I have come across a very important puzzle piece for trampolining success. Every day I think to myself, "Why can other countries get so much height and rotation all at the same time" , "What are they doing we are not". Well everyone I have finally figured it out. THE KEY.
I train with Mathew Turgeon, Ex Olympic Bronze Medalist, and he always stressed to me that I should stretch my shoulders. I knew I needed to have my arms up above my head but no one really showed me the difference. I was only told be " Keep the arms up". Anyone who knows me knows I am a visual learner so this means nothing to me. While I was in Portugal standing in amazement watching China train I remembered what Matt told me about the shoulders. I started looking closely at the shoulders. I started noticing something interesting. There shoulder flexibility is ridiculous, so flexible that the arm actually goes behind the head sometimes during the pre bounce. I know my arm can not do that, that's for sure. I looked even closer and noticed that on every backwards take off the shoulders are so flexible that the hands were somewhere behind the head.
This I believe gives an advantage to rotation, not only height. Yes height will not be lost the same way it would if the shoulders are not flexible, this is a given. The interesting thing is that by putting the hands behind the center of gravity it creates a moment arm posteriorly. The force of the gravity acting on the body will cause the arms to fall behind the athlete causing them to rotate much as it would if the arms were horizontally pointing forwards. This I believe is how they seem to have so much height and rotation all at the same time.
Of course you may be thinking, "Well Greg your an idiot, the number one rule of trampoline is to put the arms up above the head and have good shoulder flexibility". Granted this is true but obviously we have to be missing something or not doing enough of something because there is a large gap in the standings.
I think shoulder flexibility should be focused on heavily. I have started working on my shoulder flexibility and trying to take off with my arms behind my head and believe I have found what Olympic Weight Lifters call "The Slot". This is the point during a Full Snatch that the athlete "locks" the shoulders above the head as they catch the bar over their head.
You can see the "Slot" here. Now for trampoline the slot needs to be narrower and therefore even more flexible shoulders are required.
If the athlete can find the slot then when they take off it will not even feel like you have to try to keep the arms straight. It really is that easy. I have tried it and after a few hours I have found my slot for front tricks. When I feel the slot on a take off I feel like I'm flying ten times higher. I find it is also easy to get into positions such as pike and tuck. It really does feel like it naturally happens if you can find the slot. Its almost like a cake walk on trampoline.
I have only done it for singles so far and still need to work on the technique but I feel the difference after just a few days and can feel where it will take me if I keep applying myself. I stretch in between every turn to the point my arms go tingly from loss of sensation. I started off by doing jumps with my arms down and then do one big "Slot Bounce". At first you will find it hard and your arms will pull down and forward but keep stretching and eventually you will find the slot. Then progress into back tuck, slot bounce. Get use to getting the arms into the slot at first. Holding lines will come later.
Do crash dives to feet ( no twist) in a row as well and feel the slot every time your feet land. I find I feel like I do not get much weight on my feet so it seems to be a great drill to get use to coming out of a skill and finding the slot on every front take off. Then you can progress into birani (s) at a low level for now. Most likely your core strength will not be up to par with the mechanics of the slot so start doing lots of core stability exercises. You will feel very wobbly but it will get better even throughout the training. Do not progress into the doubles until you can do the slot in a birani, back drill all the time. If you rush to early you will start to forget about the slot, or you will jump ahead and the core will not be strong enough to counteract the flexibility so you will be under the impression that it is not working.
When you stretch the shoulders keep the back hollow!!!!!! I started stretching and thought I was getting more flexible but no, I was only stretching my lumbar spine. You will not be hollow on the trampoline but it will help you visualize a "stiff board-like" take off with the arms in the slot.
I have only progressed to biranis at this point so i will keep you all informed of the progress. Stretch the shoulders 10 times a day if you can and if it does not hurt then it probably is not working.
You will find that everything just floats perfectly and you don't even have to try on the take off. You find the slot and flick the toes upon leaving the bed. That's all there is to it ladies and gentlemen.
I want to say a special thank you to Matt Turgeon for the constant nagging. If you hadn't said it so many times I would never have thought to look for it. :) Thanks
:)
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