Coach Keith's Corner — handstand

There have been many times when I went to teach one of my upper level athletes a new skill and realized it is harder to teach than I thought because of bad habits, bad technique or just something I overlooked. An example - I had a very talented kid.  I wanted him to learn a specific vault (a kasamatsu).  Super talented so should not be a problem - only there was a REALLY big problem - he twisted the wrong direction to learn a kasamatsu.  When he was little he just picked his direction to twist and I thought nothing...

We all know the expression "Practice makes Perfect."  It's short and it makes us feel great that all we have to do is try real hard and we will improve at our task.  However, what if it lots of reps makes you worse? How can practice make you worse you ask?  Its simple.  Anytime you do a task, it becomes a habit.  If you continue to do a skill in the wrong way, that will become a habit that you will be hard to fix. Suppose you can't do a muscle up.  Do you think doing hundreds of  muscle ups with wrong...

Before you think I don't like the holidays (I do), I am referring to this time of the year for a Gymnast or Gymnastic Coach. For the most part, our season is split into a few time periods. We have meet season which lasts from roughly January to May.  Each practice is pretty similar and drama free.  The kids come in do their routines and some strength and go home.  They are getting consistent on their routines, they just have to do the work to clean them up and maybe add something here or there.  Its not the most exciting practices but ...

Lack of wrist flexibility and strength is an often overlooked problem.When you are in a handstand, you want to try to keep your back and shoulders still and do all of your balancing with your hands and wrists. This means you need to work on your wrist flexibility as well as the strength. Look at a close up of this boy’s hands and wrists. When holding a handstand his fingers should be pointing forward. See how his fingertips are pressing into the mat? He is using his fingers to help him balance.   Notice the angle between his hand and...

ASK ME QUESTIONS! Let me know if you ever need a clarification!  Often times I give descriptions like I would to my gymnasts with terminology that isn't used in the normal world. If you need a clarification, I am sure many others need one too!   If you have any question, just ask.  I am usually pretty good about answering.  I am not an expert at everything but if I do not know the answer I will direct you to someone that can help. Also check out my tutorials, because I have a lot more descriptions and videos to help in...