Gymnastics: Correcting a Low Forward Salto

Dick Moss, Editor

Lack of height is a common error in performing the forward salto (front flip).

In a typical low-height salto, the gymnast runs, jumps, and instead of throwing the arms upward, throws them downward in an attempt to quickly get into a tight tuck position for fast forward rotation. The result is usually poor height, an incomplete rotation…and sometimes a sore backside.

How to Correct
To correct such low-altitude spins, instruct your students to launch themselves upward with both feet side-by-side and well ahead of the body's center of gravity.

As the legs spring off the floor, they should drive the arms upward and outward, not downward. Once in the air, the arms and body can tuck.

This will lift the hips and make the shoulders the center of rotation for the body. When performed in this manner, the hips will seem to rotate around the shoulders, producing ample height for an upright, bent-knee, gold-medal landing.

Incorrectly-Performed Forward Salto— Arms are Thrown Downward at Takeoff

Correctly-Performed Forward Salto— Arms are Thrown Upward at Takeoff

1. Rita Brown, Gymnastics: Skills & Drills for the Level 1, 2 & 3 Coach & Gymnast, RJC Publishing, 2013.
2. Common Errors in Women's Gymnastics, Contemporary Books, 1979.

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