Round off in gymnastics: how to teach it to gymnasts?

If you are in gymnastics, read about gymnastics or watch gymnastics on television, you have probably heard the word round off before. It is a gymnastics element that often precedes very beautiful acrobatic feats. A round off is an important element in gymnastics. Mastering the round off is in many cases a prerequisite for elements such as a back handspring, a full twist or a double somersault. It is therefore worthwhile to learn more about this element.

In this article we from Gymnastics Tools will tell you more about it. We also show you with videos and tips how you can learn this within the gymnastics lessons.

Performance of the round off

The round off is very similar to the cartwheel. Here too you turn around like a wheel, supporting yourself on your hands and ending up on your feet again. The difference, however, is in the landing and the drop of the hands. Whereas with the cartwheel you land on your feet in turn, with the roundoff you land on both feet at the same time. You can achieve this by pushing off with your hands from the floor, which brings your upper body upright again.

Now in steps!

Step 1

Start in an upright position with your feet next to each other and your arms along your ears. Lift your leg (preferential leg) high and make a large and distant stride. Then place your hands far out in front of you with your arms turned to the left or right. Which way depends on what you like, but is always the same as the side of the leg you swung up.

Step 2

Then, in the air, close your legs quickly and actively. This happens approximately when your legs are in the vertical.

Step 3

While closing your legs, you push off from the floor with your hands, which raises your body. It is important that you push off with your arms straight and your shoulders fully extended. This makes your push-off fast and explosive. The kurbet movement is required in the roundoff to perform it well.

Step 4

Then land on your feet again, with your feet, hips and shoulders in line with each other. It is sometimes difficult to ensure that your body is completely upright again during the landing. If you do the round off with a run-up, you will have more speed to come upright. In the video below you can see that the gymnast is ‘forced’ to push off actively. Her assignment is not to touch the yellow mat with her body.

It is important in gymnastics, and therefore also in the round off, that you do your gymnastics in straight lines. Make sure that your shoulder angle is always completely open during the whole roundoff, and also your hip angle should be completely open from the vertical position.

Expanding the round off

If you have mastered the round off, and are already busy with elements that you could do behind it, it is time to take it a step further. A cool element to do after your round off is the back handspring. For this, it is important to put more emphasis on the push off in the round off. It is very important that you push off in an upright position if you want to learn to do a backflip. You also have to learn to jump backwards directly after the round off. It is also possible to extend the round off with a back somersault on the floor or with a Tsukahara on the vault.

Tips on learning the Round off

1. make sure your last step before you put your hands down is big
2. place your hands as far away from you as possible, and turn your hands into
3. keep your arms straight during the entire round off
4. close your legs just before the vertical
5. make a run for the round off, to generate speed
6. push off from your shoulders and do not sink through your arms
7. make sure there is no angle in your hips by actively pushing off with your hands

Methodical exercises

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