Last week, I introduced you to vault, the gymnastics apparatus known for its power and speed. Now we’re moving onto what is basically vault’s opposite, the uneven bars.
While the super powerful and strong gymnasts tend to excel on vault, bars are all about fluidity, rhythm, and lines. They do share one common thread with vault, and that’s a crazy amount of shoulder strength. A gymnast has to make it through a 30 second nonstop routine, throwing herself into the air and going back and forth from the low bar to the high bar using nothing but her hands, which takes a superhuman amount of strength…though the aesthetic requires that gymnasts must make these feats look graceful and effortless.
The apparatus itself is made up of one low bar 170 centimeters (5.6 feet) high and one high bar 250 centimeters (8.2 feet) high, with the two set between 130-180 centimeters (4.3-5.9 feet) apart (they can be adjusted based on the gymnast’s needs). The bars are made of fiberglass and are connected by a steel frame.
For a bit of history, the uneven bars originally were meant to be like the women’s version of parallel bars, and were literally just parallel bars set at different heights. For decades, the bars were set much closer together so gymnasts could go back and forth between the two somewhat easily. Originally, gymnasts would perform strength holds, and it wasn’t until nearly the 1960s that routines with fluid transitions and skills came into the mix. Over the next two decades, gymnasts experimented with release skills, including the very first same-bar release (aka when a gymnasts releases the bar, performs a skill, and regrasps the same bar), the Korbut flip, named for Olga Korbut in 1972.
This skill is now banned because it’s actually super dangerous, but it led to tremendous innovation, including the Comaneci salto. These flips and the others that followed began following what the men were performing on the high bar, and so by the mid 1980s, the bars were moved further apart to give women the ability to do giant swings in order to generate momentum for the bigger release skills the guys were doing. The greater width also allowed for innovation with transitional skills between the bars, like the Pak salto, named for Gyong Sil Pak of North Korea.
Now routines are all about piecing together these big release elements and transitions as well as pirouetting elements in a single fluid routine with no stopping until the dismount. Here’s a fun fact – both beam and floor are timed because gymnasts are pausing between skills or breaking up elements with bits of choreography, but on bars because every skill is supposed to lead into a subsequent skill, there is no need for timing!
Now let’s break down a bars routine. Whereas vault is basically a single skill, the other three events in gymnastics are all made up of a series of skills and requirements that build up to determine the routine’s start value. In the current code of points, gymnasts have to satisfy five required elements on each apparatus to meet the CR part of the start value, and the values of their eight most difficult elements in the routine are added up. This is where the bulk of the start value comes from, and then the gymnasts can also add a few tenths if they connect certain elements. For a more complete picture of how this works, check out our Getting Technical guide.
So we’ll start off with the required elements. Each of the following is worth 0.5, so if a gymnast reaches all requirements, she gets an automatic 2.5 D score on top of what she earns for the value of her skills. The composition requirements (CR) are:
- Transitions – flight from low bar to high bar AND high bar to low bar
- Same Bar Release – flight on the same bar
- Pirouette – non-flight element with a minimum of 360 degree turn
- Different Grips – elements forward and backward
- Dismount – any dismount rated D or higher
In terms of the dismount, if a gymnast only does a C dismount she’ll get a 0.3 CR instead of the full 0.5, but if she doesn’t do a dismount or only does an A or B element, she doesn’t get any CR, meaning that’s 0.5 missing from her routine. Basically it really hurts your score if you miss out on one of these five required elements. If a gymnast makes a mistake that causes her to miss her full pirouette and she doesn’t fit one in later on, for example, that could take her routine down from a 6.0 start value to a 5.5.
The elements on the uneven bars rank from A (the easiest skills worth 0.1 each) to G (the most difficult skills worth 0.7 each). Many of the stronger bar workers at the Olympic level will try to make sure all of the eight skills that count are D or higher, though because bars can be a difficult event for the majority of gymnasts, you will definitely see some gymnasts counting easier elements. And a gymnast can have more than eight skills in her routine, but only the top eight are counted. I’ll post a list of all of the skills with their names and values at the bottom similar to what I did with the vault list.
Finally, the connection values (CV). Gymnasts get a bonus if certain skills are connected, and those bonuses are:
- D + D (or more) = 0.1 CV
- D (transition from low bar to high bar) + C (or more, performed on high bar) = 0.2 CV
- D + E (both being flight elements, transitions ORÂ same-bar releases) = 0.2 CV
If you don’t understand even half of this, don’t worry. You’re not alone. We’re getting into super advanced territory so don’t freak out if you’re watching bars at the Olympics and can’t pick out elements or build a D score. This is what judges do and it’s super tricky!
But if you are a little more advanced and want to see how the D score comes together, I’ll take you through an example using a video and time stamps.
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Here we have Daria Spiridonova of Russia with a routine that earned her the silver medal at European Championships this year.
- 0:14 – Mount – glide kip – A
- 0:16 – Non-flight – cast to handstand – A
- 0:18 – Non-flight – pike stalder (inbar) full pirouette – E
- 0:20 – Transition – pike stalder (inbar) with flight to high bar (Komova II) – E
- 0:23 – Transition – swing forward to straight salto backwards to low bar (Pak) – D
- 0:25 – Transition – toe-on release with flight backwards to high bar with half twist (Van Leeuwen) – E
- 0:27 – Non-flight – cast to handstand – A
- 0:29 – Non-flight – piked stalder with half turn to reverse/L grip – D
- 0:31 – Same Bar Release – piked Jaeger – D
- 0:35 – Non-flight – cast to handstand with half turn – A
- 0:37 – Non-flight – backward giant – B
- 0:39 – Non-flight – pike sole circle with full turn (Hoefnagel) – D
- 0:42 – Dismount – double salto backwards tucked with full twist – D
Okay, so first let’s see if all of the CR have been met.
- Transitions – she has a low bar to high bar transition at 0:20 as well as at 0:25, and one from high to low at 0:23
- Same Bar Release – her Jaeger at 0:31 satisfies this requirement
- Pirouette – the inbar full at 0:18 counts, as does the Hoefnagel at 0:39
- Different Grips – like most gymnasts, the bulk of her routine is done backwards, but her swing down into her Jaeger is forward so that works
- Dismount – her full-out is a D, so this is all set
Spiridonova gets an automatic 2.5 points from fulfilling all requirements, as will pretty much every gymnast at the Olympic level.
Now, the skills. She technically has 13 skills, but remember, only the eight most difficult count. In order from high to low, her skills are as follows: E, E, E, D, D, D, D, D, B, A, A, A, A with the eight most difficult in bold. E skills are worth 0.5 and D skills are worth 0.4, so here you would multiply her three E skills by 0.5 to get 1.5 points and then her five D skills by 0.4 to get 2 points. Add these together, and her combination of skills is 3.5 points, which is added to the 2.5 CR to get 6 points.
But we don’t stop there! Now we look at the connection values. Technically every skill in a bars routine is connected, because the point of a bars routine is to show fluidity between elements. But more difficult connections get the bonus, and Spiridonova gets a bunch of these:
- Inbar full, E (0:18) + Komova II, E (0:20) = 0.1
- Komova II, E (0:20) + Pak, D (0:23) = 0.2
- Pak, D (0:23) + van Leeuwen, E (0:25) = 0.2
- Inbar half, D (0:29) + Jaeger, D (0:31) = 0.1
- Hoefnagel, D (0:39) + full-out dismount, D (0:42) = 0.1
So from all of her super difficult connections, Spiridonova gets a total of 0.7 in connection bonuses. That added on to the 6.0 we already calculated means she gets a huge 6.7 D score, which is one of the more difficult bar routines we’ll see in Rio.
Remember that routines aren’t all about D scores, though. Spiridonova also received an E score, or execution score, for this routine, which takes into account any errors she may have made. This routine was rewarded an 8.766 E score, which means starting from a 10.0 E score, the judges took 1.234 away in deductions. It sounds like a lot, but this is actually a superb E score for bars, where the best routines will tend to earn in the high 8s or low 9s.
So what are judges looking for on bars? Like vault, falls are obvious deductions, and incur 1 point. Pauses and intermediate or empty swings also get large deductions, so you know how Spiridonova had those casts into handstand between some skills? If she had done two of those in a row, it would be considered an empty swing and get 0.5 off. A gymnast who hits the apparatus with her feet (like whacking her feet against the low bar in a giant swing) gets 0.3 off, and a gymnast who brushes her feet against the floor while performing an element gets 0.5 off.
Spiridonova didn’t have any of these bigger deductions going on, so all of hers came from smaller deductions that build up. Every handstand or pirouette that isn’t perfectly over the bar is deducted between 0.1-0.5 tenths, and Spiridnova definitely picks up a couple of tenths in that department. In her Hoefnagel, for example, you can see that when she completes the pirouette and regrasps the bar, she is definitely way off from hitting a vertical position.
The judges have a perfect view of her handstand angle sitting on the sides of the bars podium, so it’s a bit harder for us to tell head-on, but I’d say she’s about 30-45 degrees shy of vertical, which would incur a 0.3 deduction. Had she been just a hair shy of a vertical handstand, it would’ve been only 0.1 off, and had she regrasped the bar 45-90 degrees shy of handstand, it would’ve been 0.5 off.
As with vault, the dismount is subject to landing deductions, like 0.1 off for tiny hops or steps, and 0.3 off for larger hops and steps. In this routine she has a teeny tiny readjustment on the landing which would’ve been about 0.1 off. And also like vault, the gymnast’s form is taken into consideration, with legs glued, toes pointed, and elbows straight. Spiridonova has very nice form and technique overall so she is a bad example if you’re looking for these form deductions, but you could see a clear separation in her leg form when she released into the dismount, which definitely would’ve incurred about 0.1 in deductions.
These are the most common deductions, but a few others exist as well, like a lack of height in a release move. Gabby Douglas was known in 2012 for going sky-high in her Tkachev releases, but some gymnasts barely get over the bar. I call these “butt-grazers,” and they can get about 0.1-0.3 off in deductions.
Douglas never had to worry about getting a deduction for low Tkachevs, but look at Ivana Hong in the second image! She barely cleared the bar, and definitely would have incurred a 0.3 deduction for being that low. Now, it’s not really a fair comparison, because Hong was performing a Li Li, which is a super tricky combination of elements with a rarely-done clear pike support with full circle swing backwards into the Tkachev…but her lack of height is a good example of what the judges don’t want to see.
Another common deduction is poor rhythm. I keep talking about fluidity and how bars are all about fluid transitions and connections from skill to skill, but some gymnasts have very little rhythm between elements, which can be 0.1 off each time the judges notice a problem. For many of the top bar workers, like Spiridonova, fluidity and rhythm come naturally, but for those who aren’t naturals at swinging bars, a seemingly good routine can still incur a number of deductions when there are problems with rhythm.
There aren’t very many penalties on bars, so it’s rare to see a tenth off in the “ND” or neutral deduction column, but if a gymnast falls and fails to mount the bars again within 30 seconds she gets a 0.1 penalty and if the coach touches a gymnast while spotting, there’s another penalty there.
Okay, we’ve made some pretty good ground with the uneven bars and I hope I made it easy to understand what can be pretty complicated to follow! But if there’s something coming to your mind and if I failed to share a crucial piece of information, please ask away in the comment section.
Before we go, here’s the list of the most common uneven bars elements in the code of points along with their values, sorted by type of skill. I’m linking each skill to a gif, all of which are made by the fabulous candycoatteddoom, who has this full list of every uneven bars element on Wikia.
I also used more colloquial gym language than the code offers, so check Wikia for the language used in the code as well. As a note, any skill is implied to be a backwards skill in regular grip unless I write “front” or “forward” and include the grip name (for example, “forward giant in reverse grip with full turn to regular grip” in code language = “front giant full” colloquially).
Article by Lauren Hopkins
The Gymternet 
What was the move Kyla Ross always did where she put one toe on the bar before the other one? Was that just a bad form error or was it on purpose? Everyone always talked about her form being so great, and she did it every time, so I wasn’t sure if it was a skill or just a bad tick.
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That was a toe-on (or pike sole circle). Even though she put one toe on the bar before the other, it wasn’t a deduction…just a stylistic choice.
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Lauren will have a better answer but… A toe-on is not an error, but I believe a lot of gymnasts stop doing it as they progress. But Kyla was big only doing what she knew how to do perfectly.
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Is the Strong in the code of points? I didn’t see it in the transitions section. And thank you for this! The transitions happen so quickly that I have a hard time seeing what they all are (except for the Pak). I really appreciate all of these!
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Yes it is! If you click through to that Wikia page, that lists every skill and the Strong is on there. I didn’t include it since we don’t really ever see it anymore so I tried to stick with what will happen in Rio or what has been popular over the past few years. Happy to help!!
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Thanks!
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I can’t remember where I read it, but the “Strong” is not done because according to the code of points, it must finish in a handstand.
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That’s insane!
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this is so helpful thank you so much! Could you also do an article about different grips because when i see gymnasts doing like an endo 1/2 i don’t know if i should give it a C or D. Thanks again
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To be honest I don’t really follow grips often because whether they’re in L grip or reverse grip is super difficult to see when you’re watching on video! I know I’ve put up info in You Asked segments before and it all comes down to thumb positioning and shoulder angles, but as much as I’ve tried to watch for grips in things like an Endo half, some videos make it impossible to see what’s going on grip-wise! I’ll see what I can dig up.
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Hey Lauren,
I’ve often thought the easiest way to follow grips is through the entry. Most gymnasts change into an L-grip or reverse-grip from a regular grip. Starting from a regular grip, if the half pirouette is a forward pirouette, the gymnast ends in L-grip (like your gif above for Inbar 1/2). Vise versa, if the half pirouette is a backward pirouette, the gymnast ends in reserse-grip (like your gif above for stalder 1/2). Forward and backward like how you’d describe forward turn and backward turn on beam or floor.
Similarly, Ono is a backward pirouette (ends in reverse) and Healy/ Ling is a forward pirouette (ends in L). Not sure if this makes any sense at all, but thought I’d share.
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The Ono, Ling and Healy are all inverted “forward” giants. Just thought I would make that correction. Usually gymnasts do a “blind-change” or “Higgins roll” both basically giant 1/2 to L or R grip depending on which skill of the three. That gets them oriented to complete the pirouette and this is where the difference between the three lie. The Ono I think starts from reverse and ends in reverse or L-grip depending on the next skill. The Healy and Ling start in L-grip and end in R or L depending on what the next skill is. Chinese gymnasts usually do the Healy-Ling-Healy 1/2 or Ling 1/2. The Ling has a “hop” before the turn ends. Healy is the most common of the three and Chinese gymnasts usually pair the Healy with a Jaeger from L-grip since it ends in L-grip just like the Ling.
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Hey Adriana,
That’s not entirely correct. Ono starts in L-grip and ends in reverse grip. Healy starts in reverse grip and ends in L-grip. And Ling starts in L-grip and ends in L-grip. The current COP regards Ono and Ling as the same skill, since it now only cares about the starting grip.
And yes, you’re correct that all three are forward giants (forward swing direction). What I mentioned in my original comment is the orientation in which the pirouette is performed (i.e. turn forward or turn backward), which is a completely different thing from the direction of the swing.
The most popular Chinese combo is Healy-Ling-Ling 1/2 (most notably performed by Jiang Yuyuan, Yao Jinnan and now Fan Yilin). I’ve never seen anyone perform a Ling-Healy 1/2–since Ling ends in L-grip and Healy starts in reverse grip.
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Who, in your opinion are the best bar workers of the last few quads?
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You’re most certainly asking Lauren and not me but I think He Kexin and Nastia Liukin. Fan Yilin looks like she may be the heir apparent to He Kexin after a short drought there.
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He Kexin’s routine in the 2008 Olympics was amazing and my heart absolutely melted when she picked Yang Yilin up because she thought Yang had won.
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She really was golden. Her jaeger-jaeger combination is to me probably the most aesthetically pleasing move in all of gymnastics because it’s aerial finesse and the power that it involved. I think it embodies the concept of gymnastics. It’s a real shame no one does it anymore I think they should perhaps raise the CV to give more incentive for the move. But not just her, Nastia and Yang Yilin all had great lines. Ashton also has pretty good lines and Madison too (her haters don’t think so but it’s true) but I still think as far as lines are concerned even Fan and Madison don’t really match up with the 2008 Podium.
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Vitkoria Komova was and is the best bar worker of the last two quads.
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You could also say Viktoria Komova in my opinion, and I’d put in Aliya Mustafina too. But definitely He Kevin, and I’d probably add Nastia Liukin too. Possibly Beth Tweddle, she was awesome.
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Yes Komova for sure. Her 2015 WC final routine was so breathtaking!
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I’ve never heard a toe full called a hoefnagel before! Is there names for the stalder full and in bar full? Or were they performed at the same time or something? Also, do you have a gif of the li li Ivana Hong does? Or the name of the video?
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Hong did it all the time in 2007
YouTube-Ivana Hong USA UB Qual World Championships Stuttgart 2007
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The Hoefnagel is actually a forward toe-on full. Kristen Maloney used to do it, if you want to see. The backward toe-on full isn’t named (although, I’m pretty sure the bwd toe full to mixed/L-grip was named after Maloney). But the backward toe-on 1.5 is called the Lucke, after Anneke Lucke. The stalder full is called the Frederick, after Marcia Frederick. And the inbar full is not named for anyone. I don’t think it ever was.
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As a fairly new fan who wants to learn more about the technical side of gymnastics, these posts are a goldmine. Thank you so much for explaining this to noobs like me 😊
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One thing that was confusing to me at first, and should be pointed out, is that in a “front” giant the gymnast is travelling back-first and in a “backwards” skill she is travelling face first. It’s the fact that “front” skills would lead to front saltos that causes the name, but it’s counterinuitive.
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I always thought of the “front” giant like a front handspring over the bar and a “backwards” giant like a back handspring. Don’t know if my thinking would help others though.
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It still cause me a temporary moment of huh, wait.
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Sorry to change the subject, but is this not the MOST ridiculous video you have ever seen? LOLOL I almost feel bad for her…
http://www.espn.co.uk/video/clip?id=17161837
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*cringing* at 0:58 it looks like Mykayla’s wearing some kind of brace??
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What on earth did I just watch? I swear I thought it was a comedy routine at first.
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She is so cocky and so deluded and that video just proved it. It was a joke from the beginning, when swimmers promoted chocolate milk as a “fueling”‘beverage to the end when Gabby said that she thinks she can win at least 4 golds. Wow. When she leaves Rio with at MOST a team gold and an all around silver (and a silver would be lucky for her even if she qualifies) she will be extremely disappointed. Unless she went Tonya Harding on Simone, then her goals become just a tad bit more realistic, but still extremely ridiculous, especially considering that both Chinese, both Russians, Madison and Rebecca Downie are all better the her on bars, along with the fact that she will most likely finish last in qualifying on beam. Gabby must be expecting a lot of falls.
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I really doubt she will make beam finals. Laurie and Simone will probably both qualify ahead of her
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I don’t think she’s delusional, she’s just playing into the story. The media wants to act like there’s a big battle brewing, so she can’t just say “yeah, we all know Simone’s going to win everything, duh.” Everyone says they want to win in these type of interviews.
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Her response just doesn’t sound natural. It’s almost like forced or scripted or something. I don’t know… Maybe it’s also the media ‘s fault for keep asking them these repeated questions like how many medals are you going to win?! while I think her response could have been better and sounds less forced, I think the media should also stop asking them these same old questions.
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It’s one thing to say “I’m going to try to defend my all around title”. It’s a whole other thing to say “I definitely think I can win 4 gold medals”. And Gabby has been like this consistently in interviews even though a) she’s fourth on the team in all around right now, b) she’s nowhere near the level she
was at in London and c) shes not a contender in event finals.
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4 year fan guide:bars Really very good article. , vaults,,, gymnastics,, uneven bars,,fluidity rhythm ,, routine gym,,,,,, hand movements,, centimetres height,, 1960 and 72 matters. And details technical guides,,, pirouette,, dismount judges view some sports women details are very good ,,,,, very very good research,,,I appreciate u and u collected so much details especially technical issues ,,, and last paragraph mounts non flight , transitions, dismount,releases matters are very confused,,,,one kind of tumult ,, just like dilemma,,,. But one thing is surely it’s very good article OK thank u Lauren c u bye.
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Thanks for the recap, very helpfull, even for longtime gym fans !
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Of all the 4 events skills, I find bars skills the hardest to comprehended. is it just me?
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Nope, I’m right there with you! Bars is the apparatus that I find that to be the most difficult to follow along and really know what I’m seeing. The skills are all SO similar (just slight variations – grip, toe-on, toe-off, pike, straddle, etc, and there are a million combinations). In WC in 2015 I honestly could barely tell a difference between any of the gold medalists routines, even though others seemed to have strong opinions that there was a clear winner (Komova). That being said, it’s SUCH a pretty event to watch when you have someone like Mustafina, Komova, He Kexin, Nastia, etc. up there performing.
Again, Lauren — these are so great! Thank you.
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Thanks for this article series – I am admittedly a four year fan so I find this very helpful. This is a stupid question but I’m really curious – if the low bar is 5.6 feet high, why does NBC always make such a big deal that Ragen Smith can walk under the low bar? Shouldn’t most of the gymnasts be able to do that at that heigh?
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That was the first thing that came into my head when I read it was 5.6 feet high too haha… I know at one point they made a big deal about it because she was able to walk under the low bar while standing on a spring board and not duck. But I think Ragan is just so small they can’t resist mentioning it every five seconds, which definitely gets old!
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After thinking about it, I think the 5.6 measurement is from the floor to the bar, not from the mat to the bar. If the mat is a foot thick, that would leave 4.6 feet of clearance to walk under the bar without ducking. So basically Regan Smith sized.
But still NBC I get it. Enough about her size already.
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Hmm that could be! Yes I totally agree… I’m anticipating that’s all they’ll talk about when Flavia, Shang Chunsong, etc etc compete
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Novice question here – why does bars allow spotters to stand right there, practically (but not actually) touching the athletes as they do their release moves? I mean, I get that it’s a safety thing, but it seems that if someone doesn’t feel “safe” doing a skill unless a spotter is standing right there, they don’t really “have” the skill. I can’t think of any other sports that allow this (or any other events in gymnastics that allow it), some of which are just as dangerous as bars. How did this come to be?
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I would guess it’s mostly in case of a fall? Even if you have a skill down, sometimes things go wrong and you don’t make a catch. I do wonder if some gymnasts just feel more comfortable and able to perform knowing the spotter is there.
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1985 World Championships. Missed catch by an American gymnast (I think Jennifer Sey). Horrible, broken leg.
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Someone posted a video of Larisa training in a hotel gym among all the weights (it was really sad) and now theres a picture of her with Ashton, Ragan, and Mykayla saying that USAG is letting her use the alternates gym! Not sure if this is true or not but if it is, I’m so happy because she has the worst luck ever 😦
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That video is on Larisa’s instagram, but I don’t know where the picture is from? I hope it’s true. FIG should let her compete for the bronze she earned last year.
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Okay based on Kim’s instagram, it looks like all the alternates trained together yesterday? Or at the very least the US, Russian, and Romanian (Larisa) alternates. Not sure if this was planned or what, but I’m just glad Larisa isn’t in a hotel gym either way 🙂
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