Back Tuck Form Check

[Michal Taszycki]

Not sure if this is how you should build gymnastic body (although back tuck is a pretty good abdominal exercise;) but I hope some of you could give me few professional tips.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50488M0OX5s

[u3er]

You need to work on jumping straight up before initiating your tuck (you are currently throwing your head and shoulders back which is causing a lot of backwards travel).  Ideally, you should be able to land on the same spot that you take off from.  

 

Here are a few cues to help you: 

 

Lock your eyes on something in front of you to help keep your head in a neutral position - don't 'throw' your head backwards!

Jump straight up as though you are going to slam dunk a basketball - think height!

At the apex of your jump, forcefully pull your legs towards your chest

 

Imagine you are jumping up to a set of high rings and doing a really fast skin the cat...

[Michal Taszycki]

Yeah that is constantly my problem. Jumping back instead of up. Somehow it is really hard to get rid of that habit.

Might be related to the fact I started learning back tuck long time ago by jumping to a pool.

 

I'm usually doing basic drills lying on my back and jumping onto chest-high pile of materaces into a tuck position, then it feels ok.

But when I am to do the standing back tuck I default to jumping back:(

 

Thanks for the cue with rings and skinning the cat. I'll try it out.

 

Do you know any other drills that might specifically help in jumping up?

[AlexX]

You lean back a great deal, you also double jump in the video. Bad habit to get into.

I am going to assume that you don't have access to spotters for this advice. Grab a hoola hoop and start doing your standing tucks in it trying to land back into the hoop when you land. You can also do the same thing with a velcro strip (they are on each side of you in the video), although the hoola hoop works better.

Another thing is look at your prep jump before you do your tuck. In the video you don't jump very hard and your arms are not brought up very high, this isn't helping you at all. When trying to fix a problem, I would do 3-4 jumps before a standing tuck really concentrating on a proper set. Then without delay go for the tuck. If you wait too long between the jump and your tuck you'll be unlikely to do anything differently.

Also I would not recommend doing them off an edge like that as this usually encourages you to lean back.

If you do have access to a spotter they can prevent you from leaning back during your set. Your spotter needs to be fairly strong for this as most people freak out and want to bail when they are suddenly forced to set straight up. 

[Michal Taszycki]

Fantastic tip with those 3-4 jumps. It helped me jump a bit more vertical. Although I still need much more power and wait before tucking.

 

I've made a comparison of previous one, best of today and my goal (Andrea Catozzi's back tuck). Synchronization is not perfect but some improvement things should be visible.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWdEhoE8o8

 

With my amateur eyes I see some small improvement in jumping phase, I still lean back but a bit less than before. I landed about 40cm from the edge instead of one meter. I still jump with too little power and start tucking too early. Also there is a bit of head tilting to the back. Although after the tuck, so I'm not sure if it matters that much.

 

If I'm wrong or you noticed something more please let me know.

 

 

Funny thing is that both of them are so similar (even with those ridiculous hands up pose at the end:) [that's probably result of jumping low to the pit and trying to protect myself from the edge].

 

The reason I'm jumping to the pit and not doing it on flat surface with the spotter is my limited left ankle dorsiflexion. I've already hurt myself when landing on all four and forcing larger ROM on my ankle:( So I'm currently working on mobility and keeping back tucks on the safe side.

 

Although getting a spotter while jumping to the pit might still be a good idea.

 

Either way my plan is:

• remove the unnecessary hop
• synchronize arms and add more power
• make the prep 100% reproducible
• keep jump vertical
• delay the tuck [this might be hard]
• make tuck more tucked;)
• ???
• profit

Oh and here is Andrea's original tutorial:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzB2Rq9z2_0

 

 

[emos]

I found some trampoline/tumble track work to help in letting me learn how to extend fully before tucking. Don't get too used to the bounciness, though, or of course you start to lose your jump. But it can at least give you more time in the air to feel what fully extending feels like.

 

You could start by doing some where you just land flat on your back - fully straight, arms up. They can be done onto a crash mat as well, in fact. Just jump up as normal and extend fully, and stay that way until you hit the mat. Then when you get that habit down, put your tuck in at the highest point.

[AlexX]

You are pretty much spot on with your own observations. Work on setting up more (stop rocking back like a back-handspring) and riding your set up (tucking at the peak of your jump vs right off the floor). 

Oh and I wouldn't use Andrea's as a prime example of what to strive for. Don't get me wrong his tutorial is good and his standing tuck is great but to get your tuck to look just like that will take a lot more than just technique.

My vertical is decent and I can easily throw a tuck and land on the same spot but my tuck is a long ways away from his, very few people's standing tucks are that high. 

[Joshua Slocum]

When I set for a back tuck, I try to think about throwing my hands directly up towards the ceiling. I also think about throwing my chest at the ceiling. That's how I get the set to go up instead of back. You could try thinking about that and see if it helps you take your set up more.