That was the deliberately provocative title of my post on the jump from low bar to high bar:
“the most dangerous skill in gymnastics”
The mini-tramp progressions on the video linked above are good. But I like the more systematic approach presented by JAO even better.
… a few drills to use when teaching a jump to the high bar, specifically for girls who are very young and might otherwise find jumping to the high bar scary. The goal of these drills is to help build confidence in the gymnast and teach her that she can jump to the high bar in a good shape, and that she doesn’t have to do a flying-squirrel leap just to survive.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The first section deals with the shape and strength, generally.
The timing section is intended to help the girl get into a rhythm where she tucks, stands, and jumps. This is done by putting her through an action that simulates that rhythm, but in a fear-free drill. The goal is to get her in the habit of standing up and going, rather than standing up, thinking too hard about it, and then deciding to get back down.
The last section deals with breaking the jump into familiar pieces to help take some of the scariness out of getting to the high bar.
And yes, I still feel that most girls gyms have more injuries on that skill than any other. I’ve heard of some who have 1 broken arm/wrist each year. Almost all avoidable.
more JAO videos
5 comments ↓
I agree jumping to the high bar is dangerous. I broke my arm jumping to the high bar when I was 11
Great series of progressions!
Great progressions, but he needs to stop poking the gymnasts constantly in his videos. Annoying!
The poking is done to try and remind the gymnasts to use their muscles to create tightness. This constant reminder conditions them into “squeezing” all of the time when executing their skills.
These are the types of things that lead to gymnasts having stronger foundations for progressing and can even keep them safe.
The fact that he is doing it “constantly” means, to me, that he is actually conscientious about his coaching. In my opinion, we could use a lot more of that in our sport.
It is also a reminder of the shapes that the gymnasts need to get into. This is extremely under-coached in my opinion.
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