From lying on the back, legs bent, hands by the head, fingers pointing to the shoulders, we stretch the upper and lower limbs. We push the shoulders back so that the arms are orthogonal to the mat, the lower limbs are as stretched as possible.

View of the practitioner

To elevate the body off the ground, we must use the muscular strength of the upper and lower limbs to overcome the gravity. Sufficient friction between the hands and the mat and especially between the feet and the mat, is important for execution. If the floor is slippery, it does not provide stable support for the legs and the body cannot be lifted. The shoulders are pushed to get orthogonal to mat by the force of the lower limbs.

• Unstretched upper and lower limbs, most often due to insufficient flexibility of the shoulder joints.
• Warning: if a gymnast can not stretch elbows, he/she should focus on functional preparation first.

• Physical preparation 1

  This element requires sufficient flexibility of shoulder joints.

• Physical preparation 2

  We also do stretching to improve back flexibility.

• Drill 1

  We can begin the drill from standing position with the gymnast's back leaning to the wall.

• Drill 2

  We can train the bridge in simplified conditions with the feet on elevated surface. Then we practice the final element from lying position.

• Drill 3

  After practicing the bridge, compensation is necessary.