Learning a front flip, the most important steps for beginners
Learning front flip, how do you do it?
Learning a front flip: an impressive example of body control, which everyone would like to be able to do one day. For what is more beautiful than flying upside down in the air and finally landing back on your feet? An amusement park is nothing compared to it…
Spoiler: a front flip is not easy. There are quite a lot of physical requirements you need to meet. Do you need to train for it? Yes. Is it achievable? Absolutely!
Are you in good shape, are you able to a forward roll and are you prepared to make some flight hours? Then, there’s nothing in your way to go through the steps below and to be on your way to a beautiful front flip!
Learning a front flip: other requirements
Perseverance is by far the most important requirement when you want to learn a front flip. However, a safe learning environment definitely needs to be there in order to achieve this.
While you can work on the first steps at home, surrounded by soft matrasses and cushions, you will need to be in a gym for the real deal. Practice a lot on trampolines, soft tumbling tracks and pits or on a large stack of matrasses!
Learning a front flip: start with a warm-up
Before you start practicing, you should warm up and stretch the muscles you are going to use. Think about your wrists, ankles, hamstrings, neck and shoulders.
Warm up your body by running a couple of laps or doing some jumping jacks on the spot.
Learning a front flip: step by step
In fact, a front flip is nothing more than a forward roll, but then in the air. Therefore, take the forward roll as a starting point and build on it with the steps below and in a safe and soft situation. Think about matrasses, mats and cushions etc.
- Lie on your back and in one fast movement make yourself as small as possible while grabbing your knees and pushing your chin onto your chest.
- Make a fast forward roll while grabbing your knees when rolling
- Make a “bomb” on the trampoline. To do this, push off with two feet, land (and immediately bounce further) on your back and finish on your feet.
- Create a short run with arms in the air and by your ears. Push off with two feet and make a fast forward roll. The stronger the bounce of the underground, the easier it will be to do the roll. Try to grab your legs during the roll.
We start with exercises in which we make a rollover, and then make this rollover increasingly faster on various devices. You will certainly need the speed in the roll when making a front flip. Also vary in the devices on which you make the sale. Some examples are a mini tramp, a large trampoline, a plankoline, a board or maybe just a thick mat.
‘Tipsalto’ and ‘bombflip’
If the fast rollover goes well, and you notice that you are already getting a little loose from the surface, we continue with the ‘tipsalto’. At the tipsalto we already make a somersault in the air, but we first “touch” the thick mat (or other surface) with our hands before you roll over. The bomb can now also be practiced. With the bombflip, the somersault is already made in the air, only the landing is left out for a while. You land on your back with a bombflip.
Tips for practicing the front flip
- Make a quick run-up and active indentation, with which you create speed
- Take your arms up into the air at your take-off
- Grab your knees or lower legs while twisting in the air
- Keep your knees slightly apart, especially in the early stages of practice. This will prevent a nosebleed if you accidentally stay tucked for too long.
- During the landing, spread your feet slightly apart, bend your legs slightly and keep your arms sideways
And then?
When you’ve gone through all the steps above, try to practice the last step in as many different situations as you can. The roll needs to get higher in the air every time.
Start easy by pushing off a trampoline and landing in a pit or on a stack of matrasses. When you notice your front flip getting high enough, try to land on your feet.
The real front flip
After practicing and mastering the above tips and videos, you are ready for the real front flip! Practice the front flip in as many ways as possible. With various sales materials, different surfaces, and in different places. The more often and more varied you fly over, the better the front flip will go.
The fun of the somersault, but actually of the whole gymnastics sport; you are never done learning. Once you have mastered an element, there is always a more difficult version of the element. For example, a front flip can be tucked, piked or stretched. Or with a half or full turn in it. Or how about a double front? In short; don’t stop when you’ve mastered the front flip!. Challenge yourself and see what else is possible!
Get started!
With the tools above you are ready to start your front flip adventure. Are you enthusiastic but don’t feel confident? Have a look at our website and discover many tips and clips about all you need to know about gymnastics. Also check out our Youtube Channel with lots of gymnastics exercises.