The purpose of this investigation was to determine if a ballistic stretching/strengthening approach would improve already highly trained gymnasts' split leap leg positions. A simple split leap was chosen due to its fundamental nature and the fact that gymnasts rarely do a simple split leap in their typical routine training. The split leap served as a skill that all gymnasts had performed in the past, but suitably novel that improvement could still be possible. Through the cooperation of seven gymnasts at the Olympus School of Gymnastics and their head coach, we undertook a training study using Theraband(tm) elastic strips. The gymnasts were all Level 10 and Elite gymnasts currently training approximately 25-30 hours per week. The training lasted one month. The athletes were in the combination preparation stage of their yearly periodized program. The results of this study showed that split leap range of motion can be improved. Although no control group was used due to a perceived ethical problem of withholding a useful technique from teammates, it is clear that these gymnasts have been stretching diligently for several years with only modest improvement, if any. The lack of a control group (which would have tested but not participated in the Theraband stretching) results in an inability to state with certainty the cause of the enhanced split leap performances. However, the cause-effect relationship is strengthened by the temporal ordering of events and the novel nature of the split leap. Subjective observation showed that these athletes demonstrated dramatic improvement in split leaps, kicks, straddle jumps and similar skills. Perhaps the most obvious observation of improvement came on balance beam where the different shape-jumps demonstrated dramatic increases in leg height and amplitude. Although a three to four percent improvement in performance might be considered small, among elite athletes such an improvement is large. A 3.5 percent difference at the most recent World Gymnastics Championships was the difference between 1st and 20th place in the women's all-around.
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