To perform the round off back tuck dismount the gymnasts must become comfortable with making beam round-offs from two steps and a hurdle. As with many other beam skills or combinations, this dismount is mastered following a beam progression beginning on a floor line.
This is a fair example of back handspring landing on two feet to a back tuck dismount. Gymnasts must know how to perform the combination on floor, and also how to perform a beam standing back handspring to two feet and rebound. The combination is trained first on a low beam with folded mats on the sides, and the apparatus end pointing to a loose foam pit.
Gymnasts that already know how to perform back handsprings to two feet can practice rebounding them on a low beam and then learn to connect the handspring with a basic back tuck dismount to a pit. From there they can follow the general beam learning progression and eventually execute the combination on a regular height beam.
To perform this combination the athlete must have mastered tumbling double fulls, beam back handspring to two feet landings, and progressively learn to connect the back handsprings to back tucks, and layouts to full twist dismounts. The gymnast must also develop an increased in speed and power while practicing those combinations.
Once the gymnast has mastered a good round off back tuck dismount, they can begin learning the round off double back dismount on the beam. All the regular tumbling techniques for creating a rebounding setup apply for the double back dismount. Training the dismount into a pit until it shows great technical consistency is crucial.
To reach this level of front dismounts, as with any other gymnastics activity, the gymnast must progress step by step from the easiest basic skills to the most difficult ones. In the case of front dismounts, they must develop increasing confidence and balance to be able to run across the beam and punch the dismount takeoff. Gymnasts must also get used to punching with one foot in front of the other, and first learn each dismount into a pit until the skill can be performed safely and consistently.
With a gainer dismount, the gymnast should travel forward and sideways to avoid the beam. To accomplish this during the take-off, this gymnast leans her body away from the vertical in the desired traveling direction. Check a couple of technical motions for the side gainer.
Once a gymnast has mastered a fair layout gainer, they can progress to a gainer full. Gymnasts should start practicing this skill from an elevated surface to a loose foam pit. The gymnast must focus on creating a good rotation during the layout. To create the desired rotation, the gymnast must swing up strongly with the free leg.
For this gainer dismount the gymnast takes off from a single front foot while the back foot swings forward helping to kick the knees and hips up to create the somersault rotation. To assure that the skill travels away enough to clear the beam, during the take-off the athlete aims to bring her center of mass forward so the dismount does not travel vertically. During the last step, the arms perform an underswing to help set up the skill.
As soon as the novice gymnasts can perform regular walks across the beam with a fair level of safe proficiency they can start training different variations to develop posture balance and presentation. Like in this example showing a locked knee with the foot pointing on each step then showing the walk with the arms up on a crown instead of straight out on the sides. It is important to always keep the arms vertical.
As the novice gymnasts improve their balance and confidence training different kinds of walks and other basic skills each of these activities can be refined and upgraded from simple back walks. The athlete must be guided to develop more challenging variations. In this case the legs swing backwards to a tight arch on every step and the gymnasts must focus on keeping the knees locked, the stomach in, and the arms and the body as stable as possible minimizing wobbles and hesitations.
Performing side walks on the balance beam is a good drill for beginner and novice gymnasts that want to improve their balance, posture and presentation.