roundoff-backhandspring-backtuck

wow matt, thanks for taking the time to write that out!

i'm slowly working on correcting it all.

rather than muscling everything, i'm just working on the individual roundoff and backhandspring techniques and form first.

when you said that doing the snap down, the feet should land closer to where the hands touched the ground, that doesn't make sense to me. i thought that the feet should travel much further back.

also, when you said that a snap down from an elevated surface could result in a back tuck "picked" with legs straight, did you mean piked? and is this off a sprung floor?

thanks for the awesome post!

leeaw said:

when you said that doing the snap down, the feet should land closer to where the hands touched the ground, that doesn't make sense to me. i thought that the feet should travel much further back.

In the Round Off, if the feet snap down closer to where your hands were placed you will punch off the ground at a better angle for going into a Back handspring. If your feet land far from where your hands were placed then chest will be down and in front of your knees. Although in the Back Handspring you are correct that the feet should land much further away from the hands.

I may draw a picture or something and then upload it. I think you would understand it clearly if you saw.

leeaw said:

also, when you said that a snap down from an elevated surface could result in a back tuck "picked" with legs straight, did you mean piked? and is this off a sprung floor?

What I meant was that as you get better at snapping down you could do that snap down drill and punch with straight legs going into the Back Tuck, still doing a tuck. Right now your back tuck power is mostly coming from a jumping action where you slow down and have big squat after your back handspring. And yes, this is on a spring floor.

Awesome! Thanks!

Since tumbling is so much more about technique than just power alone, it seems like the moves are a lot more scary. I don't quite know how to express it, but it seems like it's necessary to rely on the technique to drive the movement, which feels backwards. I suppose I've been trying to use power to drive the technique. Now it feels like I must have a lot more "trust" in the technique rather than the power. I don't know if that makes sense, but if it does, how does one overcome this over-caution? Another question related to power and technique is this, if I do have a lot of strength and power, will that translate into the height of the tumbling if using proper technique? In other words, will all of the time I spent developing strength through bodyweight training and powerlifting be useful in tumbling?

Thanks again,

Lee

leeaw said:

Awesome! Thanks!

Since tumbling is so much more about technique than just power alone, it seems like the moves are a lot more scary. I don't quite know how to express it, but it seems like it's necessary to rely on the technique to drive the movement, which feels backwards. I suppose I've been trying to use power to drive the technique. Now it feels like I must have a lot more "trust" in the technique rather than the power. I don't know if that makes sense, but if it does, how does one overcome this over-caution? Another question related to power and technique is this, if I do have a lot of strength and power, will that translate into the height of the tumbling if using proper technique? In other words, will all of the time I spent developing strength through bodyweight training and powerlifting be useful in tumbling?

Thanks again,

Lee

What you have built will transfer, don't worry. As for the trust, use the tumble track and a pit or those super doughy landing mats for your practice. For round off drills, make a 2-3 foot wide massage through two mats and do your round off between them. It helps to have two folded panel mats spaced out 4-5 feet apart in front of the gap to force you to hurdle and reach forward with a scaling motion rather than down with your hands. The people at the gym you train at should be able to help with setting that up. I am planning on tumbling this weekend, perhaps I will embarrass myself with a video showcasing a neat drill with fairly awful technique.

cool...looking forward to seeing it.

as for the tumble track, i'd like to use it, but it freaks me out as i'm over 6ft. tall and am scared of flying off the side...

leeaw said:

cool...looking forward to seeing it.

as for the tumble track, i'd like to use it, but it freaks me out as i'm over 6ft. tall and am scared of flying off the side...

I did that once, it wasn't too bad. I'm 6'2

That's why you do your floor drills until you are moving straight and proper, and then you go to tumble track. Just have someone spot on tumble track and you'll be fine. My spotter was like 5'9 155 and he had no problem.

I will shoot video this coming Sunday, most likely, now that finals are finally over!