Whip Back with Trampoline

Using the trampoline is one of the best places to learn to do your first whip back. Make sure you have a semi-hard pit to land in, if you have pit with foam blocks then you can use a mat in on top of the pit.

The whip back is used mostly in power tumbling, because the whip back is a good accelerator for getting more power into connecting skills. A standard power tumbling track is 25 meters long which means there is more than enough length to have multiple whip backs before connecting a difficult skill. Artistic gymnastics use a 12 meter by 12 meter tumbling area, which means they have about 17 meters on the diagonal. Artistic gymnasts do use whip backs, but we don’t see it that often to competitions.

A whip back can be visualized as a high back handspring, where the gymnast does not have hand contact with the floor. The whip back should have good backwards length when being executed. 

Objective

• Learn to push down on the trampoline to get power.
• Learn to jump far back in the whip back.
• Learn the take off position.
• Learn the pull position.
• Learn the snap down position.
• Learn the correct landing position (for connecting whip backs)

Prerequisite

• Arch
• Back Handspring
• Bridge
• Dive Back to Hollow
• Hollow
• Jump Back to Hollow Position
• Rebound Jump Back
• Rebound Jump Back to Hollow
• Rebound Jump Back with Mats
• Backward Somersault in the Layout Position

Equipment

Soft Mat (semi hard pit) Trampoline (at floor level)

Trampoline (floor level) Soft mats (or semi hard pit)

Execution

The execution will be explained from the initial jump,  through the whip back and the landing.

The gymnasts starts by standing still with their arms straight above their head. The gymnast should be positioned on the trampoline with their back to the pit with a distance around 30 cm from the edge of the back part of the trampoline.

The gymnast lowers their arms and bend their legs to initiate the jump. When the gymnast does the actual jump upwards they should press down on the trampoline as hard as they can with both feet. The gymnasts arms quickly goes straight up again following the upwards momentum from the trampoline. 

As the gymnast comes down from their initial jump they must push their feet forward, this will help the gymnast to get momentum backwards for the whip back. It is important that the gymnasts lowers their arms, so they are straight down in front of their body. The gymnast should now be in the correct position to execute the actual whip back.

Pushing hard down in the trampoline and quickly pulling your arms back will initiate the whip. The gymnast should have a small upper body arch when initiating the whip back. If the gymnast arches with their lower back then this will result with a very short whip back which is not what we want.

The gymnast should now be rotating in the whip back (as if in a high back handspring).

When the gymnasts feet point straight upwards towards the ceiling then the gymnasts body should be in the layout position (make sure the gymnast does not do a complete layout from the start to end). From this position the gymnast will continue their rotation and start to go in to a hollow position (very little hollow at start). The gymnasts arms should now always be pointing down while they are rotating, so their body is rotating towards their arms.

The gymnast should land in a hollow position with their feet in front of them and arms straight down in front of them. This is the correct position for doing connecting whip backs. Make sure that the gymnast lands in a hollow position and not a pike position. It is very common for tumblers to land in the pike position and this mainly because they did not get enough rotation in their whip back.

Stage 1 – Setup

Stand tall with arms straight above your head. Do not jump, you should be completely still.  Note: This is the start position for jumping straight up that will help to get power into the whip back.

Stage 2 – Initiate Straight Jump

Lower your arms and start bending your knees. Arms should be lower out to the sides (not in front of you).

Stage 3 – Arm Swing for Straight Jump

Keep lowering your arms. As your arms reach horizontal level position start bringing them in front of you.

Stage 4 – Take off for Straight Jump

Push hard down on the trampoline with both feet. Arms should follow upwards with the trampoline rebound momentum (as quickly as possible).

Stage 5 – Straight Jump

Jump as high as you can. Arms straight and next to your ears.

Stage 6 – Trampoline Rebound Position 1

Push your feet forward as you fall towards the trampoline. Lower your arms in front of you. Start positioning your body into a slight hollow position.

Stage 7 – Trampoline Rebound Position 2

Feet in front. Body should be in a hollow position. Arms in front of your body towards the trampoline. Keep your legs straight as possible. Note: This is the most important part before initiating the whip back. It is important that the gymnast learns to push their feet in front them and their upper body back as they land in the trampoline.

Stage 8 – Initiate Whip Back

Press hard down on the trampoline with both feet. Pull quickly back with your arms slightly out to the sides. Arch your upper body slightly.  Press your hips upwards while keeping the whip back position.

Stage 9 – Staying Tight 1

Stay in a tight arch position as you rotate.

Stage 10 – Staying Tight 2

The tight arch position should be held until you are in the upside down position. Start keeping your arms level and let your body and legs rotate towards your arms.

Stage 11 – Change Body Position

Your body should be in the layout position when you are upside down as illustrated.

Stage 12 – Initiate Hollow Position

As you start to rotate downward you should start to go into a slight hollow position. Your arms are straight and still point downwards, your body is rotating to your arms. Your arms should more or less stay at this position as you complete the rest of the skill.  Note: Be careful not to pike, what you want is a slight hollow position.

Stage 13 – Finishing

You should land with your feet in front of you. Body should be slightly hollow. Arms straight down in front of you. Note: This is the position you would use for connecting more whip backs.

Common Mistakes

Coaches teach gymnasts how to do skills correctly, but most gymnasts learns how to perform the skill correctly when coaches corrects their mistakes. This is not wrong, this is actually how gymnasts learn. This being said, it is very important that coaches corrects mistakes all the time. If a gymnast continues doing the same mistake over and over then they will be good at doing that drill with that mistake and have a difficult time later correcting it.

• Always correct mistakes
• Correct the first mistake you see the gymnast do (even if it is before the actually drill, i.e. the gymnast forgets to stand tall with arms over their head)
• Correct only one thing (sometimes two if they are related)

Mistake 1 – Incorrect Rebound Position

After the high jump the gymnast must have their feet in front of them and not below them. The gymnasts body should also be in a slight hollow position. If the gymnasts tries to jump back with the body in the position as illustrated here then the gymnast will most likely bend knees forward. Bending their legs is not what we want this will cause the gymnast to loose almost all the energy built up by the initiated jump into this position.

Mistake 2 – No Arm Pull Back

The gymnast does not pull back with their arms, but let the rebound momentum from the trampoline complete their skill (This is wrong!). The trampoline makes it much easier to practice the whip back and learn what positions arms, legs and the body should be in. It is important that the coach catches these mistakes and corrects them. The gymnast should pull back with their arms quickly as the trampoline pushes the gymnast upwards.

Mistake 3 – Not Landing in a Hollow Position

The gymnast should land in a slight hollow position with their feet in front of them, by landing with their feet in front of them the  gymnast will be prepared to connected another whip back.  If the gymnast lands correctly in the hollow position with their feet in front of them then they should actually continue backwards and fall down (remember we are landing in a soft to semi-hard pit, so this should be ok).

Mistake 4 – Piking instead of Hollow 

Sometimes the gymnast does not get enough rotation in the whip back and the only way they will be able to continue to the next skill is to land in a pike position. This position is not desired, because you will be using more strength then technique to continue to your next skill. This is a very common problem with a lot of tumblers (including tumblers from EM, WM). Some coaches actually believe that this is the correct position, because they see tumblers from EM and WM do this. It is not correct and it just means that the gymnast is correcting their position for the lack of rotation in their whip back.

Video

I have recorded a training session with some of my gymnasts learning to do a connecting whip backs (2 whip backs). All the gymnasts except for one, have never done whip backs before. They have been working on learning the whip backs for 4 weeks now and all can now do two connecting whip backs on the trampoline. Their training session for whip backs has been 4 weeks (twice a week with ½ hour sessions on the trampoline).

Note that this article is about one whip back and not connecting whip backs, but the video gives a basic idea how to start and execute a whip back.

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