The first step in this elevation is the “bars.”
The second, the glorious altitude, is “vaulting.”
Any one who has put on the belt of a gymnast, if but for [p257] one trial, has practised on the single bar the following rudimentary exercises:—
1. Breasting the bar, which consists in gently drawing the body, without jerking it, to the level of the bar, by the contraction of the biceps.
2. Circling the bar—curling the body gently over the bar head forward, holding tightly with the hands.
3. Simultaneous “upstart”—the elevation of the body [p258] above the bar, with both arms through a spring from the back—“temps de reins.”
4. Alternative “upstart”—one arm after the other.
5. Upstart on one leg, which has a corollary called German upstart or swinging.
6. “Cutaway up,” which is obtained by giving a strong spring, which throws the body forward, brings it back again in a natural swing, and is completed by an “upstart.”