Nick Ruddock's Best Uneven Bar Dismount & Giant Tips

One is anything from Nick Ruddick and two is bars , dismounts and flyways , as well as some giant work . So these are just kind of you know , nick . Obviously it's just gold standard for any sort of educational work and things that he delivers on are incredible Good friend of mine .

Every time we have something from him on the podcast , people get a ton of feedback and positive reviews , so that's great .

And then , obviously , nick talking about technical work , particularly bars , as we get closer to season for dismounts , flyaways , giants something that everybody could use some brushing up on , because it really is the foundational work for bars and so many people struggle with it .

So I wanted to get some content from Nick on here as we go into the season , just because so many people want to hear about it from him , and so this lecture actually comes from the shift symposium which we had a couple years back , very popular day long lectures was eight eight women's and eight men's lectures in a row from just world class experts .

So , nick Ruddick , we had a choreography beam lecturer , we had some work from floor and tumbling and bounding from Justin I'm trying to remember all the ones we had just like an incredible lineup of women's eight lectures and men's eight lectures , and it was actually part of the three-day summit we did .

And the reason I'm putting this lecture out now is because so many people are asking me for just like a bunch of content together . You know , I want to learn a whole bunch of great stuff from drills and strength flexibility . Just give me all the stuff that I need for as a coach .

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We'll start with the backward giant , and it's worth just again reminding ourselves that this is a root skill , and what I mean by that is that loads of different skills come from a backward giant , whether it's a blind change , a full pirouette , whether that's going to lead into a dismount or release like a ginger .

So it's absolutely imperative because obviously almost all gymnasts will perform a giant . We need to make sure we get it right , and if we don't get it right , we place that technical ceiling above their head and immediately just start closing the doors and all the different avenues and skills that our gymnasts could possibly possibly perform .

A giant is considered a foundational element . I tend to avoid using the word basic element now , because I find that things like backward giants , whilst they are quite simple , they're not easy . They're certainly not easy to do at a high performance standard .

So these foundational skills need a significant investment in time of time if we're going to get the end product looking how we want it to look . Okay , basically , great giants don't come by accident . They come through very deliberate technique , deliberate practice , high amounts of physical preparation .

Now , one of the models that I use with all my sort of physical preparation work is what I call the five dimensions of a straight line , and essentially what this means is that I want an athlete to be able to demonstrate a straight line . Five different ways , very subtle variations .

They should be able to do that lying on their stomach , lying on their back so that means their back pressed towards the floor , shoulders pressed completely straight line and standing up with the arms raised above their head , hanging on a bar and in handstand . Okay , we'll just go over those again quickly .

Lying on the stomach , lying on the back , standing up with the arms raised , hanging in a bar and in handstand the five dimensions of a straight line . That's something I want to start working straight away , as soon as these kids start coming into the gym .

You've got to work on those straight lines Because , of course , if an athlete doesn't have the ability to demonstrate straight lines , that's going to show up as an issue technically when it comes to well , basically everything on bars , but particularly backward giants .

So make sure that you are investing time in our foundations , our basics of the basics , our fundamental skills , however you like to refer to them as . Okay , basics first , okay , cool .

What the concept that is is one that I think I call rotate and repeat . Essentially , you've got one shape and you're rotating it into different positions . So I've just mentioned five different ways of showing a straight line , but actually the shape is just a straight line . So you know , being on the stomach and the back , the shape shouldn't change .

We're just rotating it or putting it in handstand . We're rotating it again . Hanging on a bar , standing up , rotating it , or putting it in handstand . We're rotating it again . Hanging on a bar , standing up , rotating it again .

So we're just repeating the exercise through different rotations , and I think that way we enhance the athlete's understanding of how to demonstrate that shape .

I'll use some other examples as we go through the presentation through different positions as well , but I think this is just a key thing for us to do as coaches is , when you teach a shape , rotate it and teach it again , rotate it and teach it again , and that way we should develop or enhance our athletes' understanding of how to do that in different positions .

Okay , so yeah , just a little quick win for you there . I've mentioned the Biles principles in the earlier presentation , so I'll just very , very quickly just mention those here again Sight , flight , shape , swing and extension all massively important for what we're talking about today , with backward giants and flyaways .

The flyaway , specifically , we're going to be looking at flight , aren't we for the very first time ? And don't forget the relationship that extension , swing and shape are going to have and the way that they're going to impact flight as well . So , extension being , can the athlete be as far away from the bar as possible and raise the center of mass up ?

We've got shape , because everything in gymnastics , particularly bars , is about how good these shapes are and their understanding of how to transition between them . And then we've got swing . We enhance the swing through great shape and extension and swing will develop flight .

So five principles make sure you're aware of them , make sure you're looking for them in the gym and you're coaching by them all the time . If your athlete can understand these principles themselves , you've just done a great job , because it will make your life a lot easier and their life easier .

They will transfer those principles to all the different skills that you end up teaching . That's exactly where we want to be . Let's make life easy for ourselves , shall we ? So if we're thinking about giants , let's look at some of the shapes and the physical preparation activities which are going to be important . I love using the wall ladders , the wall bars .

I think they are just absolutely imperative for great bar development , and I mentioned the strap bar earlier for the circle session . And again , this is another place . Spend your money . Okay , don't need gadgets , you need staple foundational equipment .

A strap bar and a set of wall bars is just absolutely key if you want a great bar , particularly if you're able to get all your gymnasts or you know at least half your gymnasts working on them at the same time and you can swap them over with different exercises . Things like a hollow hold here , um , just yeah , fundamental stuff , but very , very important .

Arch positions yeah , absolutely key , getting those right . And then a hollow shape again . So there's the rotate and repeat concept . We've got a hollow shape on the floor and then we've got a hollow shape on the bar . It's the same shape . We've just rotated it and , okay , she's hanging , but it's the same shape .

So we're rotating that same position , but you'd be surprised how many gym masters can do it on the floor but they won't be able to do it on the bar . It feels different . They've actually got to use a different , you know , set of muscles to make sure that they're showing the right shape , because they're not just static resting against the floor .

Now They've got to more actively pull themselves into position . So rotate and repeat , very , very important for us to do . It goes without saying . If these static shapes are compromised , we're not going to see them through motion .

Okay , you know , our gymnasts need to have great core strength , they need to have great handstands , great understanding of these basic , fundamental shapes If we are to expect them to be able to transition that over to the bar itself through motion . So always look at how well prepared your athletes are physically , as you know .

That's going to give you clues basically to maybe why , technically , they could be , could be struggling or they could have plateaued or or something like that . Okay , cool , right , so let's get into some uh progressions , shall we ? And uh , we've got here again .

I've showed this um video already a backward roll to a kind of a candle position or shoulder stand position . We do this because we want them to understand how to keep the chest in and the head in as they roll backwards . We want them to understand applying pressure back on the floor without compensating or moving this kind of thoracic part of the body .

Okay , very , very important and a great prerequisite although it's arguably harder than doing this kind of work which is your backward roll to front supports . Okay , so again you'll , you'll see , hopefully no change in that head position there .

Yeah , completely still again , great exercise for your toe , arms , your shoulders , but also your back , with giants , that ability to press back on the floor . You know , apply that pressure . But just look at what shape she's actually going through here . You know she's going through those same hollow positions we've looked at . There's the rotate and repeat . Again .

She's in a support now , but before she's on her back and then she's on the wall bars . It's the same shape we're doing right , and it's almost the same shape . Here as she rolls , there's that hollow again , albeit a little bit deeper .

So that's why static shapes are important , because we're always going through those positions in motion and that's how we get to having , you know , just great backward roller hand stands , which is hopefully what you're seeing here . Okay , now I look at that and I say that to me has got a bit of flight .

She doesn't actually leave floor but because that lightness and that bounce that only comes through extension and shape and I think it just gives it a little bit of flight . So I really like that . But again , look at the discipline that she's got here . Ok , keeping that head absolutely still .

Yeah , really , really nice example Do the work on the floor , it will expedite everything that you're doing on the actual bar itself . Okay , now we're going to move to just a few exercises , just for demonstrative purposes .

Again , what we call in Europe a corvette action and I know this isn't widely used in America if you're watching this in the sort of stateside over the pond but the corvette is a transition between an arch and a dish . It's like a snap action .

It's the same action you'd see in a round off or the block off the table in Iachenko and we use that , of course , in a backward giant . We transition from arch to hollow or arch to dish . So we can set that up in loads of different ways . And again , what you're seeing here now or going to see is this rotate and repeat concept .

You're going to see me this case , this is Charlotte doing it here on the bar . You're then going to see Charlotte doing it here . So we've got the same action . We've rotated there at a different angle , so I want to check that she understands it . We're also going to see it here flat .

Okay , these are all different ways of just training that transition between a hollow and an arch , hollow and a dish , or arch and a dish . I should say Um and so . Again , it goes without saying if those static shapes aren't right , even for the body alignment or just general shape , then it's just not going to be great when it goes through motion .

Get your static positions right first and we can start to make that more dynamic with these . I think these are commonly known as fish swings , maybe fish kicks , but again , it's that transition . So again , this is kind of like simple stuff in the sense of it's not complex to teach . It's not complex probably to understand what we're looking for as coaches .

But it doesn't mean that our gymnasts are always very good at it . And I think that again , is the distinguished difference between what's simple and easy . This is all very simple . It doesn't mean your gymnasts can do it easily . So invest time in it If your athletes , when you've asked them to do it through your assessments , have got gaps .

Uh , if , if your athletes , when you've asked them to do it through your assessments , have got gaps , fill those gaps . Do that first . That's going to help bars more than more than anything else . Okay , back to our floor bar again . So think , yeah , again , things like backward leans .

Um , now , those that follow my work , or maybe you're , you're a part of my uh membership program , the gymnastics growth academy , and you would have seen , seen , we've got dozens of exercises like this in in exercise libraries and um , essentially , you know , in the daily dozen another one of my physical preparation models there's always um handstand based exercises ,

there's always opening shoulder exercises . You've just got to create your own formula by compiling a menu of exercises that you're doing daily . That will enhance performance . So , in the daily dozen , there's always a rope climb , always a chin up , always a press , for example , there's always a handstand , a corvette exercise .

These are things done every single training day , and so an exercise like this would be included also why ? Because it speeds up learning .

You know , you invest time in the physical , it enhances learning elsewhere and and you can see again , jada , just getting that understanding of keeping the chest , in applying pressure back on the bar , extending , et cetera , et cetera . Why ? Because I don't want to teach that on the bar .

I want that , that bit to be automatic , underpinned by all this stuff here on the floor . Ok , cool , all right , let's get into some more shapes

Now . I'm a massive fan of an open tuck position for teaching quite a lot of skills actually , in both acrobatics and on bars . But one of them is the giant , okay , and actually the flyaway , which you'll see in a few minutes time . This shape is not a simple one or an easy one for the gymnast to understand actually .

So , whilst it is a , in some ways , a regression of a standard dish shape , many athletes actually find the concept of keeping the knee bent but the hip flat quite tricky to understand . So I'm not going to lie to you and say that this is a shortcut , not going to say seven-year-olds will learn how to do an open tuck like this .

I don't think that's the case , but I do think it's worthwhile still . It has some benefits which I'll come on to , but again , you're going to see , rotate and repeat . I want to show , or I want to have the athlete understand this open tuck position , in this case hanging , you know , facing and away . Again , evie here doing a fantastic job .

We've got Freya here , inverted , doing it in more of a candle position . We've got it against the wall here , okay , so rotate and repeat , it works , guys . Let's just keep this simple Find a shape , nail it in all sorts of different angles and then transfer it to the apparatus . Let's keep this as simple as possible , whilst always teaching those five concepts .

So , you know , we start with a static open tuck and then again we've got to use motion as well . And you know , pretty much just using the same exercises before Backward rolls to an open tuck , backward roll to handstand , you know , in the candle position , to try and develop their understanding of it .

I personally think it's just just very , very valuable , okay , um , so what you're going to see next ? What you're going to see next is just a few different exercises . I don't have a load , because I think that I'm sure everyone watching this has got a really good understanding of how to teach swings .

What I want to do is just make sure that you leave this session probably looking for those principles a bit more and maybe with a slightly different approach , but I'm just going to show you I think five , five videos here and these are kind of extracts from my master classes . Now I'm going to talk over them .

I've taken the audio out but , as you probably know , I run a series of live coach education events a year . They're called master classes . They're all on the website and things and this is where we've pulled the content out from , just if you're curious .

And in this session , to start with , I was just talking about the ways that the spotting , the way that you spot , can influence what the gymnast does . So what you can see here is that I've got one hand helping make sure that she's in the beautiful rounded position . I've got my other hand , of course , on her legs . That just helps physically hold her .

But I'm also using that hand and kind of kicking it back a bit to give her a cue . There's my cue that I'm giving her of when she should initiate , roughly at this age stage , the , the hang .

So I was just talking here about the , the importance of where we place our hands , and also , you can see , I'm applying pressure at the back of the shoulder again to influence the fact that I want that shoulder to open , because it's not just the back and the hips that generate swing .

I want the shoulder to initiate it as well , which is exactly what's happening here . Okay , so I've got a bit of pressure there . I've got a bit of pressure in the back of the head that keeps the head still , stops it from moving , but also is her cue of when to guide , and you can see she's actually doing a very nice job here at swinging through .

Okay , now I like to teach swings with the bar at this kind of height as much as I can . So if I'm at floor level , so not standing on a platform or a block , and I am able to kind of lift the athlete in this way , I personally just find it easier for my back and I think that's really , really important when you're coaching lots of gymnasts .

You know , typically at this age , if you're working with swings , you're probably teaching them at six , seven , eight , nine years old , for example , where you've probably got big groups , and so you need a way of spotting and a setup which protects you as opposed to exposes you to sort of back problems there . So that's what we were doing there .

Again , metal bar is your best friend the strap bar when it comes to teaching giants , and I certainly wouldn't want to teach them without one . Okay , another way of me doing that is this kind of spot here . Again , I find it relatively simple doing this and easy on my back , and I'm able to put her into really nice shapes .

You'll notice , in both examples that I've used , I'm always again pausing to make sure that she understands the shape and I'm just doing that quality control check . Ok , so , is she extended ? Is the back rounded ? Is she looking at the right place , which could later be towards her feet or the floor , for example ?

So very important that we do these little static shapes and that's why , again , finding a way that you can spot comfortably is great , because it allows you to be able to do that , whereas if you're not comfortable or you're overextending or you're folding over in half , you're not able to do your static checks .

It's just too much work for your body and you're going to end up hurting yourself . Okay , but again , I'm just doing a different kind of spotting action here and you can see I'm being quite clever with my hands by manipulating , guiding her , by just sort of pulling the legs back before I let her go .

Okay , again , just this is simple stuff , right , you don't ? You look at this , it's not complex , but be honest with you , it's hard work , and that's probably going to be the difference between great bars at a young age and not . It's like how hard is the coach willing to work ?

How much energy are they willing to invest in the spotting and the handling of the skills and the ? You know , you know manipulating positions . You just need a great work ethic . So I always say , if you're not sweating as much as the athlete when you come off bars , you might not have worked hard enough . Potentially , uh .

Either that or you're extremely effective at creating drills and progressions which are completely independent and still enhance learning , and if that's the case , you know I'm all ears . I bow down to you . There are coaches out there that do a better job at that than me , for sure .

Okay , now we're going to introduce the open tuck position from the swing and you'll notice that the way that I start this you might have noticed there is I didn't actually ask her to do anything , but just hold a static position , so I mentioned this for the toe-ons . One thing I don't like is when they just they start in handstand .

I see a lot of coaches do this . They start in handstand and they just use the fact that they've got momentum to create energy , and we don't want to do that . We want the gymnast to first understand swing and timing and later on add the energy . Okay , for the momentum from handstand . They've got to understand technique first .

Okay , that is exceptionally important . So what we've done here is we've put her into the static position , always underneath the bar , okay , and then I'm asking her to stay there . Don't do an action , just see if she can hold that in a rigid position .

Then I ask her to now do the action , so you'll see , you'll see her start to go through that was a static one and you'll start to see her now actually going through an arch . So there's her hang . Okay , we'll just go back again and play that one more time . So , static hold , show beautiful shapes . I think she did an exceptional job at that .

And there's the kick . Okay , arch kick . Good , now my hand again is on the head . It's a great place for me to be able to get control . I'm contradicting myself a little bit here , because I'm now bent down , folded over in half on a block , but I find it just very difficult to find a different way of doing this .

But you can see my hand there is is ready for her and I'm going to apply that gentle pressure again to make sure she doesn't tip the head back . Um , yeah , and she , she knows exactly what . What I want from her , again , chest is in also , because my hand's on the back of her head .

It's able to make sure she's able to show this nice , beautiful body line here . Okay , just let that play . And then that last one you notice , I just took her over the bar . Okay , so static , hold , check the shape . Okay , just let that play . And then that last one you notice , I just took her over the bar . Okay , so , static , hold , check the shape .

Introduce some gentle swings with no action . Then she's doing the kick . I'm just checking all the time . I'm asking her to guide with her knees first , and then , if I'm happy , as long as I'm happy , the last one , I just take her over the bar . She didn't really have to do anything more there .

I'm the one that's guiding her over , but that's the key shape there . That's the key shape that we needed to understand .

Okay , and you'll notice that key shape there as well , okay , so again , if we haven't got that one statically , and they haven't understood what that feels like , you know what the cues are , with like knees leading , then it's going to be very difficult to be able to get her to do that elsewhere also . Um , okay , let's have another look .

This is actually a different video than the one that you've just seen . It looks similar but it's different . So you can see there's a more aggression here , uh , more more dynamic action , and I'm now taking her um up to handstand on both sides .

Now I call these fail giants because we're not going over the bar , we're going up to handstand and we're going back again . I think I probably will send her over for the last one . Let's have a look . There we go . I know that's not the last one , I'm sure the last one . I normally end up with a backward giant .

There we go , okay , but all of those before that stage what we refer to as fail giants . So it's again a quality control check . We check both sides swinging up good shape , swinging back good shape . Up , good shape , back , good shape . And it stops her from thinking about , stops the gymnast from thinking about just going over , because that's not what we want .

I want multiple opportunities to check the shape and position . I'll pause it . I mean , look at that , that is just a beautiful shape . She's only only been able to do that through through great coaching from her coaches , amber and jade , at revolution gymnastics , and she's . You know that is deliberate , you don't get there by accident .

Okay , very , very deliberate work so you can see that a real , real good extension . The hip is absolutely flat , the chest is in . I'm loving that . Um , that that's what I want her to feel .

If you just pass them over the bar sorry , just pass them over the bar really fast they won't feel that extension because they don't feel the support phase for long enough . And so again , like , okay , it might be hard work , but it's absolutely worth the investment of time making sure that you do that stuff . Okay , okay , now the next one .

You'll notice the bar is higher now and what we're doing in this video is I'm asking her to actually do the hang kick with straight legs and then she taps to bent legs . So , if you watch closely enough , with straight legs and then she taps to bent legs . So , if you watch closely enough , straight legs , straight , open tuck .

So the open tuck happens right at the very end . Now , this is a progression that I actually often use on the , the single rail itself . You might have gymnasts that are so close to learning their giants , but they're just not quite there .

So by doing this action instead , which is that they they kick to a bent , you are shortening the body , which accelerates their rotation around the bar , because obviously we know that the longer the body is , the slower it's going to rotate . There's more resistance , isn't there against the body .

Okay , so we've got a straight leg hang here , straight legs here , straight legs here , and then she's tapping to the open tuck and that just speeds it up . Now , it's worth noting . I probably should have mentioned this , but in an open tuck , we don't want a closed hip . It's not a traditional tuck , it's an open tuck . So we don't want a closed hip .

Absolutely no , that's going to cause problems later on , which is why I said earlier at the beginning , it's actually really difficult to teach an open tuck effectively to young kids , because they do tend to close the hip , but what you're seeing here from evie is an open one . That's beautiful .

So so the leg is bent 90 degrees , but everything else is just your traditional hollow position . It's a hollow position with bent legs , as opposed to a tuck position , okay . So , uh , just to make sure when you're , when you're watching these exercises , you're recognizing that and , again , she's doing a great job .

Now , when you're at this stage happy days , spend a load of time there . Obviously , I'm spotting this . You then want to do it independently on the strap bar as well , and then I've used this with a number of gymnasts to transfer over to doing giants on the actual rail itself .

I've also used very effectively many times that open tuck to teach turns , to teaching your blind changes with that , because it helps the gymnast to understand turning the knees , and a lot of gymnasts struggle with that . They struggle with with turning the knees , okay , so that's a great little exercise to do . Okay , right , let's keep on

moving . Uh , just going back to the sole circle again , because the the backward giant involves a wrist shift . The sole circle should be a prerequisite to a backward giant , so I would like gymnasts to be able to do straight arm not straight leg , but straight arm sole circles on their own before learning a backward giant .

That way , I know that they know how to shift their wrists with straight arms , head in good extension , and they're obviously all the boxes that you need to tick for the backward giant as well . So there's a good chance you'll be able to do that with your kids .

That's sort of , you know , eight , nine years old that might be before they actually learn their backward giant on the bar . I've certainly had kids as young as eight .

Do you know sets of 10 soul circles on their own , independently , on a low bar not a metal bar , but a regular bar and do them very , very well low bar , not a metal bar , but a regular bar and do them very , very well . Now you remember that one of the principles that I talk about here is swing , and swing being extremely important .

Fantastic bar workers are just very , very good at developing swing , and one concept that I've been introducing into some of my masterclass clinics which I know a lot of people have been able to watch and they've shared their own gymnasts doing this exercise is the use of a trapeze . Um , you know , trapeze is swinging and what I think that ?

Well , maybe you'll agree with me that young kids just struggle to swing on bars because they're small , uh , and their hands are small and the bar is quite fat for the size of their hands , and so , um , swinging is just really difficult , and particularly the sensation of swinging , and what I want to do is find a way and the trapeze does that of developing and

connecting with them the sensation of swinging . And that's what we're doing here and you know it basically gives them a long amount of time to go through those positions . And you know , know , I should also said , like nothing that I've shown you today in terms of the technique is perfect .

So we could say , well , this gymnast could , um , could , hang a bit earlier and a bit more .

Yeah , of course she's learning , she's only like eight years old , um , but you , you're getting the idea she's got here a massive amount of time to be able to feel those shapes , and you just don't tend to get that with younger kids when they're first learning to swing .

And if we take a look here at Georgia Mae again , you'll see , if you think about the parallel between what you just saw on the trapeze and here . It's the same there's loads of time Georgia Mae's feeling the sensation of swinging , but you won't get that , you won't get this from a kid this young unless you use a trapeze .

In my opinion , or you know , they're doing like 40 hours a week training at seven years old , which is obviously not something that I advocate . Okay , so , um , a trapeze is , is fun , it brings some fun to gymnastics , it teaches swing , um , and , and it's playful . You know , what more could you want ? I think that's a really good investment of time .

And so let's just take a look at sort of Georgia Mays actually her backward giants because she does a great job again of extension . If you look around the head there on the way up you don't see her ears whatsoever . You've got a beautiful straight arm wrist shift .

Okay , and this is very much the angle that I would be encouraging you to look at your gymnast's shift of the wrist to check how they're getting on .

But if we look at what's happening here , you know just absolutely beautiful head position , that little bounce on the bar , which to me is like the essence of flight , it's a lightness , and of course , the bar hanging down very , very nicely as well . So , um , you know we've talked a lot about extension being important in support .

So when the athlete is on top of the bar but underneath the bar , it's just as important .

So we've got this support phase and we've got this bit here that we're seeing now , which is what we call the hang phase , and you can see again that georgia may is hanging very low down to the floor and that still makes sure the center of mass is as far away from the bar as possible and you can see it loads the bar .

It kind of pulls the bar down and that helps to uh on the upswing , because obviously the opposite to the bar pulling down is that the bar then lifts her up . It gives her a bit of a bit of a kick on the way up as well . So let's just watch these another time . I just love watching simple , simple skills done beautifully well .

I mean , these are just great giants . So completely neutral head position , beautiful straight arm , lovely wrist shift , great bounce on the bar . Okay , happy days

. Okay . So that's the backward giant there and , as I said , there's going to be more progressions . There's going to be some more independent things that you could be doing as well .

Um , what I wanted to make sure that you you understood was my kind of concept of using the open tuck and again thinking about the uh , the principles of extension and shape to enhance swing and flight .

So we're going to use that now because we're going to look at the fly away , uh , again , a series of progressions and just like um , well , I guess that like the toe on a lot of progressions and just like well , I guess , like the Toe-On , a lot of this stuff's quite repetitive .

You know you don't need a massive variation of different drills , so what I'm going to show you is not rocket science Very , very simple , just good principles , done well , with lots of repetition . That's all you need . You don't need shiny objects , you need stuff that's been around for a long , long time and has been working very effectively .

So let's just take a look , to start with , at one of the most important exercises , of course , which is coming from a swing . So , again , if you don't teach your gymnast how to swing properly , these preparations become quite complex and difficult . Okay , another benefit of , or , yeah , reason why you should be teaching good swings .

But here we're looking at a candlestick or a shoulder stand , and I'm showing you two different ways of spotting this . This first way is is my preference , which is grabbing the wrists or the forearms , as you can see here now . It's my preference because I find it a lot easier for me in terms of like , I don't need to spot .

Um , well , I don't need to stress my back out . Again , I can do , you know , hundreds of these , even with bigger gymnasts from than what you're seeing here from Evie . It develops a lot of independence because actually I'm only holding the forearm .

Therefore she needs to be in control of where her body is , so where her feet are pointing , how open her shoulder angle is . Like I'm not doing any of that herself . And also , as you'll see later , it's not very restrictive , because it's not restrictive to how high I can hold her . She's able to take that swing really , really high .

So what we're trying to do is to develop this static position , but in the air again , and we would develop this statically first . We want to get this right Open shoulder angle , hip up high but not overextended chest in . And the visual cue here is we want her to be looking at her feet .

We must remember that in every skill there's a deliberate place to look and on bars , just like every other apparatus , sight is important . Okay , so looking at the feet will enhance technique , give her more confidence and improve certainly safety as well .

For this particular skill , okay , we'll just look at the other way of spotting , which I think is less back-friendly , certainly gives you more control over the athlete . I don't discount that I'm able to grab her and I physically got her Now to do that is exhausting . I can't do that for a whole bar session with loads of gymnasts . That's a lot harder .

But also she feels like I'm what I call cradling her , like I've got more of her . That feels less independent , and less independence is going to not develop the same level of confidence . The more independent she is , the more in control she will feel , as opposed to being reliant on me . So I don't like this spot very much personally . I have used it .

I will continue to use it every now and then , but the wrist support is my , is my go-to , it's my favored one . Um , cool , so we're starting with hardly any power . Again , don't start from cast . Don't don't start from giants . Whatever you do , start from your swings and then develop into your cast .

So here we're doing exactly the same progressions and we're just going a bit higher . And what she's now got to do is make adjustments as to where she's hanging . You know where that tap is , how hard she's got to tap , how much of this is just momentum versus how much energy she's got to give .

And the way that I like to think about this from a coach development perspective is there should always be an action . There is always an action . It might be a subtle one , it might be a soft one , but there is always an action taking place . If you were , you might play golf , and if you don't play golf , you certainly know how golf works .

You've got a golf ball and you've got a club and you've got to hit the ball as far as you can .

In order to do that , you do a pre-action , so you draw your arms back behind you and then you follow through to hit the ball , same way that you kick a football or a soccer ball you draw your leg back and then you complete the action and you kick through . It's the same thing , same principle , when it comes to the way we swing bars .

Now I can draw my arms back , not much to hit a golf ball . I can go back a little bit , I can go back loads . I could hit the ball hard , I could hit the ball soft , but there is an action , and so what we've got to do , and what Evie here's got to do , is just figure out that timing that hang is going to be .

I'll go in clockwise , which is opposite to the way that she's doing here . That hang is probably going to be around 20 past 25 past on the clock . Okay , that's where she's going to be initiating that hang . If it's too early , if it's like a quarter pass , she's going to finish it early .

If it's too late , that could cause problems when it comes to the direction of the flyaway . But somewhere around the 20 pass mark is going to be . Um , you know it , it can be perfect . It's going to hopefully set us up for a successful release position .

Ok , so the message here was about her developing her independence and being able to adjust timing when we go from swings to cast and start to increase the heights of the cast . I'll play this again a couple of times . There we go play this again a couple of times . There we go and , uh , yeah , she's in that learning phase of doing it .

We've got it here as well . Slightly different this is freya , but again , just different environment , same exercise . The good thing is you don't need pits here , okay , but again , what I'm doing there is I'm taking her , I mean mean just just just above the elbow , maybe on the elbow , and one of them , um , but she's getting a great understanding here of vision .

She's looking for her toes . She's got the hip up , but not extended . What I mean by that . If we don't want an arch shape , the shoulder angle is nice and open . Okay , I can do , I can do hundreds of those without any issue , and I can lift her right above my head .

I'm not really holding her weight , I'm just , you know , influencing direction just very , very slightly . And then , of course , she's got to understand how to safely fall onto her back . Okay , good stuff . Okay , we're going to just develop that slightly . We've got to use Freya again .

So we want to introduce some rotation now and just breaking it down Very , very simple . You could do this on a wedge . We're doing this with a channel pit , because we've got the luxury of that in this fantastic facility , but , yeah , just doing the candlestick shoulder stand position into a backward roll .

What we're trying to do is get her Freya in this case to commit . We want her to commit to looking at her feet . We want her to commit to going to the shoulder stand . And when you develop their confidence through repetition , like good reps , that's what you'll get . You'll get a commitment from them .

If they're scared , they will not commit to hitting a shoulder stand . Now you might think , well , you don't need much commitment here . She's only landing on her back , you're right . Okay , but that is a prerequisite this one to this next exercise I'm showing you now , okay which is that she's going to do her swings Again .

I think I've probably got a cradle spot here , cradle and then flip . So again , this is her having to commit to that position . Now , again , I don't particularly like doing this because I think it's very intensive on the back .

There is the benefit that by stopping , we get the quality control and making sure that she's looking at at the right place , and it's a nice little breakdown for her so she doesn't become scared again of uh , of just just kind of flipping .

What we don't want , of course , is that they just move the head back , which is , you know , it's a flipping skill , so most , most athletes will do that . A much better way of doing that is to do a double spot , which is again what you're what you're seeing here .

This is amber , one of the personal coaches from revolution that you've seen working with all of these athletes . Uh , almost almost all the gms that you've seen have come from revolution , and amber is , uh , alongside jade , one of the personal coaches you'll see here . A lovely position now , because there's two of us spotting . We don't have to bend over as much .

We're not carrying as much weight . It's a lot easier . Uh , and again , all we're doing is asking her to commit . Commit to shoulder stand , we'll do the rest . Commit to shoulder stand , we'll do the rest . She's done a great job of that . And when they become more competent , we start to just make that more fluid . There's less pausing .

So again , commit to shoulder stand , she commits , and we take her over . Okay , now , one thing I found to be really useful in the teaching process for these skills is going through a sequence .

So you might start with a candlestick , so you might go to the wrists and that's let's say that's drill A , okay , and then B is we go candlestick , pause , check the position , flip that's exercise B .

And then we do this one that you're seeing here is , which we still ask evie to commit to that position , but we just go straight away through it without any real pausing and now we've got a sequence and we can go abc , abc , abc , and what that does is connect the dots between those different drills and continually reminds the athlete of the importance of

thinking about , in this case , the candlestick position . Okay , because the candle is the first drill and we stop there in the second one . So we really want them to feel that in this exercise . So , to give her the best chance , we go through that sequence . It would be a mistake , I believe , when you're first teaching this , to just go C , c , c , c , c .

So basically back away , back away , back away , back away . Ok , so just just bear that in mind . Factor that in when you're doing your work . Go through a logical sequence , ok . Now you might look at this as a step back in terms of performance , because it's going to look a bit flat .

But again , really , really important to get them to be able to swing back away and swing back away on their own . Okay , I teach a double back from swings . Okay . So ideally an athlete would be able to perform a double back , somersault , from three swings , for example . Why ?

Because I want them to understand it's the action , the tap basically , of the hand kick that develops the rotation and the energy , and not the momentum coming from handstand . So far , all these drills and progressions , you haven't seen a single one from handstand . They've all come from swing or a cast .

Very intentional , take away the power , enhance technique or develop the understanding of technique and then give them that power to work with afterwards , or develop the understanding of technique and then give them that power to work with afterwards . But again , freya's doing a great job here .

Again , look , I'm able to spot nicely from the floor by raising the shoulder and we should see that same shape on release . Hang looks at the feet very nicely and let's go with the bar . That's an interesting point actually . I hear a lot of coaches say throw the bar , like throw the bar , throw the bar . That's an interesting point actually

. I

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say throw the bar Like throw the bar , throw the bar . I don't see it as a throw . I mean , when I'm watching this I just see her let go , like throwing , to me is quite a erratic action . It's , it's literally opening the shoulders . I don't want the shoulders to open any more than they are on the front swing . I just want them to release the hands .

And everything else is done through timing timing of the of the hang , timing of the kick , timing of letting go of the hands . But there isn't really a another action . There's not a throat . Just the way I , way I view the world , doesn't mean I'm right . Okay , now we're back to my favoured open tuck position again .

The beauty of this is , if the athlete is able to demonstrate this nice shape and swing properly , it's just easy to spot . Again , you know I'm on the low bar . I wouldn't be teaching a fly away from a tuck . It's an an open tuck . So remember , the difference there is that the tuck is a closed hip and the open tuck here doesn't have a closed hip .

It has , uh , an open hip , which is exactly what you're seeing there . Okay , so we can just do do the same positions and because I'm at a bar level or it's up to my shoulders , I'm just able to spot this really easily and then I can develop into this preparation here which , again , is just a personal favorite of mine .

You'll notice again that the hand on the back of the head I'll play this quickly and then I'll play it slowly again but a very intentional hand here at the back of the head to prevent her from moving the head . Simple as that . It's there just to enhance her shape and understanding , kind of force her into not doing the wrong thing .

Okay , and then we've got an example here again from a cast , and that's Freya now doing it . Cast straight into a flyaway . Nice position , good position here in the learning stages . Okay . Now , when it comes to doing the actual , your giants into it , I just do the same thing . Giant , giant shoulder stand with the wrists . Giant , giant flyaways .

We still want the action there , but we want it to be soft . But I tell you , the most important thing about this skill got to take your time . You're going to , you're going to feel like you're teaching the skill for months and you will be , if you're doing it right .

You will be Loads of repetitions , loads of candlesticks , loads of exercises where hopefully they can kind of pause to feel that position before rotating , because if you don't have their trust and the confidence , you're just going to really struggle teaching the skill effectively . Okay , so do take your time Now . I hope those examples have been useful to you .

I just want to finish off with two other kind of philosophies of my teachings that I like to share with coaches , and one is the accumulation effect , and what I mean by this is I want you to think about a recipe like a food recipe and all the different ingredients that go into it . So let's take pasta .

You might make pasta , and pasta in itself is just one ingredient and you can eat it on its own and it tastes all right . But actually you probably want to add something else to it .

So it might be seasoning , salt and pepper , garlic , for example , and then you might want to go and elevate that again by adding some fresh tomatoes or some basil basil , if you're in America .

Okay , what we're able to do is elevate a core ingredient by adding extra things to it , and we don't want to add too many things , because then it just becomes a bit too messy . We've made it too complex .

There's a sweet spot of taking something pretty simple and enhancing it through the addition of certain aspects , in this case , ingredients when you're assessing the effectiveness of the work that your gymnasts are doing and you're trying to improve , let's say , a backward giant , for example .

I want you to think about all the different things that are contributing to that . It's not just the drills that you use , but it's their ability to handstand , it's their levels of confidence , it's the physical preparation that you've done , it's their core strength , it's their shoulder mobility .

These are all different things which will accumulate to the outcome of a good or bad backward giant . So , when you're looking at improving a skill , think about first , well , what are the things that are actually impacting it ? It's not always just the drills . There's normally a lot more other things as well .

So that was one thing that I just wanted to make sure I mentioned . Okay , there is a lot of things developing your backward giants and your flyaways Okay . So just think about all the peripheral items as well . The accumulative effect of them will give you an outcome Okay .

And the next thing , the final thing , is this concept of catapult coaching , which I've kind of made up . I guess this is that sometimes we need to draw someone back in order to propel them forwards .

So you might find that you've seen presentations either from myself through this symposium , or many of the other fantastic experts sharing their expertise and you might be like you know my gymnasts , I need to take them back . Don't worry about that . We've all done it . I've done it loads

. Sometimes you go too fast and you don't realize that you know you're actually having the athlete try the skill and you're like I've gone too quickly . The handstand stuff that I've talked about might resonate with you . Good , so pull back a bit .

Go back , do more physical prep , get the shapes right , and by doing that , what you're actually doing like a catapult is propelling your gymnasts forwards . They will improve rapidly , at probably a much better rate than they are now , if you draw back and just take a bit more time filling in the gaps , which is stopping their development from moving forwards .

And that is what I wanted to say . Look just . Thank you so much for watching these presentations . I hope they've been useful to you . I wish you every success , of course , in your coaching journey and please enjoy the rest of the symposium . Thanks so much for watching .