Entries Tagged 'biomechanics' ↓

Already finding it’s way to YouTube.

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The Professional Gymnastics Challenge will air on ESPN2 as a three-part series on May 20, 21 and 22 at 8 ps EST, check your local listings.

… Bit embarrassing that the re-purposed biomechanics footage did not correct the blatant error.

And more.

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OSU gymnast, Stephanie McGregor, and Ph.D candidate, Faye Barras, explore the physics at play in gymnastics. This segment originally aired on the PAC 12 Network.

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Congratulations to Steph on a terrific and long career. Super hard working, she truly deserved all her successes.

Mary Lee Tracy

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All good drills for beginners.

Be sure to train “gainer” back tucks, too.

When the gainer is consistent on Floor. You’re ready to start on low Beam.

High speed video recorded by the Biomechanics team at Manchester Metropolitan University.

2008

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GymCastic episode 23 included a discussion on backward handspring technique.

They recommended longer back handspring for power.

I advocate beginners do backward handsprings as long as possible. Straight arms. Correct hand position. Accelerating.

Manjak, famously, requires 10 sets of 5 backward handsprings a day on Tumbl Trak or Rod Floor.

But you’ll see technique change as gymnasts improve.

Longer is not necessarily stronger.

For example, here are two 2004 Olympic Floor finalists. Both superb tumblers.

Kate Richardson – distance hands-to-feet on backward handspring

Kyle Shewfelt – distance hands-to-feet on backward handspring

It was Iarov who pointed out the obvious to us at one clinic.

Kate used a classic LONG backward handspring. Kyle’s is about as short as they get. Yet both work.

Iarov prefered the short back spring for a number of reasons: less risk of Achilles injury, less risk of out of bounds, greater chance of connecting acrobatic elements. And Kyle can leave the floor more vertically. Less rotation needed to complete the skill.

To have a backspring that short, however, you need be incredibly fast and fast twitch. It’s not for everyone.

Biomechanically, I like long first half of backward handspring, short second half.

Those principles you could call simpletonisms. For triple twist you’ll use a longer second half backward handspring than for double layout.

… If you want to discuss this issue in detail, talk to a Power Tumbling coach. You’ll need a lot of time (and beer money) to talk all the nuances of backward handspring distance.

It’s complicated.

French.

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Some gymnasts — often taller, heavier and older — know how to use the movement of the bar to improve dismounts and releases.

Some close-up video.

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via Nick Blanton’s Gymnastics Consultancy on Facebook

Though just last week I used a “bow and arrow” analogy, it’s far more complicated than that.

The new Elite Canada Champion Anderson Loran works a Horizontal Bar as well as anyone.

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Adam Paterson on Facebook linked to a documentary on our Olympic Champion.

This segment shows biomechanical analysis of his twisting. And landing technique.

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I wish I could speak Japanese.

There are 3 more segments on YouTube.

Another sample from the new coaching video series in French. 159 – 259€ / year.

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Great drill from Marvin Sharp.

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Watch more video of Technique Tuesday on gymnastike.org

By eliminating the arm action, the gymnast must generate rotation by pressing the hips forward on take-off. (Indirect ground reaction force, for you biomechan-geeks.)

Since the body is longer with arms up, she’s forced to generate even more rotation than for a regular layout.

Most recent edition has just been posted.

Here are a couple of studies that may be of interest.

… sample consisted of 27 female gymnasts and 15 controls. …

… Sedentary adolescents show a higher prevalence of overweight, hypertension, osteopenia and final height prediction. In this particular group of athletes, competitive gymnastics influences body composition but does not appear to compromise nutritional status, normal progression of puberty, bone mass and genetically defined final height. …

GYMNASTICS AND THE FEMALE ATHLETE TRIAD: REALITY OR MYTH? (PDF)

Another compared take-off’s kinetic and kinematic variables of elite male gymnasts doing different kinds of standing backward saltos.

KINEMATIC AND KINETIC ANALYSIS OF COUNTER MOVEMENT JUMP VERSUS TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF STANDING BACK SOMERSAULT (PDF)

… an introductory analysis of the Tarzan swing mechanics, a big pendulum-like swing with Tarzan himself attached as weight.

It depends on variables such as the height of the swing, rope length and starting platform position.

You can download the full PDF of Hiroyuki Shima’s paper from Cornell University Library.

related – Rhett Allain – Numerical Model of the Tarzan Swing-Jump

Thanks George.

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…

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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.