Gym Coach, Vol.

1 (2007) 1-4 Methodological

Article

Developing the headspring

Valentin Uzunov
Hataitai Gymnastics, Wellington, New Zealand

ABSTRACT

The headspring is recognized by many coaches as a prerequisite skill to the progression of flysprings and handsprings. The
headspring has generally been incorporated into the MAG compulsory levels programs of countries like the United States,
New Zealand, and Australia. However a good understanding and execution of the headspring can help speed up the
teaching and learning of the more advanced front accelerator skills like handsprings and flysprings for both, boys and
girls. The method presented in this article is considered to be applicable for gymnasts of all ages and levels due to its
simplicity and progressional teaching. The method used breaks down the headspring into 3 critical phases that are taught
simultaneously, before combined into the full skill. Successful execution of the actual headspring is dependent on the
mastery of each crucial phase and their coordination during the full skill. The simplicity and progressive approach to the
teaching of the headspring used in this article can be used in recreational and competitive classes. Because this skill is
considered as fairly easy all coaches should start their young athletes on headsprings as a developmental step before
teaching the handspring and flyspring.

Key Words: Front accelerator, basic tumbling, handspring, flyspring

INTRODUCTION
Traditionally the headspring has been used as a
developmental skill in MAG compulsory levels programs,
as a lead on to the headspring and flyspring. The skill
tends to be complete disregarded by WAG levels programs
usually, and tends not be taught by WAG coaches as well.
Teaching this skill as a lead on to front accelerator skills is
purely a matter of preference. From the author’s practical
experience with coaching this skill before the handspring
has been positive and advantageous. However there is not
evidence to suggest that one way or the other is better.
The headspring is considered basic enough to be taught as
whole skill; however this could be disadvantageous to
gymnasts who do not have the necessary understanding of
the body shapes, strength, and or flexibility to execute the
skill. By breaking the skill down it is easier for the
gymnast and coach to identify the cause for errors (effect)
and focus more specifically on targeting these problem
areas.
The purpose of this article is present a method for training
and developing the headspring, that is easy, and practical
to be applied to gymnasts of all ages and level.

METHODOLOGY
The method presented has been used on gymnasts between
the ages of 7 and 8, who have had 1 yr of gymnastics
training prior to starting to learn the headspring. However,
training for this skill can begin even earlier. The gymnasts
did 2 sessions a week for 3hrs with a total of 6hrs a week.
Time devoted to floor was usually about 45min a week.
This required that drills and progressions are
predominantly independent of coach assistance; however
the gymnasts are taught how to spot each other for basic
progressions, and the coach assists are the more difficult
or complex drill/s. Gymnasts would rotate around 3-4
stations aimed specifically to headspring training for about
15min before moving on to other skill training.
The headspring (Figure 1) is a progression towards the
handspring and flyspring.

©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved Gym Coach Vol.1, May, 2007 - 1-
V.Uzunov, Gym Coach, Vol.1 (2007) 1-4
Figure 1 - Illustration of the ideal technical execution of the
headspring
The primary cross over training benefits to other tumbling
skills is the development of powerful hip extension, and
shaping for the handspring, flyspring and front layout.
The method presented brakes down the headspring into
three critical phases that are shared by all tumbling skills.
All the progression can and should be taught
simultaneously. Once a basic understanding of each
progression is developed, the gymnast can start to practice
the full skill safely on their own. The three critical phases
are
1. Entry
2. Repulsion/push
3. Shape and landing
Entry
It is recommended that the headspring is taught following
a forward roll. This allows the gymnast to enter into the
headspring with some momentum which makes the skill a
little easier, plus it has the added benefit of training the
gymnasts ability to coordinate consecutive movements and
conserving momentum while changing direction (from a
horizontal to vertical). The benefit of this to the teaching of
handspring is clear.
Essentially to train the entry for the headspring the
gymnast has to work on the coordination of the movement
from position (a) into (c) (ref to figure 1). If the forward
roll slows down, stops, or there is any hesitation by the
gymnast, as he/she transitions from (a) to (c) than any
benefit of doing a forward roll into the headspring will be
negated. It is crucially that the transition from a-c is
executed smoothly and momentum conserved. Common
errors to look out for in the entry are:
• Head being left behind as the gymnast is coming out of
the forward roll
• Finishing the forward roll in a deep squat (such as
ankles to butt)
• Poor body tension during and following the forward
roll
• Lack of control throughout the skill and transition
phase
• Not reaching out of the forward roll into the entry,
thus placing the hands to close to the feet.
• Hands position relative to the head.
When the gymnast places his/her hands on the floor (c) it’s
vital that the hands not be too close to the feet. The
gymnast should reach forward from the forward roll rather
than for the ground. As the gymnast extends the legs to
push from the forward roll ((b) into (c)) he/she does so by
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved
Methodological Article
almost jumping onto the hands so that when the head
touches he arrives in an almost piked headstand position
(c). This distance the gymnast reaches will vary, but it can
be up to a meter, depending on the gymnast’s height (2). It
is important that the gymnast practices this position (c),
and is able to hit this position consistently following the
forward roll, before being allowed to perform the full skill.
In position (c) it’s important that the gymnast place his
forehead on the ground and not on the top of his head.
This will help the gymnast to keep a neutral head position,
as well as to reach longer into his/her entry, and prevents
the shoulders from rolling over the hands. The shoulders
should be over the hands during position (c) and should
remain so until the flight phase when the hands have left
the ground. The gymnast should rest most of his/her
weight in position (c) on his/her hands rather then on the
head (2). By keeping the weight more on the arms the
muscle groups involved in the repulsion are pre-engaged
enabling them to produce an explosive force more
effectively (1), which is vital to the successful execution of
the skill
The elbows should be in (closer to the rib cage) rather than
fanned out on hand contact (figure 2), as this will affect
force production efficiency. However, if the gymnast is
used to doing pressing movements (like push-ups) with the
elbows fanned out, than based on the specificity principle
(3) the gymnast would be stronger with the elbows out,
and it might pay to let the gymnast continue training the
headspring with the elbows out. Nonetheless executing the
skill with elbows out is not ideal and should be avoided if
possible.
Figure 2 - Illustration of the correct arm placement position on
entry of the headspring
Repulsion
The repulsion phase is dependent on a correct entry and a
strong harmonized hip and elbows extension. As the
gymnast moves from position (b) into position (c) the legs
continue the drive up and over. The coordinated
movement between the leg drive and arm push is critical to
a seemingly effortless repulsion of the ground.
During the transition between (b) and (c), head contact
serves as the horizontal breaks, and the starting point of
the aggressive hip and elbow extension. Contact time with
the ground should be minimal; in order to prevent
unnecessary pressure to the neck, minimize any loss of
momentum, and to effectively utilize the horizontal
momentum to facilitate the repulsion.
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V.Uzunov, Gym Coach, Vol.1 (2007) 1-4
During the leg drive and arm extension it is important not
to let the hips move too far over the shoulders (the ideal
position is depicted in figure 1 as position (d)). If the hips
are too far over the shoulders during (d) the gymnast will
get insufficient lift from the repulsion to land correctly.
The repulsion can be trained effectively using the following
drill/s. At first the coach should use the spotted version of
the drill (figure 3) and than when the gymnast has
obtained consistency and competence of the entry phase
he can progress to do the drill on his own (figure 4). These
drills can and should be eventually combined with e
forward roll entry. This drill also serves as a good step
between training and eventually spotting the actual
headspring. It is important that the gymnast do most of the
work, and is made to understand that he/she needs to try
to perform the hip extension (leg drive) and arm extension
(push) at his/her maximal ability only. The coach should
be vigilant about hip and shoulder positioning on the
repulsion phase to ensure that a streamline shape is kept
and the gymnast is not arching over the coach’s shoulder
or mats. The gymnast should be looking constantly in
between their hands (I tell my gymnasts to look at their
thumbs at all times).
Figure 3 - Spotted repulsion drill. It is vital the coach reinforce the
correct body positions described, before allowing the gymnast too do to
many independent attempts.
Figure 4 – The same drill as above but done independently against
a pile of mats.
Shaping and Landing
This is the essentially the flight phase and landing. Once
the gymnast’s hands have left the floor (e), he/she must try
and pull the legs underneath him/her self. It’s not enough
to just to drive the legs up and over, but rather up, over,
and under. The effort should be constant especially during
the flight phase. This will help facilitate the gymnasts to
understand that they need to get their feet under them and
not in front in order to successfully complete the skill.
The gymnast must strive to land on his toes with the hips
pressed forward, with the head, shoulders, and arms
behind (open chest position) as show in position (f). Only
once this shape is achieved should the gymnast lower to
©2008 The Gym Press. All rights reserved
Methodological Article
his/her heels and stand upright. Learning to land the
headspring in position (f), rather then flat footed, this will
aid the learning of the correct handspring and flyspring
shape. This should be the coaches’ number one priority in
spotting and working on to ensure it is done perfectly. The
most common mistake unfortunately by gymnasts is to
rush the lifting of the head and arms; when they do this; it
results in picking of hips and a loss of rotation. It is
important to stress to the gymnast NOT to rush the lifting
of the shoulders, arms, and head on foot contact, but
rather to finish looking up, with the chest as open, and hips
pressing forward with tight butt muscles if position (f) is to
be achieved.
The drill of choice to train this phase is to have the
gymnast perform the repulsion drill into a bridge onto an
elevated surface of about 5-10cm) (figure 5), followed by a
front limber to stand (this will require coach spotting for
most kids, as this action requires a considerable amount of
leg, hip, and core strength). This drill allows the coach to
shape the standing up position as well as condition the
gymnast.
Figure 5 – Diagram of ½ of the drill described above. From the final
position illustrated the gymnast with the help of the coach can complete
the standing up. (Note: bridge position drawn is not correctly depicted
to allow the gymnast to stand up on his/her own)
Along with this drill the coach should carry the gymnast
through the flight phase so the gymnast can develop the
necessary body awareness, understand the feeling of the
legs pulling under, to refine the body shapes during flight
and landing.
The coach should be constantly aiming to progressively do
less and less spotting, while encouraging the gymnasts to
do more and more , so that by the time the gymnast has to
do the skill independently spotting require will be minimal
or not required.
Putting It All Together
The final stage in teaching the skill is to have the gymnasts
perform the skill independently. Initially, even though the
gymnast may be able to do all drills perfectly, there will be
a period of neurological learning for the gymnast to string
all these movements together. To make this easier the skill
should be done from a raised surface onto a lower soft
floor surface. As the gymnast’s confidence, skill
comprehension and ability improves, the surfaces height
difference can be gradually reduced.
Along with the drills its advised that if possible the
gymnast can perform several conditioning exercises to
help speed up the learning process.
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V.Uzunov, Gym Coach, Vol.1 (2007) 1-4
Conditioning
1- Headstand handstand – With partner or coach
assistance the gymnast pushes explosively from a
headstand hold to a handstand. Focus is on explosive
motion rather than repetition. Recommended volume: 2-
3sets of 4-5 reps. The speed of movement should be as fast
as possible. Slow pressing up movements are not effective
for power development.
Methodological Article
2- Donkey kicks – Starting from a handstand the gymnast
pikes down by allowing the lets to drop down, when his
feet hit the floor the gymnast rebound pike press up to a
handstand again. Gymnast must aim to do this with speed
and control. Recommended volume: 2-3 sets of 10
rebounds
3- Anything specific to front limbers, elbow extension, and
hip extension from a piked position. Eg. Pike press in
headstand.

DISCUSSION
The headspring is a relatively simple skill to teach from a
progressional point of view. It requires only a moderate
degree of shoulder and hip joint flexibility, with the
strength component greatly reduced with effective timing
and coordination.
The best advantage of training this skill is that it can be
taught from a very early age, safely and relatively quickly.
Learning this skill has show (from author’s personal
experience) to speed up the progression into handsprings
and flysprings. It is particularly beneficial for the early
training of multiple flysprings.
The methodology applied is based on the rationale that
though effective progressional training the gymnast will be
able to coordinate the 3 critical phases of the skill more
effectively than just through trial and error of the full skill.
This coordination between the execution of each phase is
the key to the greatly reducing the need for strength in
performing the headspring, making this skill far more
achievable for the beginner gymnasts (recreational and
competitive). This specific coordination has particular
benefits to the execution of multiple front bounding skills
(eg. multiple flysprings). It also teaches the gymnast how to
stop horizontal momentum and transfer it to vertical lift,
which is critical facet of successful front and back tumbling
(4).

CONCLUSIONS
The training of the headspring can begin at an early age
with moderate physical preparation. This allows coaches to
introduce young gymnast to front bounding skills like the
flyspring and handspring at much earlier age with much
more success due to the similarities of these skills. The
method used assumes that a progressional teaching
approach is much more effective in developing the correct
coordination of the critical phases, as compared to a whole
skill learning approach to teaching.
Every care is taken to assure the accuracy of the information published
within this article. The views and opinions expressed within this article
are those of the author/s, and no responsibility can be accepted by The
Gym Press, Gym Coach or the author for the consequences of actions
based on the advice contained herein

Address for correspondence: Valentin Uzunov, Hataitai Gymnastics, Wellington, New Zealand.
valentin.uzunov@gmail.com.

REFERENCES and RECOMMENDED READINGS

1 - Gordon Chalmers (2002). Do Golgi tendon organs really inhibit muscle activity at high force levels to save muscles
from injury and adapt with strength training? Sports Biomechanics. Vol.1(2) 239-249
2 - Arnold, E., Stocks, B. (1979). EP Sport : Men’s Gymnastics. UK: West Yorkshire, EP Publishing Ltd.
3 - W, Sands.(2005). Strength and Conditioning Lecture. USAG Summer Training Camp. Texas
4 - Smith T. (1982). Gymnastics A mechanical understanding. New York: New York. Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc.

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