I’m looking for advice about how to help one of my clients with her form while doing bilateral jumping on the jump board. I’m still new to teaching jump work and this was my clients first time doing a jump class. She is 67, has great body awareness and learns new exercises fairly quickly. She is a visual and kinesrhetic learner. While jumping, I noticed her hips/glutes were coming off the carriage as she jumped away from the board and the whole reformer started to move across the floor. I removed a spring, to 1 red, and had her reduce her range of motion and that seemed to help. Is there anything else I should be aware of? Should I be holding off on jump classes and focus on building strength in other areas before having her do another jump classes? I teach privates and she loved the experience, but I want to make sure I’m setting her up for success and identifying/addressing any areas of instability or weakness. Any/all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Susan, Great question! How many springs did you have her on at first? Is she able to use her whole foot to jump and also land toes ball heel? Have her think less about her strength and more about the coordination of her jump and mainly what her feet are doing and her leg alignment. The carriage will not close all the way depending on her height. Also the heel may come up at some point in her landing depending on the flexibility of her ankles/calves. Also I teach my clients to let the muscles lengthen on landing (juicy landing). Let me know the answers to the questions above so I can give you more feedback. Also did you check out the jumpboard excercises in the Library? Watch how I am doing to the footwork jumping to see if that could help you observe what she is doing.
Hi,
Thanks so much for your response, and your suggestioins. I initially had her on 1R1B, but changed to 1R. I spent lots of time having her warm up her feet and ankles (Lots of ankle articulation and practicing toe, ball, heel in slow motion). I am working on strengthening my “eye” to be able to identify and correct any issues in real time. I have soooo much respect for teachers who make this look easy 😉
It takes time and experience and asking good questions. Im happy to connect on zoom with you at anytime that works for our schedule as well to trouble shoot things! Maybe try a R and Y. Depending on her size and strength this could give some great support but no too heavy until she is ready.