Learning circles on the mushroom - tips for the beginner
Here are some tips for the beginner learning to do circles
on the mushroom. See also the more
authoritative sites listed below.
The video links may be helpful for the beginner to see how
amateur circles are done. However,
please understand that the technique described for doing circles on this page
is not demonstrated very well by the videos. If you are willing to submit a video for posting then please
send an email to the address provided.
video
links (requires Quicktime)
POSITIONS -
There are four body positions that are conceptually very
simple to understand, but it is hard to get your body in these positions while
swinging circles. Most of the
gymnast I've seen on TV swing their circles clockwise and I'll describe them
this way.
1rst position - arms down in front of your chest on the
mushroom at the 3 & 9 oÕclock positions. Chest over your hands.
Head up. Push down with
your shoulders and arch your back like a cat. Straighten your body to align your shoulders, hips, knees,
and toes. It is basically a
push-up like position.
2nd position - right arm straight down on the mushroom
supporting body. toes on the floor
to your left side. Body at the 9
oÕclock position relative to the clock-face of the mushroom. Lead with the chest out in front, back
arched. The body should be pointed to the toes. Left arm resting straightened on your left hip.
3rd position - body at twelve o'clock. arms straightened down behind you. Chest up high. Body straight all the way to the toes.
4th - opposite of the second.
When you are at the 3 or 9 oÕclock position you don't want
to be just straight. Keep that
arch and push out the chest and waist/hips area. It's a whip from chest, hips,
and toes leading in and out.
These positions are easy to understand and to do slowly as
you walk your way around the mushroom but much harder to do in motion using
only your arms. Work on pushing
down with your shoulders. There
are two other things you'll need to understand before you swing your first
circle. The first is how to
start. See the video as well.
STARTING Ð
You don't start from the "1rst position"
described above - rather, you start by getting into the first position then
take your right leg and fan it out to your right side about to the 2 or 3
o'clock position of the mushroom.
You want your weight resting mostly on your right hand and some on your
left foot. No weight should be on
your right foot. Head up. Now you're in the starting
position. Now take your right foot
and kick it hard towards your left foot and attempt to do a 1/4 circle ending
in position #2. Do likewise ending
in position 3 (1/2 circle) Then
position 4 (3/4 circle).
THE MOTION: COUNTER TURNING THE HIPS Ð
While your legs swing circles clockwise around the
mushroom, your body twists in short tight circles (like a figure skater) to the
left (counter-clockwise). The
timing on when you counter turn your hips is important. Most people counter turn at 12 and 6
o'clock but one of the websites below indicates it is probably better to do so
at the 11 and 5 o'clock positions.
The hips should face forward at all times and the counter turns should
be performed in as smooth a motion as possible. The torso should be stiff as a board. The only movement should be in the
arms, shoulders, chest and back.
Do more circles, definitely do more drills (don't skip the
drills!!)
A WORKOUT Ð
The goal with each workout should be to develop a better
understanding of how to do continuous viable circles (vs. static dead circles
that fizzle out) and to strengthen the muscles that sustain viable circles
(shoulders, shoulders, shoulders, back of the shoulders, then pecs, then lats,
then back, then abs) For now, I
tend to do this for a given workout:
Every workout should start with rehearsing the body
positions. Then spin a 1/4, 1/2,
3/4, then full = 1 rep. do this 10
times
as many free circles as possible - maybe 10 sets
floor circles - take the dome off the mushroom base and set
it on pads
bucket circles - 3 sets of 30-50 reps
dips - 2 sets, pull ups - 2 sets, shoulder flys - 2 sets w/
15 lb dumbells
pushups - 2 sets, crunches - 150 reps
takes about 45 minutes, try 4 times a week, Change it up
from time to time
SOME RANDOM TIPS Ð
If you start with your hips too high or too far from the
mushroom you'll fall every time.
If you start with them too low or too close then you can't keep enough
momentum to complete a circle. As
your feet swing a circle down low, your shoulders should circumscribe a circle
high 180 degrees away from your feet.
Wear rayon to protect your legs (less friction than sweats).
How vertical or how horizontal do you want your body? Or how wide should you swing your
circles? Obviously the ultimate
goal is to get parallel with the floor.
The more vertical you are the easier the circle, thus, initially your
circles will tend to be more vertical (or narrow). This is okay to a certain degree but is bad if
overdone. The reason: the more vertical your circles, the more
you tend to pull your arms in toward your side in an attempt to swing your body
to the other side of the mushroom or keep your momentum. This ultimately leads to circles that
fizzle out. No one can sustain
them like that. That is how I
started out and could never do more than 3 with that technique. Try to swing your circles as wide as
you can. As you get your circles
wider and you focus on leaning sideways more, you will push with your arms
outward in order to keep your body swinging in the opposite direction. These circles are more sustainable and
more correct. YOU'RE BETTER OFF
DOING SEVERAL GOOD CIRCLES THAN DOING MANY SLOPPY ONES.
Also, you want to try to keep your hips an equal distance
from the mushroom at all times. A
camcorder can allow you to analyze your own technique, but the importance of
having someone (who knows how to do circles) watching you and giving you
feedback from time to time cannot be overstated.
Think about the following things before each drill:
Push down & out with your shoulders. Extend (straighten) your body
Swing out - hard. Squeeze your buttocks together like your
holding a silver dollar
Counter turn your hips smoothly throughout the circle. Lean
sideways, frontwards, backwards (get horizontal). Legs together
PROGRESS Ð
Progress should be measure first by the quality of the
circles and then by the quantity.
Obviously, progression is slow with this event and depends on many
factors. It probably takes several
years to be able to do fully extended circles on the horse. It took me a little over three months
to break over the ten circle threshold on the mushroom and I'm guessing that is
average.
You can try to get your legs higher by building a shorter
base for your mushroom as pictured below.
You may even cut off an inch from the base every month or so. Eventually youÕll be doing circles on
the floor. A good pommel Jockey
once suggested simply taping a paper cup to the top of the mushroom in order to
encourage higher circles. Ankle
weights may help develop amplitude and strength.
send corrections, feedback, tips or questions to: samsplace15@mac.com
http://www.intlgymnast.com/trtip/circles.html
http://www.drillsandskills.com/skills/pig/
http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/publications/technique/1998/2/basic-swing.html
http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/
http://www.thedigitalman.net/mens_gymnastics/index.html