Front
Falls
When you drop to your front, make sure your chest and hips touch the ground at the same time. Failure to do so will result in repeating the fall. You want to make the fall as quick as possible; I always like to say “as soon as you’re down, you’re up.” Remember, time is ticking and the more time you spend in one spot, the slower your test time will be.
Commonly, when people drop to their
front they end up being parallel to the vault. But nothing says that you have
to fall that way. I encourage people (if they’re able) to land and face forward
when they drop on their front. Why? Usually people who land parallel end up
making a big arc around the start cone on their way to the next lap. By facing
the cone, when you get up you end up making a bee line for the cone, saving you
some time.
Back
Falls
The back falls are usually the
slowest to get up from between the two falls. With the back fall, you want to
make sure you’re landing flat on your back; both shoulder blades and hips
should be touching at the same time. Don’t worry about your legs; they can
pretty well do whatever, just as long as your back is flat.
The back fall is slower because
of the amount of effort that’s needed to get up. People will try to get up like
they’re performing a sit up or they rock their body to get up. Even if you’re
strong, the sit up isn’t the way to go because it uses too much energy (and not
everyone can do a good sit up). Remember, you want to conserve as much energy
as possible for the push/pull. The body rocking isn’t a good idea either for
two reasons. The first is you end up rolling on your back, losing the flatness
and therefore not performing the back fall correctly. The second is you waste
time rocking.
How do you get up faster then?
One way is to use one leg to help you out. Some people like to swing one leg
up, and then use that same leg to swing down as they sit up. That leg swing
gives you some momentum to sit up. This is a good alternative to the body
rocking. The other way people will use the leg is to swing it up and then grab
it with both hands to help pull themselves up. Both are good methods to use.
The one I highly recommend is
the rollover method. Instead of sitting up or using a leg, what you do is roll
onto your side to get up once you’ve fallen on your back. I like this method
because you use less energy to get up compared to the other methods, and you
make a direct bee line to the start cone.
PUSH/PULL CONTROLLED FALLS
Since we’re on the subject of
controlled falls, I should touch briefly about the controlled falls in between
the push and the pull. Essentially you’re performing the same type of falls.
Make sure to always face the machine every time you drop. So when you fall on
your front, your head is toward the machine; when you fall on your back, your
head is away from the machine, but your face is still toward it, not turned
away.
Also, when getting up from the
back fall, you could still perform the rollover method, but you have to make
sure you still get up toward the machine. This would be one case where I
suggest you do the sit up method or you use your legs to get yourself up. It is
only 4 falls total that you’re performing, 2 on your front and 2 on your back,
so do what you can at this point. Just remember to spend as little time being
flat on your back or front.
Whatever method you use for controlled falls, make sure you practice it. You’re better off sticking with something you know rather than trying something new on test day.
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