All-Star Mental Block

[TumblingJai]

Hi. I'm working on my back handspring, and I have been stuck for some time now. I'm either not jumping enough, or I'm not arching enough, or I'm not pulling my legs with me. If it's not one thing, it's another. And I'm also dealing with a huge mental block. I can't even do it on the trampoline without a spot, but my coach also won't let me (and I don't have access to a trampoline). Does anyone have any drills or conditioning for these sorts of things? Especially for things I can do at home with little to no equipment. I'm getting very frustrated in myself, and I've been working on this same skill for 2-3 years now.

 

[catlady]

I want to preface this by saying I'm not a tumble coach, I'm a parent of two kids that at some point blocked on their tumbling. I do tend to believe there are multiple reasons for mental blocks, but I'll share what worked for my kid's.

For the oldest, it was as easy as getting her out of her AS gym. Whether it was embarrassment, self consciousness, pressure, who knows, but I noticed every time she was about to throw a skill, she would look around, and then balk. I took her to a small gymnastics gym where the coach had her attempt to throw a couple of BHS's and then they laid on the matt and chit chatted for about 20 minutes of the private. After that, she got up and spotted a few BHS's and then she was throwing them on her own. I asked what that magical tumbling conversation was and she said, we didn't talk about tumbling, she asked me what I wanted to do after HS. Performance environment versus non-performance environment made a huge difference when it came to tumbling for her.

For youngest, it was all about bad habits put into muscle memory after an ankle injury. After several coaches repeatedly had her throwing her BHS trying to get her to make corrections, we found a new coach that said, "muscle memory is not coachable." He stopped working on her BHS, her BHS drills, and began working on her back tuck. By doing back tuck drills, she was putting new things to muscle memory, and a few weeks later she was able to make the corrections needed for her BHS.

Time, patience, and finding a good coach that understands mental blocks is the only thing that worked for my kid's.

 

[mamamarcie]

Hi. I'm working on my back handspring, and I have been stuck for some time now. I'm either not jumping enough, or I'm not arching enough, or I'm not pulling my legs with me. If it's not one thing, it's another. And I'm also dealing with a huge mental block. I can't even do it on the trampoline without a spot, but my coach also won't let me (and I don't have access to a trampoline). Does anyone have any drills or conditioning for these sorts of things? Especially for things I can do at home with little to no equipment. I'm getting very frustrated in myself, and I've been working on this same skill for 2-3 years now.

In addition to @catlady’s reply, I believe in conditioning and total body workouts are hugely beneficial—especially strengthening your core. There are also exercises that help develop muscle memory when throwing various tumbling skills. It’s been eons since I coached and even more since I tumbled, yet I think the basics remain the same. Good luck! You’ve got this!!