Hello everyone, my apologies for not being able to release a video blog on these principles but I haven't had the time to record and edit. Instead, I'm going to write it down here and possibly highlight key components in a video. I hope you can take these principles and apply them to your tumbling.In tumbling we use our bodies to propel ourselves off the ground into the air with precision and power. However, as I watch many online videos and while coaching my kids at the gym I am employed at, I notice many little things which can substantially change end results.
First, lets start off with the three main areas of the body which are used for any trick:
- Arms: This includes our arms, head, neck, shoulders, upper back and chest(down to solar plexus).
- Hips: This includes our lower abdominal, lower back, hips, glutes, and upper hamstrings.
- Legs: This includes our lower hamstrings, knees, calves, shins, ankles, feet and toes.
Each section is critically used in everything that you do while tumbling. I won't go extensively into each section in this post but I will instead write three separate posts for each section. However, we need to make sure we keep in mind that these three sections are very significant.
Secondly, I want to speak about body awareness. Body awareness is understanding where our body is within a particular space. In other words, when we jump in the air, do we know how high we are? Do we know how long it will take for us to reach back to the ground? Where are our arms and your legs? These are critical questions to ask ourselves while we are performing particular tricks. Debbie Love, owner of Fortheloveoftumbling.com, features a post on the home page of her website speaking on the matter of proprioception, or bodily awareness, which I highly recommend everyone to read.
Thirdly, we all want to throw many advanced tricks and most of us have the natural ability to move our bodies in the ways we want. However, there are others who do not possess this natural ability of body control giving them a hard time to flip. One way of helping this conundrum is physical conditioning. Being able to push your bodies limits not only pushes your mind, but ensures that you know which body parts to use into whatever workout you do. For example, in squats, you have to make sure your chest is up and back is straight. This can be applied towards standing tucks or a standing back-handsprings. Many of the techniques in physical conditioning can easily be applied to tumbling fundamentals when taught and practiced properly.
Lastly, I want to really exaggerate the need for understanding fundamentals. Fundamentals in tumbling is equally, or even more, important to actually throwing bigger skills. Here's an example: If you are throwing a Round-off back-handspring back tuck and your tuck is about 2 feet off the ground, it might not necessarily be your Back Tuck that is the problem. Most of the time it is the Round-off. Round-offs play a crucial role in implementing power into the next sequence of skills. Once we know we have mastered the Round-off, everything else falls into place. In other words, while we are tumbling, we need to focus on our fundamental tricks, (i.e. Round-off, Hurdle, Jump, Punch, Swing, etc.). Doing so will greatly improve our tumbling.
Tumbling is an art which takes time and patience to master. A professional painter does not go in and create a masterpiece first try without putting in hours of work and study. Tumblers like Brandon McCuien, Glen Becker, Holden Ray, and Whitney Love have been in the gym almost all of their lives honing their fundamentals, their physical body strength, and mental stability to get where they are today. To be the best you must train like the best. I hope you take these fundamentals and apply them well. I will provide separate blog posts for each fundamental addressing critical components. Make sure to subscribe and subscribe to the above YouTube channals!
