Clear/Free Hip

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gymmom14

Proud Parent
Any advise for the clear/free hip in the level 6 bar routine? DD's looks like a back hip circle. I think she shifts her hands too late and has trouble staying hollow. Any drills we can do at home?
 
My DDs have the same problem! They have it, but it doesn't look like one:p Sorry, I have no advice for you, but I'm going to keep checking back at this thread for answers for my DDs:)
 
The issue is most likely some combination of the cast not being high enough and not dropping the chest back early enough. Unlike a back hip circle, where the shoulders essentially don't move until the hips contact the bar (technically just before the hips contact the bar), in a free hip the shoulders must be pulled back aggressively on the way down from the cast, without waiting for the hips to get back to the bar.

Sometimes I think we do kids a disservice when we teach them back hips as a progression towards free hips, but I can't really think of any alternatives I like better.
 
Exercises at home are kind of hard for this...but core conditioning and shoulder strength (like planche action strength) should help. A lot of times they can't do a hollow inverted hang at all without resting too much on the bar and that makes hitting the positions harder in the dynamic skill. Also the shoulder action strength I feel like is a big offender, but I guess that's more when you see them shoot and flip their wrists but then kind of bend their arms, arch, and collapse towards the bar (although the BHC pushaway variety it could also be a problem, it's just hard to tell because that's usually performing the entire skill incorrectly from the beginning).

I kind of think about dropping back like I'm trying to align my back parallel to a wall on the other side of the bar as fast as I can. The problem is that it's more intuitive really to try to drop closer to the bar on the cast side. It's easier to control/slow down that way.

Two or more back hip circles in a row is kind of a good exercise because you have to drop back more to get the speed for the second one (and drop back on the second one). We used to always do that in level 5 and 6. I had forgotten about it until now. The free hip handstand clicked for me when our coach had us try to do cast, drop to underswing as high as we could off to a mat stack. Then she said toes to the other side...went right up to handstand and never had trouble after that. But that was in L7.
 
1. Free/clear hip needs an aggressive drop.

a. that requires bravery, no fear

b. requires your shoulder to be over the bar and not in front of the bar. from the cast, you have to push your shoulders back

c. figuring out the time and like any swinging skill, being patient

2. conditioning requirements

a. many compulsories training this skill or ill physically prepared to get the most out of training this skill. even once they learn the motion or with a spot, their body cannot maintain holding the critical body positions of the skill

3. good skills to work on

a. invert cradle/candle holds on bar. once you master this, work on holding it with your body not touching the bar ( towards a true front lever, honestly I'd like to see 15 degrees forward of the bar ) can be down on a low bar or pullup bar ( if there is enough clearance ).

b. band straight arm raises. you can also do these with some sort of weighted bar. stand and raise the arms quickly with straight elbows toward above the head. try not to arch the back when raising. easier to do with theraband or weight bands

c. lots of hollow body work. I prefer body levers that start from a candlestick while holding a pole anchored to the floor. hollow body hold, hollow body pushup hold ( with arms extended way over head ) and ab wheels are good too
 
a. invert cradle/candle holds on bar. once you master this, work on holding it with your body not touching the bar ( towards a true front lever, honestly I'd like to see 15 degrees forward of the bar ) can be down on a low bar or pullup bar ( if there is enough clearance ).

There was a good idea in Valentin's gym press (more for coaches not for home, sorry). Have them do it on P-bars, holding one (from the outside) facing the other, inverted hang and try to hold for however long without touching either bar.

I thought it was genius anyway. :)
 
Another way to think about the clear hip hand is like a back extension roll on floor--they are essentially the same action of opening the shoulders. As others have mention the 'drop' is the most important part of the clear hip. As the gymast begins to bring her body back to the bar in the drop she wants to keep her body at least 6 inches away from the bar.

As far as hitting her feet on the floor afterwards, it is because she is probably not bringing her feet close enough back into the bar before doing the glide. A lot of gymnasts slam their feet on the floor because the shoot their glide swings down into the floor instead of bringing them close into the bar (like sole circle) then shooting them back outwards. This also requires a lot of stomach strength. One reason girls tend to have this problem is because they have a bad habit of relying on the height of the low bar (being higher than it needs to be for the little ones, and they can nearly swing on the low bar while barely hitting their feet on the floor). In other words--when they are smaller they get into the habit of doing their glide swing down towards the ground, then when they're taller they have trouble keeping their feet up.
 
Thanks for the input. I talked with my dd about this. And showed her some examples on the internet and some video of her doing it in the gym. I think it is starting to click. She now see how she has to keep her body tight and go fast around the bar. I think there was some fear there of going to fast and not staying tight was scaring her. Last night she stayed tight and went fast. A noticible difference from prior trys. Her coach even commented on how much better it was. Now she just needs to shift her hands faster she says.
 
The issue is most likely some combination of the cast not being high enough and not dropping the chest back early enough. Unlike a back hip circle, where the shoulders essentially don't move until the hips contact the bar (technically just before the hips contact the bar), in a free hip the shoulders must be pulled back aggressively on the way down from the cast, without waiting for the hips to get back to the bar.

Sometimes I think we do kids a disservice when we teach them back hips as a progression towards free hips, but I can't really think of any alternatives I like better.

Actually, an athlete shouldn't touch the hips on the bar until the upswing on a back hip circle anyway. They should also be pushed up in an exaggerated, extended front support to slow down at the end. If they are trained this way, 9 out of 10 kids will accidently do a clear hip anyway. It just takes a lot of time, patience and constant corrections.
 

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