The pommel horse (also side horse) is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. Traditionally, it is used by only male gymnasts. Originally made of a metal frame with a wooden body and a leather cover, modern pommel horses have a metal body covered with foam rubber and leather, with plastic handles (or pommels). Pommel horse is considered one of the more difficult men's events. While it is well noted that all events require a certain build of muscle and technique, pommel horse tends to favor technique over muscle. This is because horse routines are done from the shoulders in a leaning motion and that no moves need to be held unlike other events. Therefore, stress induced in one's arms is reduced meaning less muscle is needed in this event than events like still rings or parallel bars. (Wikipedia)
Straddle legs sideways wide throughout the swing. Upper body stays upright throughout the swing. Hips are in, do not support hollow body position. Straight body is moving in front plane without any deviations. When gymnast lifts left leg, left arm pushes left pommel and center of gravity moves into right pommel/arm. Vice versa with right leg lift...
Performing cuts on the horse is only possible if the gymnast is already deeply familiar with the swings on pommel horse and can perform them with the correct technique. Together with the raising leg, the same side arm should push down on the pommel and transfer the body weight onto the opposite pommel. At the highest point of the swing, the hips move forward in the middle of the horse, the body is extended and slightly arched. In the downswing the leg transfers in front of the horse. The hand is placed down and holds the pommel. The pendulum swing continues with one leg forward and one leg backward. In the opposite swing, the back leg raises above the level of the head, the front leg raises above the horse, the body should be piked from the hips as small as possible. The upper body is directly at the center of the horse, and the hips rock exactly from left to right (along of the longitudinal axis of the horse). A common error is pulling the buttocks back behind the horse. When the swing turns in the initial direction, the hand pushes back on the pommel, the body transfers onto the opposite pommel, the frontal leg raises up above the head and turns back behind the horse. There are several topics in which the coach emphasize:
Keep the continuity and rhythm of the swing.
Transfer the body from one pommel to another.
The swings are exactly sideways along the longitude of the horse.
During the cuts and mixed leg swings, the hips should be directed in the center of the horse
The legs are wide open.
Cut the left leg forward to stride support and continue stride support swings. The right-hand pushes the analogical pommel, and the body transfers onto the left pommel. At the highest point of the swing, the hips move forward in the center of the horse and the legs switch their position. The left leg cuts under and returns to front support, the right leg cuts forward to stride support. The scissor with the right leg is done in the opposite. The coach should emphasize on several topics:
Transfer the body from one pommel to another with hops.
The swings are exactly sideways along the longitude of the horse.
During the cuts and mixed leg swings, the hips should be directed in the center of the horse.
The switch of the legs initiates from the hips.
The legs are wide open.
The circle on mushroom is a basic drill for learning circles on pommel horse or beam. The gymnast should start learning circles early on in their career. This will help them develop higher quality circles with proper technique, because gymnasts can perform more repetitions overall if they start a younger age. To do this drill, the gymnast must first place their hands on the horizontal line across the mushroom. During the performance the athlete should not change this position of their hands. They should start in front support with their shoulders leaned slightly forward. They should face their hands forward with their fingers spread for better support. Next, they should step to the side opposite of their desired circle direction. The athlete does this opposite move, jumps in the desired direction, and closes their legs to start the circle. The entire circle should be performed with a completely straight body. There are several universal points that the gymnast should follow:
Maintain a completely extended circle with an open chest at first and third quarter;
The arms and legs should remain tight, no exceptions;
At the first quarter of the circle the base arm pushes the mushroom identically with the direction of the circle. In that quarter, the leading part of the body should be the hips. During the second quarter, the gymnast should put their other hand down, and finish the quarter in rear support;
In the third quarter, the gymnast should switch the support hand and start pushing down on the mushroom in the opposite direction from the circle trajectory. The leading part of the body during this phase are the heels;
In the fourth quarter, the gymnast should put their first hand back down on the mushroom and finish in front support. In order to assure continuity, the body should not touch the mushroom, and the shoulders should lean forward;
In the fourth quarter the gymnast put the first hand on the mushroom and finishes in front support. In order to assure continuity, the body should not touch the mushroom and the shoulder should lean forward.
During the execution of the skill, the shoulders lean in the opposite direction from the legs;
Developing a faster circle can help the gymnast lean less from their shoulders, maintain a straight body position easier, and raise their body higher above the mushroom (essential for performing floor circles, circles on the pommel horse, and beam).
There are many variations of loops on pommel horse. Loops can be performed in the front, side, back, middle of the horse, longitudinally, transversally, with and without pommels. Despite the variety of the loops, there are universal rules which every gymnast should follow:
The body should be completely extended, with the chest open at the ¼ and ¾ circle positions;
¼ is important because the circle starts from this position. The performance of this part of the circle will have an effect on the rest of the skill.
¾ is important because at this point the hands will switch their positions and the gymnast should generate continuity of the circle;
The circle is a skill, in which all the body muscles should be squeezed, particularly the gluteus muscles, because it helps to maintain the straight body position;
The gymnast should emphasize on ¼ pushing the horse in order to give the move direction. They should also emphasize on opening their hips and chest while performing front loops and forward travels (Magyar skills);
The gymnast should emphasize on ¾ pushing the horse in order to give the move direction. They should also emphasize on open the hips and chest while performing back loops and travels backward (Sivado skills);
The placement of the hands should be even, with an eventual slight counter turn at ¼ in order to prevent the hips from overturning;
Having a fast execution of the loops will raise the body higher over the horse, and help the gymnast to perform the skill easier;
The gymnast should keep the shoulders erect and the hips straight in order to remain straight and extended.
The circle on the pommels serves most of all as a starting point for skills and moves on and through one pommel. Despite the differences between pommel circles and loops on the leather, pommel circles actually meet the same criteria of execution, continuity, position of the body, placement of the hands, pushing at ¼ and ¾ parts, the position of the shoulders, and velocity of the circle (see also mushroom circles and loops). There are some differences of course. On the pommels, the gymnast has to grip much harder compared to loops. The pommels also can be adjusted to a width most comfortable to the gymnast.
The gymnast should follow the same rules required for a regular circle. The body should show full body extension throughout the circle. The flared circle begins at the front support with the legs beginning to separate immediately as the circle begins. There should be a minimum of a 135° straddle of the legs during the flared circle. In the front support and rear support, the legs are separated sideways in a horizontal plane. The leading leg raises through the ¼ position, then both legs switch their positions in the rear support. The leading leg in rear support moves to the side with a counter turn of the hips, allowing the lowered leg to provide the "heel kick" though the ¾ position. Then again both legs switch their positions and the circle finishes in front support with the legs wide open in horizontal
This Russian circle should start and finish in front support. There should be a 360º turn in one circle. It should be accomplished with 4 hand placements (or 2 hops). In the beginning, the first arm should reach forward to the third quarter. The second arm should then quickly reach under to the second quarter. At this point, the gymnast should conclude the ½ circle position with a half turn. The next half of the skill is the same as the first (the first arm should reach forward to the first quarter. The second arm then quickly reaches under to the fourth quarter) finishing the Russian in front support with a full turn. The Russian circle could start with a ¼ reverse stockli action (90º turn). If this is the case, then there would only be 270º of a wendeswing turn, finishing in front support with a total of a full turn.
This skill starts in the first half of the pommel circle. At the first quarter of the circle, the gymnast pushes very strongly sideways on the pommel. It helps to move the body onto the other pommel. When the second arm places the hand on the other pommel, the body should be transferred already on the second pommel. The turn around the pommel starts before the circle finishes, the heels are the driving part of the turn. The gymnast places both hands on the pommel longitudinally in front support. At that moment, they will have finished the first part of the skill, with a quarter turn of the Czech circle. The second part of the skill continues with pushing the hand sideways in the first quarter and at the same time, around the arms, concluding the half turn. The gymnast finishes the skill in rear support, with the hands on both pommels. The gymnast should emphasize on the beginning of the skill when the hand pushes strongly on the pommel in the first quarter of the circle. It transfers the body onto the pommel which allows for the skill to be performed.
Direct Stokli A is a circle skill that turns 180º. The DSA starts at the 1/4 position (first half of the circle) as the gymnast executes a 90º turn on the support arm to rear support (1/4 kehre). The gymnast should then shift his weight to the opposite arm and complete the circle leading with his heels and executing 90º turn (1/4 reverse stockli) to complete the circle into front support. Using the vertical center-line of the mushroom in the front support, the gymnast should imagine pommels on either side of the line and the hand placements to be made on the turns by placing the hands on these imaginary pommels with respect to the circle and each turn.
The Wo skill is technically a travel from one end of the horse to the other, with two Russians in between. The skill starts in front loops and finishes with back loops. The roth skill is basically one Russian circle , incorporated into the full travel. Both skills are performed without placing the hands onto the pommels. The Wo skill starts with a stokli placement of the hands in between the pommels. The Russian circle continues with the placement of the hands on the saddle until the first Russian circle finishes in front support longitudinal with the hands in the middle of the horse. The second Russian continues with a quarter turn stokli, and placement of the hands at the end of the horse, passing the second pommel. The second Russian circle continues and finishes in front support, ready for a back loop. The roth move is easier, in the sense that the gymnast should incorporate only one Russian, basically performed in the middle of the horse between the pommels. One modification of this skill is to perform the skill with the stokli between the pommels. A similar move is to have the second stokli on the second pommel. The tong fei skill is similar to the technique mentioned above. The gymnast performs the travel with half of a Russian circle, the quarter stokli though is done over both pommels, at the end of the horse. The skill finishes in front support, ready for the front loop. In all of these skills the gymnast should follow the technical rules of the Russian circle – the center of gravity (hips) should be between the arms, the gymnast should lean forward with the shoulders, squeeze their glutei and push the horse away (“planche move”). Drills
The Magyar travel is named after the famous Hungarian gymnast Zoltan Magyar. He is a two-time Olympic champion and a three-time world champion on the pommel horse event. The Magyar travel is one of his original skills, another one of his named skills is the full spindle. There are two modifications, the skill can be done with pommel circles included, or the travel can be done by skipping the pommel circles. The skill starts with front loops. When the circle is clockwise the right hand is moving forward first, and vice versa for counterclockwise circles. The gymnast should do 2-3 loops, moving forward until they approach the first pommel. The right-hand steps up on the pommel, in rear support, then the left-hand reaches the pommel and the gymnast performs the entire pommel circle. In the rear support, the right-hand step down between the pommels, on the saddle. In rear support, the left-hand approaches the saddle and concludes the saddle circle. The second pommel circle is identical to the first one. The skill finishes with a step down to the leather where the gymnast should perform back loops. There are several topics which the gymnast should focus on:
The circle during the Magyar should be extended very well. It will give the gymnast enough height to not touch the horse and the handles;
Faster circles make it easier to raise the body than slower circles;
Prior to the pommel circle, the hands should be placed close enough to the pommel, so that it’s easier to step onto the handles;
The loops should be even, not skewed. When the placement of the hands is uneven, the second hand is far from the pommel. This makes it more difficult to approach the pommel and a perform circle on it;
When the gymnast is younger, it’s considerably easier to perform the Magyar without pommel circles.
A Sivado is “any other travel backward. in cross support to the other end (3/3)”. This means that the Sivado can be performed many ways, including without circles on pommels, with one hand on the pommel, with pommel circles, and even without pommel and saddle circles. The skill starts with a backward loop. When the circle is clockwise, the left hand is moving backward first and vice versa for counterclockwise circles. The gymnast starts by doing 2-3 loops, then moving backward until they approach the first pommel. The left hand steps up on the pommel, in rear support, then the right hand should be placed on the saddle (when the circle turns in front support). The same is should be repeated with the second pommel - the left-hand steps up on the pommel, in rear support, the right hand should be placed onto the leather (when the circle turns in front support). In rear support, the left hand should be placed on the leather too. The skill finishes by performing a front loop. There are several topics identical to Magyar’s, which the gymnast should follow:
The circle during the Sivado should be extended very well. It will give the gymnast enough height to not touch the horse and the handles;
Faster circles make it easier to raise the body than slower circles;
Prior to the pommel circle, the hands should be placed close enough to the pommel, so that it’s easier to step onto the handles;
The loops should be even, not skewed. When the placement of the hands is uneven, the second hand is far from the pommel. This makes it more difficult to approach the pommel and a perform circle on it;
When the gymnast is younger, it’s considerably easier to perform the Sivado without pommel circles.
Integral part of gymnastics coaching process are skill drills. They help gymnasts to learn easier and technically correct. With GYM DRILL PRO you will find variety of ideas for the most the basic gymnastics skills. There are plenty of images with skill drill progressions. It is intended to support explicitly the qualified coaches in their daily coaching business. DO NOT practice without the guidance of proper professionals.
