Hand position for backhandspring?

[LizzieLac]

Yesterday after practice my daughter said that the coaches were asking the girls to do their ROBH and BH with their hands turned in slightly (for the the RO part and the BH part). My daughter is finding this difficult since she never really did them that way before.

She just moved up from Prep Opt to level 5 and before Prep Opt she used to go to a different gym that only taught recreational gymnastics (no teams). So she feels like they may have taught her wrong. I told her to tell them it is challenging and ask them to help her understand doing it this way.

So, my questions are: what is the proper hand position for these skills? Does having the hands turned in slightly help in some way? Are there deductions for hand position?

Thanks in advance!!
Liz

 

[gymnastgets10]

I was taught that turning your hands in a little prevents your elbows from hyperextending and helps avoid wrist pain.

 

[gymdog]

I agree hands turned slightly in is best. This is the position I would use. It takes some time to get it. Hopefully they are doing some drills to help with this. Having the hands turned in is not a deduction but puts less stress on the elbows and keeps them from locking out, as gymnastgets10 mentioned. I also think it allows for a better push, or block, off the floor than having the hands turned out (which I would discourage because it is hard on the wrists and elbow, but also hard to push). We don't want the arms BENT per se, but there's a little "give" that's helpful with hands turned in. You can try it yourself by pushing against a wall in the two hand positions. Maybe show your daughter to try too and she can practice at home placing the hands on the wall slightly turned in and "blocking" off the wall. Once she gets it visually she should keep her arms by her ears and hollow her chest to reach the wall in front of her. She can also practice standing back to the wall and reaching back (hips forward) and hitting the wall with the hands turned in (really just the side of her hands will touch the wall - along her pinky).

 

[Deleted member D3987]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is correct.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I have never heard of it myself. I have seen girls turn them out slightly on beam but never in. I have some cheer girls who do that and I try and correct it as it makes every single one of them bend their arms, but they are basically beginners so maybe it changes I really don't know, I just know we don't teach them that way.

aerial, where is your gym located. i'm curious.

 

[gymnut1]

are you a coach aerialriver?

 

[bogwoppit]

My youngest had to work really hard to get her hands just right. Her coach spent all last summer making her work the skill perfectly and told her no progression to two BHS or BT until she fixed the problem. Very clearly hands turned out is very bad for their elbows and it must be fixed.

Baby Bog was told to think of making a diamond pattern with her thumbs and first fingers. Her hands are not together, but that shape can be seen. The issue is fixed now and she is a happy tumbler.

Great that the coach has picked up on this and is fixing it!

 

[CoachTodd]

I have never heard of it myself. I have seen girls turn them out slightly on beam but never in. I have some cheer girls who do that and I try and correct it as it makes every single one of them bend their arms, but they are basically beginners so maybe it changes I really don't know, I just know we don't teach them that way.

Beam is different all together. If you try to keep the hands turned in on beam, you'll be trying to catch you weight on just your finger tips.

On floor, the hands need to be turned slightly in if at all possible. If you land hard with your hands turned out, you can't bend you arms if you need to. This usually ends up in the arms bending in the wrong direction. i.e. hyper extend the elbows. With the hands turned in, you can absorb some of the force if needed as well as control the angle of the snap down for higher level skills that will be following the bhs.

 

[gymdog]

I agree beam is different. I keep my hands pretty straight on beam though. Some are uncomfortable with this, although in many ways I feel it is ideal if possible. If it's between slight turnout and never doing the BHS, I'll allow slight turnout, particularly if they can keep their first hand straight. Some do the turn out successfully, but I have noticed those who do it to a large degree often have issues with the skill and aren't as powerful. Again, there's less push off just the palms, although you might feel like you're holding more of the beam. But I also feel it's really important to learn an effective hand position on beam from day one. It is so difficult to fix later on without taking a big chunk of time when they need even harder skills. Take the time to do the beam hands correctly too. I HAVE seen girls turn their hands in on beam You can get the palms on if both hands are turned in the same direction (so one in, one out, technically) but the whole skill will be crooked. Not good.

With floor, any time they do drills such as roundoff rebound and roundoff jumpback, they can practice doing the rebound and jump back with the hands already slightly turned in.

 

[LizzieLac]

Thanks for all of the replies and helpful information. DD mentioned something about a drill where they were putting their hands down in a T.

I don't know anything about gymnastics, so my only advice for DD is to ask the coaches what they are trying to achieve. My DD is a little anal and wants things to make sense to her when she does them. She never argues with the coaches and does what is asked in practice, but she likes to understand why they do what they do.

I thought the logical benefit of turning the hand in would be help with absorbing the weight of the body and take the stress off other parts of the arm. Does that seem like the major benefit? Long term, if she is not able to turn her hands, will that be a problem?

Thanks again!