The backflip is a whore. It’s appealing until you find out how easy it is to take advantage of. And if you’re dilligent, the whole “taking advantage of” thing won’t take longer than thirty minutes of solid practice.
You don’t need a massive vertical jump. You don’t need freak strength. You just need technical knowledge, friends, and cojones.
So take some action. Your path to superhuman awaits.
TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE
Before you think about flipping end over end, have a mental plan. Know the technical aspects of the backflip. Study this tutorial from Jujimufu. Understand the move from every angle possible.
It isn’t about jumping backwards, I can tell you that. Don’t do that unless you’re looking for a disability check in the mail.
Memorize the technique and visualize yourself performing it perfectly. Onward.
FRIENDS
Find two able body friends. Disinterested Mothers and Fathers aren’t ideal. Not only aren’t they the strongest candidates, but they also aren’t big fans of perceived potential neck breaking activities. (Even though the backflip is rather safe, especially when using this technique.)
So get two people that are strong enough to carry you. And then teach them how to backflip. Force them to read the tutorial. Discuss it over coffee. They are your safe net. It’s your responsibility to get people you know and trust to help you do this safely.
COJONES
With backflips, there are no prerequisite fear abolishers. It’s kind of a “just do it” move.
Using a spotter is a great idea. But even then, you still have to muster the courage to chuck the flip. Luckily, I have a fool proof method that will have you flipping within a half hour using your two volunteer friends. They take away the fear, which is why this technique is so effective.
STEP ONE
Have a spotter on each side—one to the left, one to the right. Have them put one hand on your lower back and the other on your hamstrings. From here, have them lift you up so that your legs don’t touch the ground. (It looks like you’re sitting in a chair.)
None of your body is touching the ground, which why you need strong spotters.
Extend your hands over your head. Have the spotters lean your body back so that your hands touch the ground, and once they do, tell them to throw your legs over your head.
This is an extremely spotted back handspring — not ideal, but it gets you familiar with the feeling of going backwards.
Repeat this step until you’re comfortable with the process — it shouldn’t feel “scary.”
STEP TWO
Add a small dip and jump to the processes of Step One.
Have the spotters latched onto your lower back and hamstrings at all times. But instead of having them lift and toss you, provide a little leg push from the ground as you extend your arms up and over your head.
The spotters still end up supporting you in mid air and tossing your legs over your head.
Keep your arms extended above your head during the entire movement to support against the ground if needed.
STEP THREE
Step three is the same as two, except with more leg drive.
Instead of keeping the arms extended above your head, swing them down and up with your jump. (Last step was all leg push, this step integrates arms into the jump.)
Again, spotters cradle the entire movement and essentially “hold” you. There’s no need for fear.
Because you’re using more leg drive, you’ll get more height. Stop putting your hands on the ground during this step. So after they swing up for the jump, keep them near your head for personal peace of mind. But after realizing you’re no where near landing on your head, try to make the movement smoother.
Abandoning the arms teaches you to jump up and not back. Using the hands at first is fine for the fear. But the backflip is a jump up in the air. So getting into the jump back habit isn’t good. The earlier you ditch it, the better off you are.
STEP FOUR
More jump and more arm swing. Focus on jumping up and actively tucking your legs to your chest on the flip. Don’t use, or even think about using, your hands for support. Don’t use them for “protection.”
If your spotters made it this far, you’re not going to land on your head. They still cradle the entire movement.
Swing your arms down, swing them back up, jump up, and tuck our knees to your chest.
STEP FIVE
The spotters remain, but their role decreases. They still support your lower back and hamstrings, but they should only flip your legs over your head after you initiate the jump and flip.
You really want to focus on doing the flip yourself.
Dip, swing your arms down (warn your spotters that you’ll likely hit their arms), and jump in the air. You should be landing your flip, and your friends should be helping less and less with every go.
STEP SIX
From a physical standpoint, your spotters are ghosts. Their arms are only contacting your body to give you a mental edge. They are spotting still, yes, but only if you decide to bail mid-flip.
Groove some backflips. When you stick them consistently, have your spotters remove the constant contact on your hamstrings. The lower back support stays.
Your spotters should help flip your legs over if needed, but the goal of this stage is to remove one of the physical contacts.
STEP SEVEN
Remove one spotter.
The remaining spotter keeps a hand on your lower back throughout the movement. The other spotter will be there, but with no body contact, helping only if needed.
STEP EIGHT
Both spotters will spot, but neither has pre-takeoff contact with your body.
STEP NINE
Remove one spotter completely. Keep the other on whichever side is most comfortable without pre-takeoff contact.
STEP TEN
Remove both spotters.
You are now free.
CONCLUSION
There’s something comforting and calming when both your lower back and hamstrings are supported with a spotter. It’s a safety net that mentally signifies someone being there to catch you. And with two people, it makes it much safer.
And if that isn’t convincing enough, here’s a silly video of myself from years ago landing one of my first backflips:
So what do YOU say? Are you going to try it? Do you have the friends? The cojones?
Are you going to take one step closer to superhuman?
I’d love to hear what you think, so drop some questions below.
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Photo Credit: Mitch Lee of Fresh Fox Apparel
Man, this is too true.
I delayed on learning the back flip for years when I was a kid because somebody had convinced me that I needed to master the back handspring first. I never did get a clean handspring (which is much more technical IMO), but when I finally tried the flip… yeah, about 30 minutes.
Spotters are good. Cajones are requisite. And Juji’s tutorial is a great way to learn the technique.
I agree. I never enjoyed back handsprings. Much tougher, IMO.
I’m game; just point me to the nearest Rent-A-Friend!
Hah, Craigslist that up!
Great tutorial Anthony. I did my first backflip in a Teaching Gymnastics class in college and vowed to be able to do one until I am 50 years old. I’m 32 and it’s still a great party trick
good stuff as always!
That’s awesome Keith! I vowed to stop tricking at parties after an incident at a wedding and being overly intoxicated. But more power to you! And glad to hear from you. Welcome to my little home
haha! Oh I’ve definitely been injured at a wedding before, but when you stick and the drunken crowd erupts, it’s well worth it to keep trying.
Yeah. Never had that moment of glory yet, I suppose.
Good reading, this article helped a friend of mine figuring it out.
Thanks for your devotion Anthony!
Thank Manuel. Always great to hear from you.
Awesome! More like this please…
Sure thing Martin, glad to see your comment and nice to have you around!
Anthony,
I appreciate you writing this up. Its somewhat different from how I teach them, but this would definitely help with people who bail mid flip. Will definitely use this with those people in the future. May also try to get extra credit using this method!
When you first did one, did you go crazy afterwards and throw a whole bunch? I know when I learned almost two years ago the two days after I learned I probably through around 40 backflips each day. Then I came face to face with the fact that backflips can cause some serious ab soreness, so I toned it down a little bit haha.
Yeah. Abs MAJORLY sore. Very common and very painful. I remember how discomforting it was. It sucks to a point to because it prevents you from practicing them for a while.
being able to perform a backflip was not in my list of goals, but seriously i feel like putting it in my list now! It is really fun and interesting to learn something new like this and to me at least, it is definitely outside my usual box. cool post man
Outside of the box is right. Like I said, it opens up a door of possibilities. Great experience.
That was roughly the progression I used to learn my backflip.
I didn’t have the guts to try it with only one spotter, so I started with two.
From my first spotted try, landing one on my own (November 17th 2011) took almost 20 training sessions, spanned between 4 months. When it happened, I felt awesome and super-capable, but actually, the fact that it took me so long to learn it (when many people do it in a day) and that it still looks like shit despite having trained it regularly from then, really shows how miserable I am as a trickster.
Well, don’t get down on yourself. Tricking is tough. It took me over a year to learn how to 540. Stick with it and good things happen!
Well, now I’ve got incentive to find a couple of adventurous friends. By the time I’ve accomplished that, we’ll find out how my cojones are faring.
But I am game to try!
Hah! Find friends and cojones. It’s worth it. It’s almost like a spiritual experience.
Funny you say that–I’ve found that going to church helps with both.
Definitely having a clear visual of landing a backflip was key for me. Also, after getting the backflip, I could understand the handspring. But, I never even attempted to land a handspring first. So the reverse order works much better if you really wanted a handspring to add the arsenal. Some helpers for height – If you were to put your hands straight up in the air and visualize this in the air, you will land a good backflip (this with the rest of the flip being done correctly.) If you try to add more reach while in the air (hands are now behind the head after leaving your feet), you will see more height. I also got some awesome one footed landings by reaching after elevating off the ground. Gets easier with practice. As noted, your abs take a beating, but you also know it is being done correctly. Perfection with pain..
Very good. I got my first back flip at work after a bit of goading from a friend. 30 minutes is about right. The hardest part is the first try. Once you realize that it’s easy to get at least far enough around to land on your knees, so that it’s almost impossible to land on your head and die, the fear goes away.
Yeah, it’s difficult to land on your head. The body is smarter than people give it credit for.
In all fairness, the first person to ever do a backflip taught himself. Therefore, learning it can’t be that hard, its the fear that gets it the way.
Hah, awesome. The fear is the limiter.
that wass grreeaat………..It reallly helped not only th tutorials but allso the comments too helped me to overcome fear
Nice.
I want to lern how to do a backflip but i dont have friends and hard to do it without anothet person their … It sucks i want to learn it badly
Find a local gymnastics gym. They’ll help.