Entries Tagged 'biomechanics' ↓

Here’s the ART for his new vault. 18yr-old Yang Hak Seon (KOR) is World Champion 2011 from Tokyo.

see more MAG and WAG World Champions on Facebook. Komova’s Bars are up now.

This was the biggest new skill at the meet. An incredible 7.4 start score! Watch it again on YouTube.

Note that he uses a traditional preflight technique, not the flyspring style used by Alicia Sacramone. (Both work.)

Watch Alicia’s Vault on YouTube.

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Another of those excellent ESPN sport science features.

Click PLAY or watch it on ShaunWhite.com.

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Ivan Cuk, Samo Penic & Dejan Krizaj at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia have been experimenting with technology for measuring springboard actions on Vault.

The new device is composed of a processor unit with LCD display and is connected to accelerometer sensors that are placed under the top desk of the springboard.

… accelerations velocities are calculated … and several parameters such as time to maximal springboard compression and maximal velocity at take-off are determined and displayed. The data is directly transferred to a PC for further analysis ….

Matlab software was used to record, filter and analyze the measured data.

Results are in good agreement with simultaneously obtained results from the force plate and laser displacement sensor measurements (similar time and vertical velocity).

With developed equipment it will be possible to determine typical springboard action parameters for individual gymnast, optimal springboard parameters for a required jump, to analyze repeatability of springboard jumps, to analyze transverse movements and to optimize training and its efficiency. The developed device has good potential for use as a fast information system as well as a device for suitable science/research projects in vaulting.

Details in this PDF – TOWARDS A SMART SPRINGBOARD (CASE STUDY)

I saw that posted in the latest issue of the Science of Gymnastics Journal.

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We’ve not yet seen anyone compete the Jaeger with an extra salto. A recent article linked from Science of Gymnastics Journal analyzed the skill.

… From the data it can be concluded, that the double Jaeger is possible in either tucked or piked body posture …

Despite its feasibility, there may be … arguments why the Jaeger Salto on the high bar is not performed that often in international competitions, and potentially, why the double Jaeger may not be attractive for gymnasts to learn as compared to other release-regrasp skills.

… the Jaeger salto is a forward salto during which the athlete “sees” the high bar relatively late prior to regrasp, and therefore has less time to adjust the regrasp based on visual information, as compared to other flight elements, like the Tkatschev (Gervais & Tally, 1993; Raab, de Oliveira & Heinen, 2009).

… the athlete has to reverse the direction of his rotation when regrasping the bar, as compared to other flight elements, like the Kovacs Salto if he intends to perform a subsequent giant swing. …

Download the full research article – WHAT IT TAKES TO DO THE DOUBLE JAEGER ON THE HIGH BAR (PDF)

by Thomas Heinen, Damian Jeraj, Pia M. Vinken, Katharina Knieps,
Konstantinos Velentzas & Hedi Richter

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Wordsmith uses the Casio EX-FC150 High Speed EXILIM to generate sequences like this using a High Speed Burst mode.

click for larger image

Slow Motion video at 240 and 420 frames / second work well, too.

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Available USA only.

Lifehacker recommends …

Most fitness apps for iOS will teach you to stretch and exercise through specific demonstrations, but iMuscle takes it a step further by actually showing you the muscles in action.

It works by providing a ton of animated diagrams that are accessible with just a touch. When you launch the app, you just grope the part of the muscular body you want to work on and it’ll stick a few pins in it. Each pin corresponds to a muscle (or muscle group) and its associated exercises and stretches. Touching any of the exercises or stretches will provide you with an animated demonstration, written instructions, and pictures of the affected muscles. …

iMuscle Teaches You to Stretch and Exercise by Literally Showing You the Muscles in Action

If you like that, check out similar apps for the Skeletal System and Muscular System.

Thanks for the link, Warren.

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After Canadian Championships in PEI, as usual, Keith Russell scheduled a week of Level 4 National Coaching Certification workshops.

To represent Canada at major international meets, you must be fully certified Level 4. (4 weeks over 2yrs)

This time round, Keith invited Kelly Manjak who’s coached both Men and Women to World Championships.

For a glimpse of what happened at the clinic, Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Kelly is very specific on basics, but not nearly so exacting on high level skills. He’ll spend years working handstand, then expect kids to add Tkachev to their routines within a few weeks.

The course was not videotaped, but I do have some highlights to post over the next couple of weeks.

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A new text for coaches from Routledge Sport Science is now available everywhere, contributors including Bill Sands and John Salmela, titled The Science of Gymnastics.

Several people have told me it’s good.

• energetic, physical and physiological assessment
• training principles
• diet, nutrition and supplementation
• growth and development issues
• kinetics and kinematics
• angular and linear motion
• angular momentum
• stress, anxiety and coping
• motivation and goal setting
• mental skills training for practice and competition
• the psychology of learning and performance.

Amazon

It’s available in paperback or ebook for $54.95. From that same Routledge link you can preview some pages free. University instructors can request a Complimentary Exam Copy.

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Kat Ding, Kayla Hoffman, and Geralen Stack-Eaton.

ESPN’s Sport Science lab takes a look at the science and biomechanics behind elite gymnasts.

Don’t go dissecting those numbers. We should be happy that ESPN is helping explain just how amazing are gymnasts.

Links to this video are widely distributed on the web right now. I first saw it linked by Amy Van Deusen on About.com Gymnastics.

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Crystal was frustrated at the last meet after her kids had done a good job of STICKING landings:

…

Interestingly enough, we found that in order not to take a step, it was often necessary to lower ourselves down in order to gain more stability. The result however, was not a higher score – in fact, in some cases, the score went DOWN. Why?

After inquiring about the E-Score (which we can do in Canada), we learned that judges were taking the 0.3 body posture deduction, even though we had ‘stuck’ our landings. …

click for larger version

I’ve seen College gymnasts stick vault, and yet get a low score for the same reason. Yet as a coach I saw no fault biomechanical nor technical in how the force was absorbed.

The score was unjust.

… But there might be an upside to this mistake in the women’s judging rules. (Men’s judges are far more reasonable.)

Keith Russell has many times speculated on what would happen if we allowed one step or hop on landing … WITHOUT deduction. He feels the number and severity of injuries would decrease.

That step / hop is tremendously effective in attenuating the force of landing. It’s much safer.

My advice for Crystal, therefore, is to train the kids to do a small hop (not step) with the required posture. Also, to have them train landings up on to high mats … so that the timing of the rotation will allow a ‘kick out’ and, thus, a more vertical position with the torso.

… If the girls happen to stick with vertical posture, consider that a bonus.

If you have advice for Crystal on this dilemma, leave a comment on her blog – Exclamation Points.

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Dr. Gerald George, author of the current international best-seller Championship Gymnastics: Biomechanical Techniques for Shaping Winners will be speaking at the following meetings in 2011:

June 11-12, USA Gymnastics (USAG) Region 3 Congress, Vail, Colorado

August 12-14, US Association of Independent Gymnastics Clubs (USAIGC) Educational Convention, Las Vegas, Nevada

August 18-20, USA Gymnastics National Congress, St. Paul, Minnesota

September 30-October 1, Gymnastics Ontario Federation Congress, Ontario, Canada

If you can’t make one of those, check out his YouTube Channel:

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TP detailed the The Obvious Decline of Quality in modern women’s Artistic Gymnastics.

That’s a fact.

My pick as best gymnast at the 2004 Olympics, Courtney McCool, had virtually perfect form, even on 2 1/2 twist.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… There looks to be a slight crossing on 3/1 twist.

By 2008, after the introduction, of Grandi’s open ended code, here’s our Olympic Champion.

And here’s the 2010 World Champion.

Taller gymnasts like these two often rely on more twisting than somersaulting elements. It’s difficult to keep the feet together past double twist. And there may even be a slight biomechanical advantage in both the scissoring action and increasing rotation.

That said, both Nastia and Aliya are gorgeous and virtuous on most elements they compete. You can only deduct so much for this form error.

(via It’s About Artistic Gymnastics)

____

Update. There are some interesting comments on this post.

The feet are crossed partly as a result of the ‘torque’ takeoff. The same thing happens in figure skating.

But in Artistic gymnastics we’ve always deducted that as an ‘error’, not called it a ‘technique’.

Personally, I’d rather continue to discourage crossed feet with deduction. If we allow it, we’ll likely increase the number and severity of landing injuries.

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For forward approach vaults the best men in the world (e.g. Dragalescu) peak at over 10m / sec velocity.

But the important velocity is on contact with the board.

Here’s one (predictable) finding from a recently published study …

Mean values of individual step velocity for top class and middle class gymnasts.

Just like my coach told me in the 1970s: “start your run slowly and accelerate as much as possible to the board“.

That study has much more though the sample size is small.

A CASE STUDY ABOUT DIFFERENCES IN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RUN-UP APPROACH ON THE VAULT BETWEEN TOP-CLASS AND MIDDLE-CLASS GYMNASTS

That’s from the most recent Science of Gymnastics journal.

Update – See discussion on this topic on Chalk Bucket.

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