gymnastics bar ‘rips’

7 comments ↓

#1 TrampGuy on 04.24.11 at 6:57 am

” Smarter coaches and gymnasts take fewer rips.
Some are preventable. ”

care to elaborate?

my hands get ripped all the time, and although I did find lots of info about how to treat the rips, I haven’t found any real ways of preventing them

#2 JB on 04.24.11 at 8:02 am

simple things like not spending an hour swinging on the bars straight after a month long break from gym, incorporating static/floor/casts into the circuit (i.e not JUST bars only), correct fitting grips & making sure the girls (esp the younger ones) dont turn the magnesium into a paste-like glue on their hands!

but in saying that, almost every gymnast is going to be unlucky enough to have a rip the lesson before a meet at least once in their career.

as i tell my girls…Rips are “character building” and show you really want this. You are not a gymnast until you have had a rip. Its a right of passage.

#3 TripleTwistPunchFront on 04.24.11 at 3:28 pm

We don’t generally use grips until opts and these kids develop nice tough hands and hardly ever rip. We keep the rotations down to 45 minutes and do mixes of swinging kipping, casting, floor bar drills, etc. Some people will just be prone to rips … that is life. Rite of passage, indeed!

#4 Troy on 04.25.11 at 11:43 am

The worst rips come from the bar “catching hold” of a callous. If the gymnast keeps their hands filed down using a pumice stone or a callous file, they will be less likely to get the big nasty rips that you see in those pictures.

#5 Shawn McCarthy on 04.25.11 at 3:29 pm

Ouch! I guess only a wall of gymnasts could show that many rips and still have a huge smile. Great job, girls, keep hanging tough!

#6 Katrina Burton on 04.26.11 at 8:02 am

Rips are an injury and should be prevented at all costs. One rip will hamper bar training until it’s completely healed (usually one week).

If you want longer bars rotations, slowly build up so their handscsn handle it. One hour of bars from a typical 30 min is just asking to rip.

If the kid tells you she has sore hands listen! Sore hands is a rip waiting to happen!

Don’t spend all your time swinging on the wooden rails. Utilize the strap/cheat bar, the floor bars, the men’s rail, incline mats, etc. We spend about 1hr 45min on bars one of our training days, but only about 45min of that is actually spend on bars with grips on. Drills are your friends and make your athletes better prepared in the long run.

#7 Shawn McCarthy on 05.07.11 at 11:14 am

I agree. Rips should be prevented at all costs. We invented RipGuardian for when they do happen though. It allows the gymnast to stay on bars while it’s healing. Clicking on my name will bring you to our site. We love any and all feedback. Come check us out at Eastern Nationals too

Best of luck to those attending!

Shawn
RipGuardian

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