Back Twisting — Down a Hill

Hi All,

Today I’m going to share a couple drills and a set-up that I really like for teaching back twisting. Teaching back twisting is something that can be somewhat controversial, people debate twisting direction, method of twisting etc. Not every method is going to be perfect for every gymnast. But the set-ups below are a nice way to introduce twisting.

This first way of setting it up is using a cheese mat, a bungee incline, and power launch and an 8″. I like taking the round-off out of the equation, and also like the going down hill because I think it helps kids focus on the end of their back handspring. The straight arm method is my prefered method of teaching twisting. I think it’s really effective, and you get better body shapes out of kids.

This second one is of a kind of similar set-up but this time using a tumbl trak that is angled. I’ve seen this drill and ones like it before but I don’t think I could ever do it unless the gymnast was like 7. That being said, I think it’s great. Especially the fact that it’s emphasizing the late twist.

Train hard!

Photo Credit: Brown Family

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