After Blake Aldridge’s new dive at the the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in Boston …, it’s worth explaining … the twist.
Done correctly it can be one of the most aesthetically pleasing moves in the sport. And the more a diver does, the more their dive will rate on the degree-of-difficulty chart. Here some of the world’s top cliff divers break it down for you…
Click PLAY or watch it on Red Bull.
Interesting. Though they land feet first — like a trampolinist — they use diving arms position to twist (one arm behind the head).
Has any cliff diver yet used other arm positions?
Clarification — “piking” only slows the twist. They need to “untilt” to stop twisting.
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Cliff diving is awesome, but the one thing I’ve never liked is that “hand behind the head” twisting method. I guess it’s the optimal method for diving, but I really have no idea what’s the biomechanical reasoning behind it – would be nice to get some in depth explanation.
I don’t think diving and trampolining are comparable. They do share elements but the execution and air sense are way different.
Is there actually a biomechanical reason that divers twist differently? I thought it was just that divers happened to develop a different technique. Gymnasts seem to be able to do twisting diving moves without any problem, so it wouldn’t appear to make any difference.
I always thought it has something to do with the constant downward motion. Gymnasts and trampolinists try to get as high as possible and perform the elements at peak height, so they utilize “three” different states of motion : upwards, peaking and downwards. Divers are constantly in a falling downwards state, which is also very different from the downwards state following the “peaking” part.
In diving, twisting tends to add to somersaulting momentum, and the more extended arm position (arm above head) slows you down, allowing more control. The usual gymnastics arm position doesn’t work at all, you massively overrotate.
It’s actually not all that hard to make the adjustment, it doesn’t feel all that different, and having more control is always nice.
Actually, it is quite simple. To rotate about an axis (somersault or twist), you need to start with a large moment of inertia and change that to a small moment of inertia. In otherwords, you need to start with your arms wide to twist and bring them in close to the body. How you do that is a matter of preference and aesthetics. Divers prefer, because it is the accepted aesthetical way developed by past coaches, to do 1 arm bent behind the head and 1 arm bent across chest. Note that the one arm behind head is actually a long way from the somersault axis of rotation and in reality, slows down the diver’s somersaulting rotation by increasing their moment of inertia. Gymnasts try to drive one elbow down and follow that with the other arm bending and coming in to the body. Both arms being below the head and thus assisting in the somersault rotation. Trampolinists, for the most part, keep thier arms straight, the ULTIMATE in aesthetic perfection and maximizing their somersaulting rotation..
“Trampolinists, for the most part, keep thier arms straight, the ULTIMATE in aesthetic perfection and maximizing their somersaulting rotation..”
Totally agree with the first part
but actually, it’s the gymnastics method of twisting that maximizes rotation – even more than the one used in trampoline. This also makes perfect sense considering that gymnasts don’t have the “luxury” of height to perform the most aesthetic twist – they need to do it as fast as possible in their given jump height.
fludd taylor
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