Author Archives: Matt Kelley

Featured, Tips

2 ways to Teach an Arabian

Posted on by Matt Kelley
Arabian Blog Youhitzero Ippmusic
05
Mar
Ipp Contributor Matt Kelley

Matt Kelley Byline

By Matt Kelley

Published on March 5, 2019

Hello fellow Coaches & Athletes!I hope that my past 2 articles have helped you in some way or another. This article is going to be based on my 2 ways to teach an Arabian.

For me, I adjust which 1 of 2 ways that I teach the skill, based on the athlete. Also, the style you choose to team them, could be based on the equipment you have, or how much room you have in the gym to teach it, or if the athlete struggles to grasp one of the concepts.

Arabian option 1

1

  • Stack up some mats, having the height of the mats be slightly lower than the athletes head.
  • Do a round off (controlled rebound with you arms up), half turn, andtouch the top of the mat.
  • You should have full control while doing this.
  • NO kicking legs or wild arms.
  • Do this a few times

2

Do the exact same thing, but add a forward roll on top of the mat.
This will take you a few times. Make sure you have full control.

Think round off, rebound, half turn, drive the hips up and forward roll(with control).
As they perfect this, you can add mats to increase theheight.

3

  • Do a roundoff BIG controlled rebound, and land in the pit with your arms up & core tight.

  • Go to a pit. If you don’t have a pit, use an 8 inch mat.

    • 3

  • Do a roundoff BIG controlled rebound, and land in the pit with your arms up & core tight.

  • Go to a pit.If you don’t have a pit, use an 8 inch mat.

    • 4

  • Do the exact same thing, but add a half turn
  • Land with arms up andcore tight.

    • 4

  • Do the exact same thing, but add a half turn
  • Land with arms up andcore tight.

    • 5

  • You should feel the controlled rebound, half turn, tightcore with arms up, then forward roll.

  • Do the exact same thing as step 4, and as your feet land, do a forward roll

    • 5

  • You should feel the controlled rebound, half turn, tightcore with arms up, then forward roll.

  • Do the exact same thing as step 4, and as your feet land, do a forward roll

    • 6

    Lastly, put everything you just did together.


    Think how it felt to do the drill up onto the mat, and think of how the rebound half turn forward roll felt, and

    put it all together.

    ARABIAN OPTION 2

    If I am limited on space or time in the gym, I use this one

    1. Do a strong round off tuck into the pit.Arms up high & tight by your ears, and NO grabbing your legs. Do this multiple times.***Unlike Arabian Option #1, this is a rare time I spot an athlete.
    2. Spot the round off tuck (at the hips), and at the end of the skill, half turn them. Make sure the athlete knows not to drop their arms. Land with arms up & a tight core, slight bend in the knees. Do this multiple times.
    3. Once the athlete gets the hang of this, have them do it on their own.

    With this technique, it gives the skill more of a “half” look. Which isn’t bad. In my experience, cheerleaders tend do spin early in their Fulls & Dbls. So it will start as a half, and eventually turn into an Arabian. The athlete just needs to start looking into their arm pit quicker & quicker as they get more comfortable.

    I always prefer for the athlete to spin the same direction as the leg they round off with. So if you round off left, spin left. But it’s important to mention, it’s not impossible to spin one way and step out the other. But is slightly more difficult.

    Ipp Contributor Matt Kelley

    Personally, I prefer the athlete already has a perfect Running Full. And if you have read my past 2 articles, is STRONG.
    Strong technique & a Strong body.


    Find which Option works best for you!

    Whether gym space or time in a class. Really perfect each step before advancing to the next. The drills will really help you get it down.

    I hope this article on how to Learn/Teach an Arabian helps you out!
    Thanks for reading.

    Matt Kelley Signature Full

    Featured, News, Tips

    How to properly train for a “Full Out”

    Posted on by Matt Kelley
    How To Properly Train For A “full Out”
    06
    Dec
    Ipp Contributor Matt Kelley

    Matt Kelley Byline

    By Matt Kelley

    Published on December 6, 2018

    One of the biggest & most controversial questions in the Cheerleading World….”How to properly train for a Full Out?”  There are so many variables that come with this question:

    All while needing to maintain TECHNIQUE!   As a Cheerleader my self for more than 15 years, and a Coach of 15 years, these are some of my suggestions to help!

    Safety Mobile

    One of the most important things to maintain, Safety, is to properly have the skill before performing it in a routine/practice.  Being able to do the skill multiple times, while maintaining technique!

    As a coach, I make my athletes over rotate their skills when training them in a Private Lesson or Tumbling Class.  Weird right?

    Here is my theory:

    If I am training to stick & stand a Standing tuck in my tumbling class, but in the routine, the Standing tuck is 45 seconds into the routine…I might fall forward.  So I suggest, training the Skill to OverRotate.  This also helps with getting your chest up when landing the skill.

    Preparing the body physically

    is MAJOR KEY!

     As stated above, skills can be performed separately, with ease.  But as we know, a cheer routine is 2 minutes and 30 seconds of Non Stop Physical skills.  I am a firm believer in making sure the athletes body is Physically Strong enough to do the skills.  Working out (depending on the level) 2-3 days outside/after practice are incredibly important.

    The higher the level, the more conditioning you should do for your body.  In a perfect world, it would be great to land that 3 to double full to the front every time.  But when running multiple sections and/or full outs, it doesn’t always work out that way. Your body must be strong enough to with stand some of those (hopefully never) incomplete spins.

    Strength
    Strength

    What body parts should I focus on to work out?  I suggest Core, Explosive Leg movements, Arm Strength and also Calves.  I post different work outs & conditioning drills on my snapchat Mkells5891 every week.

    Higher level gymnasts will condition 30-45 minutes before their practices 4-5 times a week.  Not only does this help them gain New Skills, but also be strong enough to perform the ones they are currently competing.

    Speaking of gymnast…I reached out to my long time friend, Olympic Gymnast Jonathan Horton, to ask him how he trained.  If you don’t know who he is, here are a few of his stats:

    Jonathan

    Jonathan horton

    • 2-Time Olympian (2008 & 2012)
    • Bronze & Silver Olympic Medalist
    • World Bronze All-Arounder
    • 2-Time US National Champion
    • 6-Time NCAA National Champion
    • 4-Time American Ninja Warrior Competitor
    • NBC Broadcast Analyst
    • Author
    Jonathan Mobile 3

    Jonathan horton

    • 2-Time Olympian (2008 & 2012)
    • Bronze & Silver Olympic Medalist
    • World Bronze All-Arounder
    • 2-Time US National Champion
    • 6-Time NCAA National Champion
    • 4-Time American Ninja Warrior Competitor
    • NBC Broadcast Analyst
    • Author

    Here were a few questions I asked him, when it came to preparing to do his full out routines properly:

    Here were a few questions I asked him, when it came to preparing to do his full out routines properly:

    When you trained your floor routine (tumbling), did you always do it straight on the floor…or onto Mats or into a pit?

    75% of my tumbling was done with safety measures. Either I was tumbling into the pit, resi pit, or I used mats on the floor. Tumbling takes an extreme toll on the body over time, and although our pride wants us to go all out on the real surface, it’s important to protect ourselves first. If you do enough repetitions onto safe surfaces, most athletes won’t feel like it’s necessary to do as many numbers later.

    How often did you Practice?  How often did you condition your body?

    In my prime I trained twice a day. I did morning conditioning for 2 hours on M,W,F, but 6 days a week I did a 4 hour routine training workout in the afternoon. Even on days that I didn’t have morning strength and conditioning, I did some light conditioning in the afternoons everyday. It’s important to keep every muscle group moving. Even on light days it’s important to stretch muscle groups or even do a couple of light reps just for muscle memory.

    Was your conditioning things directed towards strengthening things to improve your floor routine & keep your body safe?

    I did a lot of “get stronger” conditioning, which involved some brutal workouts that tore me down pretty bad, but the majority of my strength and conditioning was for general body strength and cardio ability. It’s important to cycle in an out of different types of conditioning. Athletes that are always trying to see “gains” will eventually injure themselves because our bodies have to recover.

    Yhz Jonathan
    How often would you do a REAL Full our floor routine? Monthly, Weekly etc?  And why that number?

    We tumbled 3 days/week, but we only did routines when we were in season. During season we would do anywhere from 1-3 routines in a 45min session. Off season training just required a lot of strength training and tumbling into the pit to learn new skills.

    How often would you do a REAL Full our floor routine? Monthly, Weekly etc?  And why that number?

    We tumbled 3 days/week, but we only did routines when we were in season. During season we would do anywhere from 1-3 routines in a 45min session. Off season training just required a lot of strength training and tumbling into the pit to learn new skills.

    Going back to question 4, did that give you the longevity in gymnastics and the ability to compete in the Olympics 3 times?

    My longevity came from a well thought out game plan that relied on putting how my body felt over results. Results ’now’  driven people will burn out versus someone who sees the long term game can last a long time. No matter what, our bodies will break down overtime, but being smart and listening to what our bodies are telling us can keep us in the game a while.

    Awesome to get some tips from a former Olympic Gymnast!  .

    Moving forward, let’s talk about Mental Toughness.  Some Coaches & Athletes would agree this one is the most difficult to master.  I believe it’s Extremely important to have a Balance of Physical Strength & Mental Strength.  

    What are the best ways to Master the Mental toughness that a certain Skill or Full Out brings?

    • Proper Progression of the Skill
    • Good Reps—Do the skill multiple times with perfect technique

    Once you have mastered those things, it’s time to start training them with small routine sections.  Here are a couple examples:

    1. Cut the routine into 5 different sections.  Do each one 2-3 times with perfection. Throughout practice, note what section had mistakes, and at the end, focus on details with the skills in that Section.  As these 5 sections get easier, break it down to 4, then 3, then 2 & then 1.
    2. Divide the Routine into a Stunt Routine & a Tumble Routine.  You can do 3 of the Stunt Routines, then 3 of the Tumble Routines.  You can also do the Stunt Routine, then Tumble routine back to back multiple times.
    3. Let’s say you are a level 5 Worlds Team.  You could do Tucks for all tumbling and do the stunts & jumps full out.  This is a great way to push your endurance and focus on building elements.
    4. Some coaches like to make it a game, which makes it more fun for the athletes.  You could have a wheel to spin, and have different elements of the routine on the wheel:  All Stunts, All Tumbling, 1st half, no jumps etc.
    Mental Toughness

    Those are just a few examples.  Closing out, I wanna conclude with some of our main points when Preparing Properly for a Full Out  

    Perfect

    • Perfection of each skill individually

    • Proper Progression of the routine, which will help with building confidence

    • Strength & Endurance of the body.  Making sure to condition outside of practice.  

    Shout out to Jonathan Horton for the interview.  

     

    Be on the look out for his new book coming out December 4th,

    “If I had known”

     

    Thanks again for reading my article.  

    Hope this helped everyone! Message me what you would like to have me write about next!

    Matt Kelley Signature Full

    PHOTO CREDITS:  ADRIAN KRAUS

    Featured, Tips

    How to have a Strong Standing Tuck (step-by-step videos)

    Posted on by Matt Kelley
    How To Have A Strong Standing Tuck
    09
    Oct
    Ipp Contributor Matt Kelley

    Matt Kelley Byline

    By Matt Kelley

    Published on October 9, 2018

    Every week I receive questions about how to “make my standing tuck stronger?” I even ask for them to send me videos to give me a better opportunity to truly critique their form. The most consistent issue I see is with the strength of the athlete. 

    So in this article I will describe some Core Exercises and some explosive leg movements that i’ve found to help my athletes over the past 15 years. Here are my recommendations to increase your core strength for a strong standing tuck:

    Hanging tuck ups

    We have a bar at our gym (demonstrated on the video), but if you do not, you can move 2 mats  close together, or 2 chairs and tuck your knees & shins up towards your head.
    I truly believe this is the best core exercise for a stronger back tuck. An example of how many to do would be:
    10 reps which equals 1 set, and do 4 sets
    A variation of this would be to do a tuck up, and hold that tuck position squeezing every muscle you have, and holding for 20 seconds.

    Hanging tuck ups

    We have a bar at our gym (demonstrated on the video), but if you do not, you can move 2 mats  close together, or 2 chairs and tuck your knees & shins up towards your head.
    I truly believe this is the best core exercise for a stronger back tuck. An example of how many to do would be:
    10 reps which equals 1 set, and do 4 sets
    A variation of this would be to do a tuck up, and hold that tuck position squeezing every muscle you have, and holding for 20 seconds.

    Here are a couple of my favorite Explosive Leg Workouts, to help achieve a Strong Back Tuck:

    Straight Jump onto an elevated Mat

    Start by facing the opposite way of the mat, sit & swing and explode onto the mat. Make sure when you land, you immediately walk backwards.

    Tuck Jump onto an elevated Mat

    Similar to the straight jump, but add a tuck jump. Make sure your knees & shins go towards your head. Immediately walk backwards when you land on the mat.

    Explosive Tuck Jump onto an elevated Mat

    Start by sitting on a mat. Make sure your hips are higher than your knees when sitting on the mat. Next, Swing your arms up & jump/ explode through your legs. Hitting a tight tuck position. It is important to remember to land standing straight up & down when you land on the mat.
    This is my favorite explosive Leg workout for a stronger standing tuck!
    As a beginner, I would start with 20 reps. Doing this twice a week minimum. Each week add 5!

    These are my favorite Core & Explosive Leg exercises for a Strong Standing Tuck!
    I hope you all enjoy these!
    My social media stuff:
    Instagram: @KarmaReturns
    Instagram: @MattFreakinKelley
    Snapchat: Mkells5891

     

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