4/25/2011

Gym Coach, Vol.2 (2008) 34-38 Methodological

Article

Preparation for the handspring vault

Warren Milburn
Gateshead, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

This article provides a series of preparatory and development exercises for teaching the handspring vault. The focus is on
developing tight rigid body shapes in motion that will be able to translate into effective vaulting. By dividing the vault into
6 phases : run-up, spring board contact, first flight, repulse, second flight, and landing, the vault can be taught in a
progressive way to avoid injury and fear being a problem.

Key Words: vaulting, front entry vaults, vault preparation, tuck on vault.

INTRODUCTION 12-month cycle, its recommended to build up to 3 sets x

15sec holds in these shapes as a minimum (alongside all of
The handspring vault is an essential training and their other general conditioning of course) and
developmental vault for any gymnast. Training this vault is maintaining this level across the rest of the cycle.
dependent on teaching strong body positions and correct
machanics, much like most other skills. This rigidity in Static One is held
body positions is achieved through specific body position against a wall with the gymnast at 45 degrees or so
holds, which help to develop the gymnast understand of between floor and wall. Maintaining
the correct positions and how to remain rigid under the shape is all important and lots of physical shaping and
various positions. Along with proper conditioning, like any verbal cues are
vault it is important develop all 6 phases of the vault: run- required. The
up, hurdle, first flight, repulsion, second flight, landing. gymnast should aim
to hold the perfect
static shapes from
10sec at the start of
METHODOLOGY Period 1 to 60sec by
the end of Period 2 in
Prerequisites a 4-period training
Flexibility cycle, maintaining
Flexibility is not a great requirement for the handspring this level across the
rest of the cycle. Static
vault. For the most part, we don’t want flexibility but
Two is held on the
rigidity. However, shoulder flexibility needs to be adequate
floor and the
to make a good handstand shape. requirement is the
Figure 1 & 2 - (A) Dish or hollow hold same as for Static
Conditioning body position (B). Arch hold position. One. Gymnasts report
Because rigidity in the body is a requirement, conditioning that this is tougher;
for handspring vault is aimed at creating long, strong static and tougher still while
shapes. Lots of dish body tension and shapping exercises wearing socks on a vinyl
are required to develop the gymnast ability to hold floor mat, because the load
positions throughout a range of motion in the air. on the abs is much greater
than in Static One.
Figure 1 shows the 4 basic body positions necessary to
master. The dish and arch shapes that most coaches are Figure 3 - Passing the log. A
great exercises to develop active
already familiar with and the static hold 1 and static hold 2. body tension while moving
For a gymnast training 9-12 hours per week in Period 1 of a
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved Gym Coach Vol.2, May, 2008 - 34-
W. Milburn, Gym Coach, Vol.2 (2008) 34-38
Figure 3 shows a neat little game called ‘passing the log’, in
which the gymnasts work in groups of three. One gymnast
is the log and the other two must pass the log between one
another. The gymnast playing the log must maintain
tension throughout. The gymnasts take turns to be the log
and whoever scores the most passes is the winner from the
group. This is great for encouraging the holding of the
static shape while the body is passing through a range of
motion.
Figure 4 shows two variations on the Log Lift. The
principle is the same as in Figure 3 but this time the coach
will lift the gymnast while
they maintain a static shape.
In the first variation, the
coach stands over the
gymnast while they fix their
shape, and then lifts them
into handstand using their
hands at the sides of the
gymnast’s waist. In the
second variation, the coach
kneels at the side of the
gymnast and lifts the
Figure 4 - Log lifts gymnast into handstand
using their hand(s) on the
gymnast’s leg. The lower down the leg the coach lifts fromt,
the harder it is for the gymnast.
Along with developing the static
position holds its important to
create a strong shoulder shrug ac-
tion for the repulsion phase. Figure
5 shows the shoulder shrug press-
up, which is a push-up action with
straight arms throughout and
using the fast closing and opening
of the shoulder blades. This is used
to a great effect by former US
Olympic coach Steve Nunno in his
Figure 5- Shoulder shrug
press ups
Intermediate Programme
Lastly, a variation on the
above is the Repulse from
the Wall, shown in Figure 6.
The gymnast stands just
within comfortable reach of
the wall on their toes and
they maintain a static shape
Figure 6 - Wall repulsion drill (Static One) as they fall
towards the wall. On contact with the wall, they make the
shrug action; re-Figure 5- Shoulder shrug press-ups
bounding to their original position. It’s advised to use a
padded wall, and emphasize the importance of rigidity in
the body and arms at all times.
Supplementary Element - The Squat On Vault
The term “supplementary elements” can be mistaken for
“something you can add if you have time.”. As all coaches
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved
Methodological Article
know, there is never enough time, so it is important to
regard this supplementary element as one that can make
the difference between a mediocre handspring vault and a
GREAT handspring vault.
The squat-on vault is often dismissed by competitive
gymnasts and coaches as too easy and not relevant to
them. This assertion couldn’t be further from the truth.
Taught properly, the squat-on establishes confidence with
using the vaulting table and teaches the gymnast to reach,
drive the heels and fix their shape whilst travelling. It can
form part of a handspring vault circuit or incorporated into
your regime in other ways right from day one.
Figure 7 shows how the gymnast reaches long onto the
table, driving the heels and allowing the body to rise past
horizontal in a strong shape before they squat-on. The
jump off can also be used as landing practice.
Figure 7 - Squat on vault. Notice the similarity in the pre-flight and
repulsion phase positions to the handspring vault.
Preparatory Exercises
Developing the Run
Developing a strong, consistent run is one of the hardest
things about learning the handspring vault. It is where
problems often begin and it is often also the most
neglected part of the training. Using chasing games like the
‘Hare and Hound” can be effective in training the gymnast
run.
Hare and Hound
In the game of Hare and Hound, one gymnast is the hare
and another is the hound. The hare gets a 10 pace head
start on the hound and has to run along the track and
make it to the burrow (the vaulting table) without being
caught by the hound. If it is becoming too easy, reduce the
head start. To prevent the gymnasts roughing each other in
order to tag, you can add a concept from the game of Tag
Rugby, which is to use a ribbon on the leotard or tracksuit
that the hound has to snatch in order to win.
One of the purposes of the Hare and Hound game for the
coach is to identify problems with the run early on so that
you can provide pointers when you look at the run in a
more formal context. One of the biggest problems with the
run is not with the legs but with the arms.
Correcting Midline Drift in the Arm Action
Looking at the gymnast running toward you, can you see
their hands crossing the midline of the body? If so, too
much of their energy is being wasted in lateral movement
during the run. The gymnast will be unaware of the effect
so an effective demonstration is this:
Sit the gymnast on a trampoline, mini-tramp, fast track or
other bouncy surface, with their legs straight out in front of
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W. Milburn, Gym Coach, Vol.2 (2008) 34-38
them. Ask them to move their arms as if they were
running. Pretty soon they’ll start to bounce. In a gymnast
whose arms cut across the midline, they will bounce from
side to side and eventually fall over in fits of giggles. Once
you have that out of the way, you can ask them to start
again and to move their hands, slowly at first, so that they
don’t cut across the midline. This time, they will not
bounce from side to side but will bounce up and down, and
eventually fall over in fits of giggles... again. The point of
this demo is that the arm technique changes how the body
moves. Once the gymnast can see this, you are part of the
way to creating a much more effective run. You can also
use this technique to train the arm movement in a fun way.
Another element of good technique with the arms is a
strong, consistent action both backwards and forwards
with the elbows.
Resistance running
In resistance running, the gymnasts are running with a
load attached. This usually comes in the form of the coach
or another gymnast trying to hold back the gymnast as
they try to run. You can do this using a spotting belt, some
rolled up track pants or something like a padded rope.
Whatever you use, the gymnast should know that it goes
around the chest and not around the waist. Putting it
around the waist invariably causes the gymnast to fall too
often to make the exercise useful.
Developing the Attack
The attack onto the
springboard needs to be
long and low in order to
maximise the power
transfer from the run.
Assuming that the
Figure 8&9 - Springboard contact basics of getting onto
phase into first flight phase. Notice the the board have been
body positions and the desired actions mastered, we need to
extend the distance that the gymnast travels from the floor
to the springs. We can do this by giving them a marker on
the floor to jump over that is at least 8-12 inches from the
bottom of the board (Figure 8). As you can see, the feet hit
the board in front of the hips and the hands are back
behind the hips ready for the strike. “What about the arm
circle?!” This is where I depart from many other coaches in
that I don’t really teach it, or if I do for some reason, I
don’t tend to concentrate a great deal of effort on it.
Teaching the timing of the arm circle is difficult and
confusing for many young gymnasts and, in my opinion, is
not strictly necessary. I prefer to teach a short range action
that starts with the shape in Figure 8 and proceeds with
lightening speed to the shape in Figure 9. Not only is it
easier to learn at this stage, but the striking power will be
more than sufficient for this vault.
Developing First Flight
First flight is what happens when the gymnast leaves the
springboard. This was illustrated in figure 8. Some
coaching points are that the gymnast should be looking
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved
Methodological Article
between her hands and the body should be fixed in the
handspring shape. The heels drive backwards following
their attack on the board, at the same time that the hands
are moving to strike the vaulting table. When developing
the first flight, there are a couple of spotting techniques
that I tend to use. The first is shown in Figure 10 and in it
the coach sits in front of a block facing the gymnast. If
you’ve taught your gymnasts to run properly, this part
should be at least a little scary! The gymnast runs and
attacks the springboard in the manner prescribed and the
coach catches the gymnast as they enter the air. From here
the coach can verbally correct shapes before gently placing
the gymnast’s hands onto the block behind so they are in a
handstand shape. Alternatively, the coach can put the
gymnast gently back onto the springboard to make any
points that are not best made with the gymnast still in the
air! From here the coach can verbally correct shapes before
gently placing the gymnast’s hands onto the block behind
so they are in a handstand shape. Alternatively, the coach
can put the gymnast gently back onto the springboard to
make any points that are not best made with the gymnast
still in the air!
Once the coach and
gymnast are relatively
happy with this, they can
move onto spotting from
the side. Figure 11 shows
the coach assisting the
gymnast as she leaves
the board. One hand
Figure 11 - Spotting method 2, for goes to the chest and the
supporting the gymnast in the first other to the legs.
flight phase of the handspring vault Support should be heavy
at first, proceeding to light tapping of the legs to encourage
the heel drive.
Developing the repulse
The repulse is the point at which the gymnast’s hands
strike the vaulting table with the gymnast rebounding of
the table. Coaches who have taught this vault before will
have probably seen gymnast’s hands coming into contact
with the vault and staying in
contact with it for several
seconds as they gently sail
through the second flight
phase. Of course this is not
exactly what we’re looking
for and it is often weakness
in the repulse that is to
blame. A strong repulse action comes from conditioning,
good technique
and .... timing!
We’ve already
looked at the
conditioning so let’s
look at technique
and timing.
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Figure 10 - Spotting technique one used
for teaching the first flight of the handspring
vault.
W. Milburn, Gym Coach, Vol.2 (2008) 34-38
There are several drills that can be used in a circuit for
developing good technique in the repulse phase. The first
is the Hop to Handstand. Many coaches and gymnasts call
this the “Handstand Hop” which is not only a misnomer
but leads to the incorrect belief that what we’re trying to do
is reach handstand and THEN hop on our hands. The
action is actually a hop (or jump as it should more properly
be called) INTO the handstand shape. When the hands
strike the floor as in Figure 12, the body is still at an angle
to the floor, somewhat
similar to the angle
we’ll be trying to hit
the vaulting table at.
Following a hard
strike against the
floor with the hands,
Figure 12 - Hop to handstand drill. the gymnast should
Notice that the hop happen before finish in the
handstand, and the quick leg action
handstand. In order
to build a stronger action, the coach can add floor mats or
splat mats for the gymnast to jump up onto, one by one
and make it a competition for a group of gymnasts.
The next drill is the Rebound Against a Block. It is
illustrated in
Figure 13. A
Yurchenko
block
(spotting
block) can be
used because
it provides a
firm surface
for the
gymnast to
rebound
from.
Figure 13 - Rebounds against a block drill. Something to
be careful of
with first timers to this exercise is that if they fail to retain
the static shape during the strike against the block, their
body can fold in the wrong direction and cause injury to
the lower back. This makes it very wise to spot the action
for the first two or three tries, catching the gymnast as they
jump for the block and support them through the rest,
insisting on a strong static shape throughout.
To get the gymnast used to using a vault surface and as
preparation for the next exercises on second flight, I move
the handstand hop action demonstrated in Figure 11 to a
box top with a springboard and crash mat as shown in
Figure 14.
Developing Second Flight
Second Flight is that period between the repulse and the
landing. It is common throughout the coaching of this part
of the vault to see the gymnast making arched shapes in
the body in an attempt to get the feet to the floor (and also
to avoid the end of the vaulting table coming into contact
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved
Methodological Article
with the body). As coaches we have a responsibility here to
ensure that the gymnast knows this is absolutely
unacceptable, as the longer this goes uncorrected the
worse the habit becomes. It is essential to spend a lot of
time coaching second flight with the aid of stacked mats to
give the gymnast confidence to habitually stay in shape,
and to keep going back to the mats should they ever slip
back into the habit of making poor shapes.
The first drill is an extension of the hop to handstand using
a box top. In this drill we move to hopping to flat back. Flat
back is another misnomer. We actually want them to hop
to a tight dished shape.
The next drill involves some back work by the coach. It is a
handspring off the floor toward the coach who will be
kneeling. This is another scary one sometimes! The coach
catches the gymnast at the waist as she handsprings over
his shoulder whilst holding a tight dished shape in the
body. The next exercise helps the gymnast to learn the
second flight action using a yurchenko block, which is
significantly less intimidating than a table vault. The
gymnast performs the handspring vault, adding together
all of the skills they have learned so far and can be spotted
initially in first flight to give them some extra power. They
repulse and hold the static dished shape that they have
been working on right up to this point, landing to a flat
back shape as before on the yurchenko block with a splat
mat to cover it. This is shown in Figure 15.
Figure 14 -
Handspring flat back
from a spotting block
It’s now time to
introduce the table
vault. If it weren’t for
the fact that your gymnasts have been doing the
supplementary work introduced at the start of this article,
they would likely now be intimidated by the table. Thus its
extremely important to persevere with the squat on vault
in the beginning, even if its to just get the gymnast to not
be afraid at using the table.
We’ll move naturally on from the last exercise and allow
the gymnast to handspring to flat back onto a pile of mats
at the back of the table vault. The mats need to be built up
to the height of your vault, which should be set to 100cm
initially. If you have any gymnasts who are still afraid of
the table, cover the table with the same splat mat that you
used in the last exercise. This works on the psychology of
the gymnast and makes the vaulting table appear more
familiar to them. Because of the increase in height from
the last exercise, it is likely that you will have to spot the
first flight again, at least for the first few vaults.
You should be in no hurry to move on from this exercise.
All of the elements should be exactly as you want them and
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W. Milburn, Gym Coach, Vol.2 (2008) 34-38
it may take a while for the gymnast to put them all
together. You should be prepared to re-visit some of the
individual elements as many times as necessary. However,
when your gymnast is ready, it’s time to take out the mats
from the back of the vaulting table.
To begin with, it would be prudent to have two coaches –
one to spot at the front of the vault, and one to spot at the
back. The coach at the front will be wary of the gymnast
having a crisis of confidence and coming back down out of
a handstand. This is a wise concern. The coach at the back
will be wary of the gymnast panicking as they pass
handstand, forgetting the repulse, arching their back and
doing all kinds of strange things. This is also a wise
concern. The coach at the back will spot at the gymnast’s
closest shoulder in order to avert any disasters and to give
the gymnast a little more confidence for next time. It is at
this point where things like the repulse get forgotten, and
arching of the back happens, and it is important for the
coach to nip these things in the bud as soon as possible. If
the repulse is too weak to cause any lift at all, it is time to
go back to drills.
Address for correspondence: Milburn W, Gateshead, United Kingdom. warren@munki.net
REFERENCES and RECOMMENDED READINGS
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved
Methodological Article
Developing the Landing
As part of their supplementary exercises, your gymnasts
should have been jumping off the end of the vault into
their landing shapes. Because it’s such an easy part of the
whole, it is also easy for gymnasts to become neglectful of
good, solid landings. It is thus paramount that to do
regular landing practice from all sorts of objects beams,
boxes, vaults, blocks, everything it’s possible to jump off,
landing thousands of times to perfection. Its important to
make the gymnast understand they need to have good
landing habits, and this will help them develop those
habits.
CONCLUSIONS
The preparation for the handspring vault can be divided
into 6 stages: the run-up, the spring board attack, the first
flight, repulse, second flight, and the landing. Each stage
should be carefully and progressively developed using a
series of basic drills and progression. One of these drill and
perquisite is the squat on vault, which is a very effective
method of introducing the handspring entry but at a much
easier and less scary manner.
The coach has to release that vaulting is only effective
when the gymnast is tight. To achieve this level of
preparation effective conditioning specific to the
handspring vault should be regularly done.
Every care is taken to assure the accuracy of the information published
within this article. The views and opinions expressed within this article,
are those of the author/s, and no responsibility can be accepted by The
Gym Press, Gym Coach or the author for the consequences of actions
based on the advice contained herein
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