There are four different types of back twisting techniques, and two different types of front twisting techniques. Twisting in very important to learn and learning it correctly and properly will help you with higher-level skills. Remember if the athlete is not preforming a proper back or front layout, their twisting will have a lot of bad habit that will need to be broken before putting it on floor. It is easier and safer to teach a proper layout first, and then learn how to twist.
Back Twisting Types
- One arm Drop: You would first learn a layout with both arms up, and in order to start twisting you would drop the arm to the hip you would want to twist to. So if you were a righty then you would drop your left arm to your right hip, and if you were a lefty you would drop you right arm to your left hip. This is the easiest to teach twisting, but is harder to turn into a double or triple. This is mostly used for diving.
- Look and Twist: This is one of the hardest ones to learn, and it is mostly used in vault twisting. You would do a normal layout and when the arms close to the hips you look at the shoulder you twist to and if you are a righty you would pull your right arm behind your back and your left arm to your stomach. If you were a lefty you would look at your left shoulder and pull your left arm behind your back and your right arm in front of your stomach. Remember your arms are straight at all time during this type of twisting.
- Double arm Drop: At the top of the layout where your arms close to the hips you would pull both hands to the hip that you twist to and look over that shoulder. So if you were a righty you would look over your right shoulder and pull both hands to the right hip. If you were a lefty you would look to the left shoulder and pull both hands to the left hip.
- Hands to Shoulder: At the top of the layout you would look over the shoulder that you are twisting to and pull both hands to the shoulder. So if you were a righty you would look over the right shoulder and pull both hands to the right shoulder. If you were a lefty you would look to your left shoulder and pull both hands to the left shoulder. This is the one that I would prefer, because you twist faster and it can turn it into a nice double or triple full. I also like to use this technique for vault twisting as well.
Front Twisting Types
- Hands to Shoulder: At the top of the front layout you would pull both arms to the shoulder that you twist to. If you were a righty you would look at your right shoulder and pull both hands to the right shoulder. If you were a lefty you would look to the left shoulder and pull both hands to the left shoulder. This is just like back twisting, but it harder for the athletes to understand when you twist it forward.
- Steering Wheel: At the top of the front layout you would drop your arms as if you were holding a steering wheel. The way I teach this is actually with the athlete holding a hula-hoop with both hands. If you were a righty you would look under the right armpit and drop the left elbow to your belly button. If you were a lefty you would look under your left armpit and drop your right arm to your belly button. I prefer to teach front twisting this way, because the athlete doesn’t get confused with back twisting and also the hula-hoop puts their arms in the correct position.
Written by Brooke Roquebrune