drills for front walkover

[skfleming255]

My dd can get her front walkover 3 times out of 10. Does anyone have any tips or drills for this?
Thanks.

[gymdog]

She probably needs to leave her head and arms back more rather than angling in coming up, unless it's a flexibility problem (if she sometimes make it I would guess not, but hard to say really). However I would caution against practicing a lot at home, FWOs are hard on the back and it isn't worth risking overuse injuries for something that will click in time. Often what happens is quantity over quality and practicing the same things wrong without the use of mats or other visual and physical aids that she has in her gym class probably won't be worth it. It would be better to focus on moderate stretching and some strength exercises in order to improve her overall performance and maximize her time in the gym.

She will get it soon enough! Good luck to your dd and to you, have a great 4th.

[gymnast89]

is she able to do a backwalkover because its almost similar. Front walkovers are a tricky skill to get a hang of, but one tip that really helped me was when your in the middle of your front walkover push your hips out as far as you can, and to look behind you when going, making sure arms are by ears and head is neutral. Often gymnasts tend to not keep their head back long enough causing them to come up to early. The head should be kept back until you can balance on one foot and bring your chest up.
Hope it helps, good luck

[KBT]

The most common problem on a FWO is tucking the head towards the chest as you're trying to stand up. The head should stay back between the arms. The kid should be looking at her hands the whole time until she has fully stood up out of the skill. If she's very flexibility and/or has trouble making this correction, I'd even tell her to watch for her feet hitting the floor before she starts standing up. This really exaggerates the correct head position and can often be easier for a kid to "feel" than just watching the hands.

Watching the hands on the way up also helps make sure that a kid pushes through the shoulders when the hands leave the floor and then retains that shoulder position while standing up. It's easy to let the shoulders drop when not looking at the hands which will make it difficult to get up.

And just because pictures are better than words, a nice pic of Nastia with her head back looking at her hands. Her head will stay in this position while she stands up.


I'm not sure what level your daughter is, but if this is her problem, watch her handspring vault, too. Tucking the head towards the chest before landing will cause some misalignment, the chest can drop during post-flight, and it's harder to stick.