Category: biomechanics

on SAFER Landings

Click through for the longer post.

Emily Bischoff:

… Teaching our athletes to land correctly is one thing coaches can control in terms of injury prevention, whether it be to lessen the load on tendons and ligaments to prevent overuse injuries, or to minimize the risk of fluke injuries …

… the force upon landing be dissipated throughout as much of the body as much as possible …

… feet around shoulder width apart, which widens the base of support over which force is exerted. Knees should be in flexion (bent), tracking over the toes …

Promoting Safety in Gymnastics: Landings

Kohei – 2014 Floor

I’d argue Kohei Uchimura singled handedly reinvented how male gymnasts land.

Easily the best in the world in his prime, many emulated Kohei’s exaggerated technique.

I love it as he turned the science of safely reducing huge impact forces to zero into an art form.

At the same time WAG was foolishly deducting low chest position. Dangerous!

Of his many stuck routines over many years, Blythe chose this as one of her decade-defining routines.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

‘shaping’ for layout backward

Backward “gainer” drills are great for many reasons. Including the hip action on takeoff and shape for a hollow layout.

Chellsie Memmell, by coincidence, is an ideal model at the beginning of this video tutorial.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

‘SET’ drill for rotation

Love it.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

Opening the hips on take-off generates backwards rotation. That’s an indirect reaction force that some beginners struggle to master.

Many beginners RUSH into the salto position before finishing the spring.

standing 1/1 on Beam

One of those IMPOSSIBLE skills.

Torque twisting from the Beam means lateral travel. Therefore gymnasts who torque need to jump enough sideways to offset that lateral travel.

Judges are often too severe in evaluating this skill. Landing with the trunk angle at 45 degrees would be optimal in my opinion. While piloting in the landing, the gymnast could adjust from 45 as needed to STICK a solid landing.

YET judges are quick to jump to “chest low” deduction.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

2021 EU STICKS compilation

NOTE that backward salto landings typically result in chest position in a range between horizontal and 45%.

That’s mechanical, medically and physically a good way to absorb those huge impact forces.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

HOW to Nagornyy

Click PLAY or watch it on Twitter.

Read his interview with TASS following the competition.

Simone’s vault by the numbers

To increase height, she leaves the table at vertical.

Height is time.

BUT she still needs to generate enough rotation to get around.

Click PLAY or watch it on Facebook.

FB Curves – next level?

The FB Curves apps for MAG and WAG are fantastic.

Animations astonishingly close to real.

Click PLAY or watch an example on YouTube.

What’s next?

I like the look of this recent upload. An even more realistic animation.

biomechanics of SWING

Matthew Sparks, circus and Gymnastics coach, has been posting coaching videos on his personal YouTube channel.

Click PLAY or watch one on YouTube.