Long-Hang Pullovers

[coachmolly]

I work with a HS team in an area where there are no club gyms, so the most prior experience any of these girls have is at a once a week, purely recreational program. Because of this, they are really lacking the basics and it's especially apparent on bars where things like shifting around the bar, tap swings, basic body positions, etc. are totally foreign concepts.
Because kips are non-existent, and not likely to happen by February, we rely on long hang pullovers to get up on the HB, a skill which only one girl can perform on her own and only about 10% of the time. I've really worked on teaching tap swings, reminding them to tap, reminding to shift their wrists, but nothing seems to be working.
Does anyone have any advice on drills to use or corrections to give that might connect with them a little better? I would love to be able to go back and just work on tap swings and basics, but there is just not time for that. Thanks in advance!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

oh my gosh Molly...very difficult indeed. if the kids don't have the requisite strength to weight ratio to pull their weight up and over the bar, i can't think of anything that will help. stick to what you are doing and hope that the swing factor can get them up and over the bar. in the meantime, lots of conditioning...but you may have to spot even that. take care of your body if you do so.

 

[lavinmeg]

Before I began gymnastics, I played all day long on a playground bar attached to a tree in my back yard. I got rips and kept going and going and that is because I thought it would be so amazing if one day I swung high enough to get over the bar without climbing. Later, I found out this skill is a long hang pullover, which I ended learning (with horrible form) by myself with no gymnastics instruction ... there is hope. I would jump up to the bar and do as many swing as I could (with extremely bent legs of course) until I felt like my shoulders were open and my body was horizontal with the bar, then at that moment I would fold my my legs and pull in with my arms, and after a long summer I got what I know call a long hang pullover.

- A drill you could do for strength would be have the girls do a pull - up on the high bar then do a leg lift (while still in a pull -up) and try to get over the bar ... it is essentially a really slow pullover and most likely they will not be able to do it but once I learned that drill from youtube thats what I tried to do with lots of swing

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[coachcasie]

a little addition to the drill above.

use foam or little animals in btw their legs and have them drop over the bar. Split the girls into teams and make a game out of it.

I actually had one girl who was working on her pullover for more than a year get it while doing the game (she acted like it was no big deal!)

 

[coachmolly]

Thanks for all the help! Currently they are just getting done with lots of spotting (which I can't really do with my broken ankle and all...), but the goal is to have a few more getting the skill on their own in the coming weeks. A few girls are getting close, but for some it just feels like I'm giving the same corrections over and over again and am starting to assume those words must not be too terribly effective.
I was hoping for some magical trick to get them over the bar, but it looks like we'll just need to stick to the conditioning and repetitions we have been doing with lots more work on swings. Thanks so much for all of the suggestions, they'll definitely be helpful!

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

A slightly-late tap tends to help a lot.

Also, lots and lots of conditioning.

Good luck