Some thoughts on back tumbling
Hi All,
Today I wanted to share a few thoughts and ideas about back tumbling. Brian Amato did an awesome lecture on back tumbling at the Oregon State Clinic and he had a few set-ups I really liked as well as some other drills which I’ve started using.
This first video is a set-up that he was using for back tucks. This doesn’t have the final skill but you get the idea. I use panel mats (especially the long ones) a lot for tumbling. I would rather gymnasts round off off of those (front foot and hands on) and land in a better shape for connecting the back handspring than do it on the floor and drill bad muscle memory. So not only do I like THAT about this set-up, but I also love that the gymnasts have to tumble up onto the resi. Tumbling up is incredibly important and in my mind very under done in a lot of gyms.
This second one is just a really easy way to get gymnasts to learn how to stay tight when flipping over. This is kind of a surprisingly ingenious drill that I just had never seen before. Super simple and effective.
If you’d like even more basic tumbling drills – you should check out “Beginning Tumbling – Where to start with preschool and rec (from handstands to back tucks)” it’s 94 minutes of easily taught drills and progressions that will lead to bigger and better tumbling.
