CoachMack.com The Blog

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By Mack | December 20, 2007

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Coach Mack’s Videos

By Mack | December 18, 2007

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Cheerleader Encounter at the Tom’s River Fitness Center.

By Mack | October 6, 2007

It’s been almost a year since I posted on this blog. The last one was when my friend Jon died doing a quad front into a loose foam pit.

I don’t promote this site at all. Just through links on youtube videos. But still, people find me from all over the world. Coaches and cheerleaders mostly…asking for advice on my myspace page: myspace.com/coachmack

I should have kept blogging…I have forgotten many good ideas that I had.

Hmmmm… Tonight at the Toms River Fitness Center, as I was walking up the stairs to do some core training, I saw a cheerleader doing a back tuck on panel mats. There were two of them and they got to talking about taking up some tumbling classes. I interrupted and asked “Are you guys looking for a place to tumble?”. “Yeah, thanks.” they said. I continued with “I happen to teach gymnastics and know all the places you can tumble at.” We had a conversation about tumbling for a little while and parted by giving them my website: CoachMack.com so I can give them directions.

I bump into many people who used to do gymnastics or tumbling and are looking for places to tumble/workout.

Just google adult gymnastics and hopefully you’ll find a place to work out.

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MySpace.com/CoachMack: Remembering Jon Video

By Mack | November 15, 2006

Hi, I’m having trouble with this blog. So, I’ll send you to my MySpace to see the video:

http://www.myspace.com/CoachMack

About the Video:

John M. McCurdy, ”Jon” was a good friend of mine. I worked out with him (doing gymnastics and conditioning). On The night of November 7th, he died doing a Quad front flip into a “loose foam” pit.

I will be visiting friends/on vacation tomorrow and will be back on Wednesday morning November 22nd(?).

Topics: All Blog Posts, Personal | 1 Comment »

“Cheerleading is about tumbling.”

By Mack | November 1, 2006

It was funny.

My friend, Jason has a way with words that is humorous. We were talking at the foodcourt in a local mall and we got to talking about coaching gymnastics which led to cheer tumbling.
He said, “Cheerleading is about tumbling. I don’t care what anyone says. Look, let’s say someone walks on the team, knows nothing about cheerleading, a gymnast; but She can throw double full. Which team do you think she’ll be on?”

I laughed through my smile, “Senior Advanced.”

“Exactly. Now, let’s say someone who’s a really good cheerleader; awesome dancer, good base, sharp positions, everything. But she can’t do a back handspring. Which team do you think she’ll be on?”
I smiled and nodded.

Topics: All Blog Posts, Cheer Tumbling (and Floor Exercise), Coaching Cheer Tumblers | No Comments »

About The “Coaching James” series

By Mack | October 1, 2006

I started using YouTube to distribute my videos about a couple of months ago. One of the viewers (James, Username:”MagicSooty”) responded to my backhandspring video and commented that “that actually really helped me.” And so the conversation started through email.

I actually coached someone through email, online. And he produced results as you will see and read. He sent me a video but actually was not necessary. Everything, my coaching, was through text (email). I posted the email conversations on this blog.
Read and enjoy.

Topics: All Blog Posts, Cheer Tumbling (and Floor Exercise), Coaching James: Online Coaching Series | 2 Comments »

Coaching James Part 3: Progress and thank you

By Mack | September 21, 2006

An email from James on August 30th, letting me know

From: james
Mailed-By: hotmail.com

To: macknetized

Date: Aug 30, 2006 5:24 AM

Subject: my progress

Images from this sender are always displayed. Don’t display from now on.

Reply | Reply to all | Forward | Print | Add sender to Contacts list | Delete this message | Report phishing | Show original | Message text garbled?

Hi.

I thought I’d tell you how my back handsprings are coming along and my round offs. Since putting your drills and what you have said to me into practice I have improved my strength and overall technique a great deal. My back handsprings…. I mainly work on from a standing position and are getting faster and straighter by the day,the other day, at the gym, I successfully did two back handsprings from a standing position and am currently aiming to make them faster straighter and more consistent ,that’s where your wonderful drills and advice has accelerated my progress. As for my round offs they are allot straighter and my rebound has come a long way, so far in fact I have decided that back tucks from a round off is far too easy and am now working layouts and on the spot back tucks. The main thing that has helped with all of my progress is your unique style of teaching, (Bold by Coach Mack- cause I’m an ego maniac. Just kidding). so I thank you very much and will make a movie of this all soon enough.

Topics: All Blog Posts, Cheer Tumbling (and Floor Exercise), Coaching James: Online Coaching Series | No Comments »

Coaching James Part 2: Round off BackHandspring,

By Mack | August 14, 2006

……….Do you have any drills (to keep legs straight)?

Yes.

Drill #1. Walk your feet up against a wall and walk your hands back towards the wall in handstant till you get to 2 feet (your hands) in front of the wall.
Make sure you:

* push through your shoulders
* squeeze your legs and butt together
* your toes should be on the wall, feet together, LEGS STRAIGHT.
* and keep your stomack tight

Hold this position as long as you can. Then do it 5 to 10 times per day. Time yourself each time.

Drill #2. Face the wall standing 5 feet from it. Arms up by your ears, get into a deep lunge, and do a handstand with your back towards the wall.
Walk your hands away from the wall untill they are 2 to 3 feet away from the wall.

* Get the bottom of your feet flat against the wall while
* keeping your legs straight
* keep pushing through your shoulders (this will work out the other side of the shoulder muscles; the first part of the back handspring.)
* Make sure you look between your hands on this drill (and the drill above) with your eyes rolled up, not with your head all the way back.

Drill #3. Rebound straight jumps. With arms up straight, slightly in front of your ears, keep your legs straight and bounce on your feet.
Do this for 30 seconds straight. You must

* NOT bend your legs; keep them straight and rebound

This will program your brain to keep them straight when you punch off the floor from your round off.

Send that video.

More below;

…oh and that matrix thing REALLY helped get my roundoff sorted and is fixing my overblock problem. (See Coaching James Part 1 for the matrix imagery)

Pretty cool, right? What other coach would have thought of that? Imagery is very powerful. Not just positive imagery and visualization of goals, but fantasy, dream-like, off-the-wall, images, work a lot better- Like Magic. Your subconscious mind understand these better which by the way controls most of your behaviour anyway.Oh, make sure Neo punches you in the chest, not your head. That would make you throw your head back. Although that might help if you’re actually doing the backhandsprings off the round off. This is for the round-off rebound.

my roundoffs are still with crooked legs as shown in that movie do you have any drills ?

What part of the round off are your legs crooked?

Just saw the video. Just work on your round offs with feet together.

Coach, your advice is so good, it makes me think not only are you an excellent coach but you could be a good pycholigist, too!!!

Coaching is Psychology Applied.

Your drills are great I just tried them out. They should do the trick.
have you got the windows media format video yet I sent it yesterday?
and hey you have gotta love your advice when it comes to using the matrix as imagery for the backhandspring. lots of people could benifit from this stuff. Hows your websites coming on?

your drills are great I just tried them out they should do the trick

Hey, how about using periods and commas so I don’t have to read 3 times. (to coachmack.com readers: I corrected some grammatical errors of his emails for your convenience. Although, I make many myself)
Yeah. The drills are great. Here’s what other coaches don’t get: They believe that
by doing the skill directly will accelerate their learning; the movement patterns necessary
for the skill. In fact, most of the time, they actually slow their learning because by going directly
at it they reinforce inferior technique into their athlete’s “neurology”.
In short, if you kept doing what you were doing, it would actually be harder and harder to get out of
the bad habits; you would be reinforcing them.

have you got the windows media format video yet.

Yeah, I did.
I actually edited it, too. Then my laptop crashed and my internet at home is down.
I’m at the Library right now…

I sent it yesterday
and hey you have gotta love your advice when it comes to using the matrix as imagery for the backhandspring lots of people could benifit from this stuff hows your websites coming on?

Yeah. You know, believe it or not, not too many people at the cheerleading gym go to my site, coachmack.com and it’s posted in the gym ( a big poster). It would save me a lot of time if they did.
To do it right, I would need 4,000 dollars to launch the websites the way I want them. I don’t have that, yet. I’ve been thinking lately of partnering with a friend who coaches with me and another well known tumbling coach in my area.

That’s awesome that you love my tips/advice/coaching. I actually have not even explained to you the technique for better turn-over on your round-off. I haven’t even started yet.

Coach Mack

Lol ok coach,i’ll try use commas in future

4000 dollars is alot of cash I hope you do get enough money soon, though and I hope your sites up and running soon.
It’s true about how coaches try rush you into learning a skill straight off,I my self have wasted weeks getting over mental blocks created by jumping head first trying to learn new skills with no prior drills…It’s a shame some coaches think like that.
Any way,I wish you the best of luck with all your projects and about how not many of your gymnasts go to your sites. maybe next time they come to you for specific problem advice,you could refer them to coach mack dot com.

Topics: Drills and Progressions Guide, All Blog Posts, Cheer Tumbling (and Floor Exercise), Coaching James: Online Coaching Series | No Comments »

Coaching James Part 1: Round off BackHandspring, Matrix Imagery, Movement Patterns Programming

By Mack | August 14, 2006

From: Mack

Mailed-By: gmail.com

To: magicsooty

Date: Aug 5, 2006 10:17 AM

Subject: Round off …..later

I’ll email you the round off tip tonight if it applies.

Tell me what happens when you do your round off rebound?

when you do Ro BH?

when you do RO BH Tuck?

What do they look like?

What have your coaches told you, what have they done?

Read up on my blog….check my latest post ….at the end I summarized those three skills and what I look for.

Coach Mack

James wrote:

Hey thanks for the updates that’s some really good advice but I belive you wanted to know a few things so here goes

when I do my roundoff rebound I lunge forward from a running start with my left leg and kick off of it then i turn side ways and put my handsdown whilst snapping my legs down together and landing facing opposite to the direction I start then I spring a few inches into the air traveling backwards and landing with moderately straight legs with my arms straight pointing upwards next to my ears….
Now heres where the problems start after I have finished my roundoff and start my backhandspring I either jump up to much and get too much height then hurt my rists or not enough height and I can never seem to get my legs around sraight I might have a movie of this that ill send later
I can only do roundoff backtuck at the moment and I can only do one back handspring from a roundoff My roundoff back tucks basically look like my backhandsprings almost completely the same but I get so much height that my hands dont hit the ground I have only recently started learning to grab my knees and tuck but I can never seem to land it that way and when I do land it im leaning forward and almost fall over
My coach told me to do handstand snap downs before I learnt my roundoffs then he told me to do a cartwheel snapdown and then a roundoff where I do a handstand turn 180 then snap down then finally we put it together my coach taught us backhandsprings by spotting us on a wedge then our coach progressed to spotting us lighter and lighter until she was only guiding us then we did it on our own then on the floor with spotting and progressed until we could do it on our own.When I was to scared to do backflips on the tramp our coach told me to do some backward rolls with my eyes closed then she got me to close my eyes on the tramp she spotted me then I landed it then she’s like now open your eyes I landed that one too then I did one again and she pretended she was going to spot me but she didnt and I landed it.My coach hasn’t seen my roundoff back flip so I can’t help you there.Hope this helps if you have any more questions just email me

when I do my roundoff rebound I lunge forward from a running start with my left leg and kick off of it then i turn side ways and put my handsdown whilst snapping my legs down together and landing facing opposite to the direction I start then I spring a few inches into the air traveling backwards and landing with moderately straight legs with my arms straight pointing upwards next to my ears….

This is a common drill having arms up at rebound. It’s a good one for RO Tuck but not for RO BH; although if you just started this is OK. But if you’ve been doing this for a while, you need to advance to bringing your feet “in front of you” (feet punching the floor in front of hips(hips should be slightly behind the feet about to fall backwards), arms at horizontal or almost at horizontal, ‘hollow chest”(round back, chest concaved in), head in, arms covering ears(you can still do this without having your arms at vertical.You want your arms at horizontal because this is how you accelerate for your dismount (layout, full, double full, double back). If your arms are at vertical you have no means to create momentum except for a “back bend”. This is how the Olympians and other successful tumblers do it. All you need to do is watch them in slow motion. Videos don’t lie no matter what your other coaches think how it’s supposed to be done.

Now heres where the problems start after I have finished my roundoff and start my backhandspring I either jump up to much and get too much height then hurt my rists

You are getting too much height because you have a “big block angle” from the round off. Instead of landing with your feet in front of you from the RO, you have your feet behind you (Your hips are in front of your feet instead of the other way around) causing you to rebound to vertical instead of 45 degrees backwards. You are not able to push off your hands (by pushing through your shoulders) to get your chest up and feet in front in a slightly piked position.

Do you hurt your wrists from breaking the fall with your hands when falling to your butt because you over rotated or do you hurt your wrists from the backhandspring?

or not enough height and I can never seem to get my legs around sraight.

You may be overblocking so much that your legs buckle causing you to diminish in height in your back handspring and not be able to keep your legs straight because you have to focus your mind and body to save your life.

I might have a movie of this that ill send later

It would help a lot. But there are technique dysfunction patterns in gymnastics that are common and have their own corollary prescriptions for corrections.

I can only do roundoff backtuck at the moment

Because you have a good over-block (landing your feet behind your hips, hands, head -causing you to go upwards.

and I can only do one back handspring from a roundoff

Because you have no further momentum builder to get to the next one (arms at horizontal to whip).

My roundoff back tucks basically look like my backhandsprings almost completely the same but I get so much height that my hands dont hit the ground

Over-block + throw your head back + No tucking of legs = No-handed backhandsprings

Right block + keep head in + tucking legs and grabbing at knees = TucksYou have to throw your head back because

…your brain is saying “I won’t make it if I don’t throw my head back”
…you don’t have enough strength and power in your core/abdomen/hip flexors to get yourself around from the rebound
….in your ears are balancing mechanisms. When you throw your head back, it feels like you are already more than half way around even when your body is left behind.

“What rebound?” You probably don’t have a good rebound but think you do.

I have only recently started learning to grab my knees and tuck but I can never seem to land it that way and when I do land it im leaning forward and almost fall over

Not strong enough.”V ups” , sit ups, knee raises from pull up bar, etc.The best exercise is laydown on your back with the top of the head touching the wall or mat block. put your hands underneath the mat and bring your shins flat against the wall. This is almost picture perfect for a back tuck when done correctly.

My coach told me to do handstand snap downs before I learnt my roundoffs then he told me to do a cartwheel snapdown and then a roundoff where I do a handstand turn 180 then snap down then finally we put it together. my coach taught us backhandsprings by spotting us on a wedge then our coach progressed to spotting us lighter and lighter until she was only guiding us then we did it on our own then on the floor with spotting and progressed until we could do it on our own.When I was to scared to do backflips on the tramp our coach told me to do some backward rolls with my eyes closed then she got me to close my eyes on the tramp she spotted me then I landed it then she’s like now open your eyes I landed that one too then I did one again and she pretended she was going to spot me but she didnt and I landed it.My coach hasn’t seen my roundoff back flip so I can’t help you there.Hope this helps if you have any more questions just email me

Better than blinding yourself is too actually spot something accross the room at eye level and continue doing so until your belly covers the spot from your view.
Review the video and my blog on back tuck drills.Coach Mack
PS send me a video:
http://www.Yousendit.com

hey thanks for your help I read through it all a few times and am working on the things you said .You asked me why I hurt my rists it’s not from breaking falls but from landing on it… do you think it’s because I just learnt them and I need conditioning?

anyways I have a video in the attachment… hope the technique isn’t that bad

Holy cow.

I was right with all of my recommendations simply by reading your email.

Pretty cool.

Read everything I wrote and ask questions.

Also, to clarify on my previous email:

I said:

“You want your arms at horizontal because this is how you accelerate for your dismount (layout, full, double full, double back).”

Correction:

Actually, arms at horizontal accelerates your backhandsprings which will indirectly “Power” your layout, full, double full, double back.

And I continued: “If your arms are at vertical you have no means to create momentum except for a “back bend”. This is how the Olympians and other successful tumblers do it. All you need to do is watch them in slow motion. Videos don’t lie no matter what your other coaches think how it’s supposed to be done.”

Another email:
send me the same video in windows media format so I can edit it (slow motion, pause, add in audio, etc.).

Coach Mack
Your priority over everything else is to work on your round off. Get your body to vertical after the round off (feet underneath your hips and shoulders).

James wrote: