I've got the 'Twisties' .. ft Simone Biles

[selenericardez]

Hey! So just to answer a science question. I am a Neurology Coach and personally find your videos fascinating. The "twisties" is a fancy gymnastics term to describe 'threat" linked to a vestibular lack of orientation or a heightened orientation . A specific position that might have created a "danger" signal. To simply put it, your brain (via head GPS, consisting of inner ear, sound and vision) figures out where the floor is. It has a record (memory) or all your interactions with the floor. (Good and bad) It tends to put more weight on the bad interactions because in the brains perspective, that is how it keeps you alive. By avoiding things that have hurt you in the past. Because, gymnasts interact with the floor and react stupidly fast (in milliseconds), it can be hard to correct. You are dealing (in milliseconds) with a panicking brain and having to make a decision that is different (and often threatening) from the reflexive reaction in the athlete. It is incredibly hard to change it with just will power. Because you are tapping into reflexes. Not that it is impossible. But having a clear idea of the speed of the rotation (You might have to time this) and figuring out what the eyes and head are doing at that time could help. Among other strategies. Anyway, you guys are the best. Love your content. Borderline addicted to your channels.

[jtuck]

The switch from everyday jokes and banter to full support when you guys sense someone is working through something real is inspiring every single time. Rock solid team.

[AliceinWanderland]

I’m a dual Olympic archer and we have a similar thing happen in archery that we call target panic. Obviously less dangerous to ourselves then having the twisties. But I could never understand it when others would try and explain it, until it happened to me. Unfortunately it happened right before the London Olympics during the last trial at a World Cup. It got so bad that I almost quit and had to take 2 years off to get over it, but if I had stopped I wouldn’t have gone on to compete in two Olympics.

[lukestoney]

Smashed it jay!!! Squad just pushes ourselves everyday 📈 love it and so happy to be part of it 🙌❤️

[annamix]

Twisties sounds a lot like what happens sometimes when I play piano. There could be a piece that I know by heart that’s pretty simple and I’ve played for years but if I start thinking too much about what I’m playing or who’s watching, my muscle memory goes out the window. Sometimes I can recover pretty quickly and just start over but other times I still can’t get it and have to resort to really basic kindergarten playing and build my way back up to it.

[flipper]

What I haven’t heard anyone mention, is how a block on twisting can sometimes lead to blocks on other skills, “easier” skills, or even other events. As a former coach, this was difficult for me, but terrible to watch one my gymnasts suffering from it. Sometimes we’d be able to back up and work through it and it came back, but other times, it would lead to a kid becoming completely stagnate, regressing, or even quitting the sport. Gymnastics is very much a mental sport.

[annalehman]

This video explains things so well. As a non-gymnast I thought having the twisties meant you couldn't jump or twist at all. So every time I saw you doing them I thought, oh well he he obviously over it and then you would mention it again and I would be confused as you looked 'fine' to me. Now I understand, it is like the days when I drive to work automatically and then realise it is the weekend and I was going shopping instead. Thank you for explaining it so well.

[mollymarsh]

This is the most positive YouTube collective I've seen, you all just push each other to be the best versions of yourselves and so funny

[brandyanderson]

I never doubted Simone or anyone else when they talked about getting twisties. I just chalked it up to something that I didn't understand as a person could barely do a cartwheel. But this helped put it in a way I could relate to. The part that most resonated with me talking about talking about the mental block after an incident. In my job working with elephant I have stepped up to an elephant for basic Foot Care, and she swung her trunk out nearly missing me. During the incident everything was mechanical and I was in that moment. I remain calm and it helped me get out of way without any contact being made. I waited for her to be focused on my coworker again, made her put her foot back up on the real and approached to give a couple of brushes. Just so she knows this is not the way we're going to end the session. That part became so step-by-step I wasn't thinking about what I needed to do. It was like my training kicked in. But a few days later when I needed to approach her to do Foot Care on the other foot. Now suddenly I'm so in my head, that stepping up this time is scarier than the actual incident felt. And I did actually have to kind of step back and kind of build up that confidence again. I just want to thank you guys for making me understand and I love when I can relate to something.

[mama.vadr]

I appreciating you talking about this. It was incredibly frustrating to watch people talk so horribly about Simone after everything she went through with USAG.

[brianlau]

The twisties happened so frequently for me when I used to be a gymnast. Every time it happened, I had to restart from the basics again and it was such a frustrating and scary process to go through.

[LanessaVO]

I'm seriously so impressed by gymnasts. I'm terrified of landing on my head - so much so that I've never even learned how to cartwheel because I don't trust myself to be able to do it. It makes sense to me that the twisties are a combination of mental and physical. I can't imagine flying through the air like that and having my body do something different than what I thought about doing, or my mind deciding "today's not the day" and having to push through that mentality, even while trusting my body knows what to do. Serious props to anyone who is able to handle that pressure every day and especially for those who are able to take a step back and say "I can't do this today". I can only imagine how disappointing that must be for these athletes. If anything it only makes me respect them that much more!! Serious congrats to everybody in this video - you're all so brave! Thank you for allowing us non-gymnasts a peak into your lives. I've been binge-watching everybody's videos and having a blast! Also decided my very unflexible self is going to be working on learning the splits! Then maybe I'll have the courage to work up to a cartwheel one day!

[claire]

I've just finished my psychology undergrad and am a gymnastics coach, listening to yous chat about the causes of the twisties was quite entertaining for me.
SO I'm pretty sure that in terms of the twisties in Simone's case, it might have just been a day where her brain body connection was off, due to the pressure of finals and the weight the media (and USAG) had put on her shoulders to carry the team. Fear is a very strong conditioning agent (if you've heard of Pavlov's dog), and one small injury-causing or fear-inducing incident can put someone off a skill for YEARS. Mental blocks are real and it is basically your brain refusing to cooperate, it has been conditioned that something can go wrong so it refuses to let you do the skill for fear of injury.
In Nile's case, it seems more of a you were trained to twist to such an extent that your 'muscle memory' is no longer basics, but twisting skills, and you have to consciously change what you are doing in order not to twist.
In conclusion lol, the twisties are definitely real and gymnastics / tumbling etc. is 95% mental components. Doesn't mean you're weak or anything, just means you're struggling and need to reach out for help in that instance.

[JaqueW]

I love this group dynamic 😍 so supportive and just a pleasure to watch. I also think Joanna is my spirit animal. The first time I managed to land an aerial cartwheel in front of people, I landed then tripped and tore ligaments off my ankle and couldn’t walk on it for months. I’m special.

[brycelyon]

As someone who has suffered proprioceptive deficits my whole life, I can definitely speak to this and feel what they are saying. Proprioception, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, refers to the body's sense of where it is in space. In practical terms, when you watch Nile do one of his twisting jumps or Ash do a dismount of high bar, their proprioception is guiding them to the ground. Because they are moving so fast, they don't have time to actively control their movement, so muscle memory and those autonomic systems kick in. The twisties, as they call it, are basically when your proprioception is thrown off, so you can't track where you are in a twist, for example, to know that you should start untwisting and preparing to land. This is what Simone Biles was experiencing at the Olympics. She lost that sense of where she was, and with the high degree of difficulty and risk in her moves, she didn't feel like she could safely do them. It's also a lot of what Nile was saying, where he's so deeply ingrained the twist into his routines, that he can longer do the straight unless he really focuses and forces his body to do it. Any slight suggestion to twist, from dropping his shoulder, to someone saying it, puts him right back in to the muscle memory. It's funny though because there are certain activities, like boxing, where my brain just locks in and there are no proprioceptive issues. Mine come up when I am trying to do a tricky body movement for a stretch or get my body to do multiple things at the same time.

[missmyoldhandle]

Andre Agassi's book Open explains the mental aspect of sports so perfectly. P.S. I got teary eyed when Joanna landed that tuck back and I'm so jealous that she has such a sweet and supportive older brother. Damn I love these guys so much!

[jacobstraughan]

I'm currently training in mens artistic gymnastics (and have done since I was 5) and im 15 now and already when im warming up for floor and do a roundoff back tuck or back lay I can feel my body wanting to twist and sometimes I do, even though I didn't mean to. So it was encouraging to see nile explain everything in a way that I can relate to completely. Love the channels, they're great fun to watch. Keep it up

[guusv]

I feel you, Joanna! In my 20 year gymnastics career, I've always had trouble with anything backward on the floor. I got so anxious just looking at you. You're brave to have done this. 💪

[jaywilsonvlogs]

I should definitely of been happier about doing this 😅🙌🏼 I’m buzzing watching it back

[juliastaudinger]

Got the twisters once while tumbling and ended up landing on my head because I got lost while upside and opens too early. Concussions are not awesome
Best way I can explain the twisties is if you’re driving your normal route home and forget you were supposed to go to the store because you’re so used to driving straight home you don’t think about the route anymore. Then when you do start concentrating, and consciously think about driving, you end up driving the way you do when a police officer is next to you. You then overthink everything including things you’ve never had to worry about while driving.
Unfortunately the fear of doing another pass after you’ve gotten loss is hard to get over. Like Nile demonstrated, it can be easy to do things sometimes but then you ether let muscle memory takeover or you overthink.

Thanks Nile and the whole crew for normalizing, mental blocks and discussions metal health.

All of your videos add a punch of happiness to my day!