Alessandro is referring to might be out of the question at least in the short term.

Frank

[Alessandro Mainente]

I coached gymnastics for the last 4 years, not too much but enough to see that the biggest difference between adults and kids it is......bridge and walkover, the inability to bend in the thoracic spine reflects the inability to bend of the spine with all the benefits that the stretch reflex has on the abs. Lack of bridge means lack of complete shoulder flexion and necessary muscles to absorb completely the bodyweight.

The throacic bridge series it is perfect for you case.

[Paul Wallbridge]

A couple of points I've noticed from your video (probably much of it stemming from lack of flexibility):

my caveat first, do not do any of the below without sufficient guidance from a qualified coach. My experience is roughly 10 years of gymnastics as a child and working towards coaching MAG for a local club.

• you rely too much on swinging your arms to get over. A good back flick (I'm in the UK and have never called it a back handspring ;)) can be executed with no arm swing at all. The result you have is that your rotation is driven from your arms rather than flexibility. So it's more a back somersault with putting your hands down. Try doing a back flick starting with your arms above your head and no swing but use support until you can get over comfortably!
• A follow on from above, your feet land very close to your hands and actually hit the track before you even get your hands of the ground... you're not blocking sufficiently to get a good spring off your hands to lift you up and onto your feet. You need to practice blocking drills against a wall or other suitable surface.
• You're initial push off from your legs is propelling you too vertical, which is compounding both the above issues. Again with assistance, you need to practice evening out the length of your back flip so the feet to hands phase covers the same distance as the hands to feet phase (if that makes sense)

youve done great getting that far. Keep working on your flexibility and ironing out those issues and you can get a decent back flick.