WAG What do your arms do on twisting?

[Flipomaniak]

I've seen bent, straight, some people have one wrapped around their head... What do you do? (or dd or ds)

 

[gymnastbeth]

I have one arm slightly bent by my side, and pull the other arm hard to meet it. It starts above my head and drops down for the twist, then my head follows through/ looks towards the direction of the twist. (if that makes sense)

 

[gymunicorn]

I usually pull and make a small "t". My fists in and elbow straight out. Or I pull both hands to my hip.

 

[BlairBob]

Pulling the hands to hip is the common. Very rarely will coaches teach a diver's twist with the arm bent above the head.

 

[SuperGirlmlm]

That's a good question, and I've thought a lot about that in the past week.
I was never told where my arms are supposed to go, I've seen a lot of different ways to do it, though.
I think the gymnast subconsciously puts her arms where they aren't in the way. That's exactly how I twist.

 

[iwannacoach]

My preference, and only because I understand it, is to teach a set from a forward lean that "stands up" in mid-air followed by the upper body "falling" into the beginnining of the lay-out......so it's forward-up-over into the somersault. The lead arm of the twist reaches back and down as the "up phase" ends and the "over" phase starts and points to the floor at about a 1/8 turnr. I don't teach the "point" to the floor but that's the way it looks.

The lead arm pulls in and to the lead side as the lay-out begins, and the follow arm pulls in and tries to catch up as the skill rotates.

It looks like the girl in the pic is working it this way, and with a 3/4 twist is at the point of bringing the follow arm in to catch up with the lead arm. Both arms will be held in tighter to the body for the remainder of the twist.

The exact arm position of each gymnast I've taught follows this general guide line, but each athlete has a slight variation to account for their unique qualities of weight distribution, tumble speed, snap down timing and distance, set angle, and number of twists.

 

[SuperGirlmlm]

Just so you know, the girl in the pic is Shawn Johnson. Otherwise, you really sound like you know what your talking about.
I just wasn't ever taught where to put my arms. I was told to set with your arms up.

 

[iwannacoach]

All I was looking at was the arms.....you don't use your face muscles on twisting unless you're talking about this as you go from starting to learn the skill to perfecting it.

You gotta talk to your coach before going off on a twisting spree and using my explanation. If it rang your bell it may have just been the same/similar technique, but different wording..blah, blah, blah...... The two of you can figure out if you are at last on the same page.

Oh yeah.....say hi to Shawn for me!

 

[ALgymMom]

Here is my DD twisting & she does use her face muscles! Lol

 

[iwannacoach]

I can't be sure, but I think she's doing either a /1 or a /1 ....... Right? Oh yeah, that's Shawn Johnson working that twist in the second picture too....right?