souleman wrote: ... A gymnastics drill you can do would be a backward somersault to a push off with your hands and land on your feet. You try to get as much upward extension and push off as possible. ...
To clarify, I think Souleman meant a "
back roll" - not a backward somersault. The difference is that a somersault is all in the air, whereas a back roll is on the ground ... starting from a sitting position with your legs tucked into your chest. From there, you roll onto your back, and extend your legs up into a headstand/handstand.
As he said, you should "
push off with your hands and" ... and TRY to "
land on your feet".
Souleman, please correct me if I'm wrong.
I actually did these a little differently in my day. I extended into a handstand ... and HELD the handstand ... without any rotation onto your feet. The idea is to simulate the vault a little closer ... by trying to maintain your extension for as long as possible ... without "
flagging out". In my prime, I actually got some "
pushoff" doing this, landing back into a handstand again.
Andy, as a HS vaulter, you should be able to roll into a decent handstand. It just takes lots of reps to shoot your legs up in the right direction ... and end up in a handstand.
But just for fun, you should try some where you try to land on your feet too!
Kirk