Another great video from Tammy.
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6 comments ↓
So, how exactly does putting weights on your arms aid in improving your dance? What’s the rationale?
“The energy in (her) arms…are lengthening out…”
What does that mean? Is it potential or kinetic? (Ha ha…since there’s an absolute misuse of the word, I have to make jokes)
About the only purpose that I can see if what is termed as biofeedback. The additional weight creates greater sensory/perceptive feedback for the athlete so that they are more consciously aware of the position of the arms. I think that there are probably better ways to do that. How about putting a piece of athletic tape in the crease of their elbow so that when the arms need to extend at the elbows, the tape must be pulled taut? That should offer some immediate biofeedback. (That’s just a random thought off the top of my head)
Tumbling with these things on? I would not advise that, personally. Let’s see here…biomechanics 101. When you put a added resistance at the end of a long lever (i.e. the arm), you increase the necessary torque (i.e. net muscle torque at the shoulder) to overcome the resistance. Just holding your arm up in general creates a pretty substantial torque without the load because the shoulder musculature is at such a mechanical disadvantage due to the length of the arm relative to the “levers” (moment arms) that the muscles create in relation to the shoulder.
Secondly, you have additional impact forces from the added resistance during an actual tumbling sequence.
I don’t see the point. I hope that coaches do not look at these tips blindly and filter out the good and the bad. Hence, don’t just assume that because a national staff coach said to do it that it’s always a good thing. Evaluate the suggestion.
Yes very interesting, but agree with the first post!
In dance, we say that the arm movement must initiate from the muscles in the back. This method brings a positive effect to the gymnast’s posture and helps with the ‘look’ that the arms are lengthening; since the joint holding them is secure in the shoulder blades. When the shoulder blades have no support the joint rolls forward and the strong, definite, consistency of the arm movement is diminished.
You’ve probably hear of the, ‘moving through a thick substance,’ motivation before – and indeed this is good imagery to present to the gymnasts as they involve all the muscles used in making an arm movement seem definite.
My biggest observation is that the muscles in the back, and the minor to major spiraling, curving and arcing of the upper spine is what is missing the most. An effect called Epaulment in dance.
In this country, and most others, arms, and ‘armography’, start at the fingertips and end at the shoulder joint – with no support from the muscles in the back. When perfected, this method of using Port de Bras (Carriage of the Arms) brings emotion and mood to the movement – a quality which only a few of the greats have ever mastered.
Gymnastics is a “push” dominant sport and not enough emphasis is placed on developing muscles such as the lower traps and rhomboids. Instead, muscles such as the pectoralis major/minor and upper traps become over-developed and shortened. As a result, the forward shoulder posture (kyphosis) occurs. Not only does this present problems with presentation, it also can lead to shoulder problems and neck problems. In terms of the neck, another muscle, the levator scapulae also tends to become shortened and tight. Gymnasts need to do more “pulling” movements in their conditioning programs as well as specific scapular stabilization exercises. The scapular is only supported by 17 muscles…so, if they muscles are not balanced, the scapula will not move as it were designed to do so. Scapular movement contributes to 60 degrees of shoulder motion (flexion, abduction). So, many times, kids that are really tight in their shoulders – it may be poor muscle balance such that the scapular is not in the proper position and that’s affecting range of motion at the shoulder. A little food for thought.
When I was a gymnast (and dancer) I found light armweights to be most benificial for me…because I had difficulty telling where my arms were. It was a proprioception thing.
(the video isn’t loading for me, so I’ve no idea if that’s where she’s going with this or not).
I had a coach that made us put in these big floppy socks to feel where our body is. On giants if our tap was happening at the wrong time or our legs were bent, we put the socks on our toes so they would stay on yet hang off our feet so our mind would pay attention to them more. That coach did the same thing for correcting our arms etc on beam and floor by putting the socks on our hands.
You don’t need weights to get the point across…
[...] related post: Dance with Arm Weights – Tammy Biggs [...]
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