struggling with backhandspring

Hi all, I have a problem with learning the backhandspring, I can do a fairly OK roundoff and standing back tuck and my handstand is OK (I practice wall runs and stomach to wall handstand nearly everyday) but when I try to learn backhandspring, two thing happen:

1) either I tuck/pike my legs as soon as they leave the ground, result= crashing into my head

2) or I dont have enough of a arch and I land on my head (ouch)

I go to an adult gymnastics class once a week and I can do the back handspring drill over a barrel with no problems, but once there is no barrel its like my hips/legs freak and want to tuck/pike as soon as they leave the floor and I can't maintain the arch position.

My coach has not being able to come up with a drill to help me get past this problem, I will try to post a video next time but any suggestions?

Maybe learn it on the trampoline? That helps pushing with the hips up and making a longer arch...

Practice on soft mat first. Don't bother jumping straight into back handspring right away.

Practice diving backwards on the mat first. Stand by the mat with your back facing it. Squat down and lean back to tilt a tiny bit of weight until you start to fall. Jump and swing both your arms up-back, don't forget to look through your hands as you jump. You're falling onto the mat at this point. Your arms and shoulders should be hitting the mat first and then the back, bum and heel. Just do that for the time being.

To do the full back hand spring properly, have somebody to spot you, really important. I can't explain this bit properly.

Try to make it to adult gymnastics more than once a week to accelerate your learning. I'm trying to find a coach who can give me private 1 to 1 coaching.

It is a matter of getting the segments of the body to work for you, rather than against you.

The way you are landing when you miss (no distance, too vertical, on the head :cry:) is indicative of the main issue; in the beginning of the backhandspring (bhs) you are not dropping the hips behind your knees prior to the jump. As a consequence your body is forced to attempt to generate momentum by whipping the chest forward and then backward into the handspring. However as the hips have not been displaced to the rear, this momentum is generated in an upward direction rather than backward.

To correctly execute the beginning of a bhs, simply picture sitting down on a chair. If you were truly sitting down on a chair, your hips would hinge and then press backward with the torso remaining relatively upright; in essence the entire torso of the body effortlessly drops behind the body's former point of balance.

Another option for getting familiar with the proper position are wall sits on the wall where the torso is upright and there are 90 degree angles at the hips and knees.

In regards to utilizing this position for the bhs, at no point as you descend into the seated position would you either attempt to maintain balance or allow the torso to lean forward; rather this is a controlled fall backwards. Once the hips have extended back behind the knees you may initiate the jump into the bhs.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

thank you all for the reply. In response to the above issues, I have been practicing the takeoff using the drills of sitting and jumping into an arch into a resin mat, the drill is in this video:

http://youtu.be/AxNVLhD6n90?t=25s

Incidentally I asked the same guy in the video to spot me, and he commented that I am doing the takeoff correctly and my shoulders are open, but I am not flexible enough in the upper back. Also my bridges are ugly, I cant do the bridge where the shoulders are vertical/perpendicular to the floor.

Now I am worried, I have been trying to improve my bridges for months but I don't know what I can do specifically to get my upper back to be more flexible?

Hi,

let me know if you found a drill that works because I have exactly the same problem, I cannot keep my arch while flipping onto my hands

Not having Open Shoulders is a common issue in not being able to perform a correct BHS as you are not able to arch correctly. This puts more of the weight on your chest muscles and typically forces an undercut to accomplish the goal.

A couple of ways to drastically increase your shoulder ROM would be as follows.

1. Pronated and Supinated bar hangs. This helps with loosening up the lats and pecs.

2. I also throw in scapular pull-ups and chins after a 60 second hang. Perform this by keeping you arms straight in the pronated or supinated grips and focus on lifting yourself up by depressing and slightly retracting your scapula only.

3. Slizz's Shoulder prehad routine. This will help stretch out your pecs which is the most common area of problems regarding open shoulders and shoulder ROM.

4. Bridge Wall walks. Will help develop upper back flexibility if performed meticulously while focusing on upper thoracic movement rather than lower.

5. Handstands. If you cannot get in a stomach and nose to wall HS with no arch then this is a skill to work as well.

Through all of those multiple times per week you should see your shoulder ROM start opening up pretty quickly.

As far as BHS drills...

I would work on trampoline even with a throw in mat once you can safely land on your arms with a slight arch. Concentrate on the push off. Sit like in a chair as Coach states, push off and extend your legs to fully extended you should land in an arch with legs fully extended overhead like so.... \ Then do not use your hip flexors to pull your legs immediately down to the ground. rather snap your hips forward into a hollow by flexing your abs and keeping your hips forward. Focus on making it long and extended. Working on the Trampoline should give you plenty of time to really focus on your body lines and snap to get it done right so you don't build any more incorrect movement patterns.

Wow I ranted...hope some of that helps. :shock:

sweesiong78 said:

crashing into my head

OK before we go on with this if you ever crash on your head at any point during a handspring you are doing 1 thing that makes you hit your head simply that is your hand placement from the sounds of it i can still be positive without a video you are not bringing your hands behind your ear

When i first started coaching i was teaching back bends and noticed that the girls that would have crashed never got there hands behind the ear so i took that on to handsprings and after nonstop drilling that non of my kids for a BHS never needed a single spot all i am getting at with this is you should never hit your head if you get your hands back.

and your legs/hips do not make you mess up the handspring when i first came to my old gym there was a girl that would look at her stomach,jump straight up, super pike, make anyone in the area cringe and want to run to save from from dieing but then she'd land on her hands then hold an aquward upside down L for about a second then put her feed down... and feet would go down just because when she started she got her arms so far back behind her head it forced her spine to arch and the pikeing brought her closer to her center so she rotated over.

moral of the story is as long as your think about getting your hands back to protect your head you'll be find land on your hands then 1 of 3 things will happen:

1. you did not put enough power in your handspring and now you'll fall into a bridge or

2. you put enough power and you'll be able to push off your hands through you shoulders to come off the ground once more and whip your legs down causing you to do a good BHS

3. you put to much power almost missing your hands and feet come down too fast giving you a back whip... spring

Fun Drills

1. do the mat jump but instead of landing upper back/ head area first land finger tips>knuckles>wrists>arms etc all the way down make sure to curve in your hand so it does not get caught on the mat and you end up hurting your self

2. get your spotter to let you start your handspring then while you reach back and spot the ground have him push on your lower back causing you to arch even more then think about what you just did and how to do it without extra help.

also to be honest on a handspring "not flexible enough" is the coach saying i don't want to do it... sounds bad i know but it's completely true i'll try to find a video of my team member and during his BHS his back NEVER even starts to arch but he listened to me and got his hands back and spotted the ground and now he can do them all the way down a football field i know he most likely throws one of his "badsprings" as we call it in this video