Toes-to-Bar Strategies & Points of Performance for 18.1
Written by Brittany Weiss & Travis Ewart
TOES-TO-BAR STRATEGIES (by Brittany Weiss)
You don’t have to be a gymnast to be good at toes-to-bar. It’s about playing your own game and knowing what you as an athlete are capable of. In Open workouts, you want to have a plan on how to keep yourself moving continuously throughout the workout in order to achieve the highest possible score.
Here are a few different strategies you can use for toes-to-bar. Test them out to see which ones help you move the fastest and most efficiently throughout the workout.
1) Quick Sets with Short Rests
A quick set is different from athlete to athlete but what it means, no matter the rep scheme you use, is that you can knock it out and jump right back up into the next set with only a short rest in between. You know yourself best, so whether it’s sets of 8, 4, 2, have a number in your head for your sets that you know you can hit every time you reach for the bar. Clustering your reps this way is always better than doing a big set and staring at the bar for 20 seconds before you go again, because over the course of the set, you will actually spend less time on this station.
2) Singles!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with going to quick singles on any movement, toes-to-bar included. You would actually be surprised at how fast you can push through them as well as conserve energy. Whether its saving your lungs, grip, or just resting time in between, singles should always be something you can fall back on if your strategy from the start doesn’t go as planned. If you go with this strategy YOU MUST get back on the bar right away for your next rep – rests should be only a second, maybe two.
3) Never Go to Failure
Toes-to-bar is one of those movements that when they go, they go. Stay in your own lane, focus on you, and push yourself to your athletic abilities – not to the abilities of those around you. The last thing you want to do is burn out because that makes it harder, if not impossible, to get back up on the bar. Smart sets lead to a great performance so never push your set to the point of failing a rep or losing your kip rhythm (more on establishing rhythm below).
TOES-TO-BAR POINTS OF PERFORMANCE ( by Travis Ewart)
One of the most frustrating things about doing toes-to-bar sets is getting rhythm established right from the first rep. It’s very common to jump up to the bar, hit a rep, but then the next two reps feel completely wrong. To avoid this, we here at Invictus Gymnastics have created a video to help highlight the approach to the bar for sets of toes-to-bar! This could very well be a game changer, especially for Open Workout 18.1.
There are many different ways to perform a toes-to-bar. Invictus Gymnastics coach Travis Ewart demonstrates in this video the differing ways you may see reps produced. Take some time to evaluate the goals you have put forth for yourself and see which technique works best for you!
For all your gymnastics needs you should enroll in the Invictus Gymnastics Online Program. If you feel less than adequately prepared for your gymnastics movements for this Open, it’s not the end of the world, but you should get a head start for the upcoming year to make sure you are maximizing your gymnastics potential. Yes, the Invictus Gymnastics Program can be used as a stand-alone program, but when you enroll you also have the option of joining the Invictus Gymnastics Facebook Group where you can post video and get coaching from our gymnastics expert of 21 years experience. Along with demos and tutorials embedded in the program and the additional coaching, it’s only $39/month to get better at all your gymnastics skills, no matter where on earth you are! Click here to get started.
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