Pommel Horse Moves

Knowing these pommel horse moves is a great way to teach an athlete balance, precision and upper body strength. Here are a few of the basic moves to help get a person on the right track with this healthy exercise.

1. Front Support Walk up and place one hand on both of the pommels and jump up, holding your body up without resting on the pommel horse. Front support is the very first thing a gymnast will learn. It's important to use the arms and shoulders to support your body and avoid resting on the pommel.
2. Rear Support This pommel horse move happens from front support where you move your legs between your arms and over the pommel horse without sitting on the pommel. Getting to this move involves a bit of upper body strength and flexion in the knees. This move should be practiced often before moving onto the next moves.
3. Leg Cuts to Front Support is another basic pommel horse move where you lift one hand from the pommel and swings the leg back around while supporting yourself up. This will move you from the rear support to front support, which is done by first swinging one leg under one arm and around to the back, then swinging the other leg under the other arm to move to the back, putting you back in the front support position.
4. Leg cuts to Rear Support is a great starter pommel horse move because it requires strength and balance. This is the same move as leg cut to front, only reversed. From the front support position, lifts one hand and swing your legs over to the rear support without resting on the pommel. Practicing both the leg cuts to the front and to the back helps an athlete prepare for more advanced moves and create a better understand of the body in relation to what it can do.
5. Scissors pommel horse move is a bit difficult, but still a basic, which combines the first four moves discussed above. It begins with the front support and heads into the leg cuts, which is done by switching the back leg to the front, then the front to the back. This pommel horse move is used to get moment and gain height and motion into other moves.
6. Circles In this move, both legs are kept together at all times and the hands are either placed on the pommels or on the horse. Lean on the horse somewhat and swing both your body and legs around in a circular motion to allow them to pass under one arm and then the other. It is similar to scissoring but both legs are doing the movements at the same time. This move can be done repetitiously.