Stronger Tumbling

[livelovecheeer]

I have tumbling lessons on spring floor and I almost have my tuck. But at cheer (where its just mats o concrete) I feel like I don't have enough power to throw it. Any advice? Workouts? Exercises? Anything! Tryouts are in 1 month.

 

[iCheer4G]

I actually prefer standing tucks on dead floor... The springs Actually suck your power because your not gonna be heavy enough to compress them. But really even for running tumbling it's just a matter of making yourself push through... I know it's scary but you get used to it after a while


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[Cheerbalance]

I tumbled blindfolded on basketball courts during games for three seasons. Don't throw something you are not sure you can do))) Plain mats or concrete take a lot more strength to perform on, also the wrist and ankles need to have a stronger callus in the joints to with stand the pounding of not having a padded spring floor. Just keep training, when you can tumble effortlessly on grass then tumbling on basketball courts or concrete is next.


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[Matt Faherty]

First off, let me say that you should NEVER tumble on a concrete surface, and should avoid tumbling on hardwood if possible. In fact, I'm gonna' go out on a limb here and say that if it's not a surface made for tumbling/cheer/gymnastics, it's probably best that you do not tumble on it.

With that being said, what icheer4g does have some merit -- at least when it comes to the take-off of standing tumbling skills like a standing tuck. When a person jumps, they are using their muscles to apply force to the ground. Since physics tells that "every action has an opposite reaction," their body is propelled upward.

The way I think about how springs work, is that it (in a way) delays the those "equal and opposite" forces from crashing into each other right way by changing kinetic energy (moving energy) to potential energy. The looser the spring, the longer the "delay" before the two forces collide. Think of a tumble trak vs a regular trampoline. You shoot into the air quick when on a tumble trak, but don't get as high as a regular trampoline.

Since we don't have a lot of "moving energy" in a standing position, the effect the springs have on the take off of a standing tuck is very little. However, once we are up in the air, and gravity has applied accelerated us toward the floor, we now have kinetic energy. So when you land a tuck, the springs DO take a little bit of the "sting" out of the landing.

So why does a spring floor help running tumbling so much? Because when we run, we have a LOT of kinetic energy to apply to those springs. Between the run itself, and applying even more force with each additional skill (if they are done correctly) we have a tremendous amount of energy at work. That "delay" between the two forces working against each other because of the springs allows our muscles to be able to handle the loads.

Now, on a hard mat, (and even more so on wood or concrete) those two forces collide quicker. All that energy has to go somewhere, and that "somewhere" is your muscles and bones. That is why tumbling is more painful, and causes more injures on hard mat vs. a spring floor.

Hey! WAKE UP! Stop falling asleep! Now that we know the science behind it, let me answer your original question!

You asked is there anything you can do to help make tumbling easier on hard mat; and the answer is YES!

To be able to tumble on a hard mat, you will need to train your body's muscles and bones to be able to withstand the high amounts of stress being put on them when tumbling on hard mat. Lucky for you, the human body is very good at adapting to the stress we put on it. Just like how muscles get bigger/stronger from lifting heavier weights, your muscles will adapt to handle tumbling on the hard mats.

However, also just like lifting weights, how you don't want to jump straight to lifting MASSIVE weights, you don't want to do too much on the hard mat at once. Increasing the demand placed on your body too quickly will leaving you injured. Your body will need to time to adapt by increasing the load over the course of some time.

On top of slowly increasing the amount of tumbling you do on the hard mat, there is a form of exercise that is specific to building the strength and quickness used during tumbling. It is know as "plyometric exercise" by some and "reactive training" by others. A quick google search should give you some good examples of exercises.

Anyways, I hope I helped answer your question! Feel free to check out my site. Full-Out: Cheer and Fitness | Tumbling & Perfomance Training for Competitive Cheer I try to write helpful articles relating to cheer and fitness. I haven't posted a lot on there lately because I have been busy. Though I do have about a dozen half-written posts I will be finishing shortly!

 

[Matt Faherty]

Also, if you find the physics of sports interesting, and like reading, I highly recommend Sports Mechanics for Coaches. Click the pic and it will bring you to its amazon page. Really, anything from the publisher Human Kinetics is great!

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[Aussiekat]

@Matt Faherty I like you

 

[Ren]

I love reading your posts @Matt Faherty !

 

[retiredl5cheer]

@matt faherty I remember you posted in a thread that you were a nerd thrown into cheerleading. Looks like it worked out for you because that was a very intelligent and useful answer!

 

[Zinger_bebe]

I love your posts too!!


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[Matt Faherty]

Thanks for all the kind words and positive feedback! Rereading what I wrote now, I cringe at the typos and other random errors. and the fact that I can no longer use the "edit" button after a few minutes is infuriating, and tempting the perfectionist/ocd brain to throw my laptop across the room.

I really need to start proofreading before I post my replies. But after countless times acidently clicking off of the text box, and losing long posts to hitting "back," I avoid the backspace bar like the plague