by Bradley Raley

Created on: June 05, 2007   Last Updated: June 07, 2007

Learning The Backflip

Before learning to do a backflip, you will need to know what it is. In relatively simple terms a backflip is a jump with a 360 degree backward rotation on the Z axis(or maybe X axis if you think about it from a front view). In its most common form it is done from a stationary standing position and the body goes straight up and straight back down to the spot it launched from. Ok? Got it so far? A standing backflip: the body goes up and rotates and goes back down. Simple! Quit wasting my time!

Ok! Then let's talk about the technique. There are a lot of little details that go into a backflip. I will try to tell them all roughly in order of their execution during the move.
First stand in a relaxed stance, feet shoulder width apart, knees bent, and eyes looking ahead. The arms should be in front of you (think zombie style) or raised up above you (think western "hands up!") or anywhere in between. It's a personal preference.

After you've mastered the standing part there's the dig. This simply means you go down in preparation to go UP! there are many variations to this part so try different things and see which lets you jump highest. The two ways I have experience with are the 'hop-dip' method and the 'rigid-same-path' method.
For the hop-dip: from the standing stance take a slight hop not even lifting the toes off the ground, let your arms swing somewhat loosely down and behind you then in one flowing motion jump back up.
for the rigid-same-path method, the one I currently use, first take the starting stance. Then push your arms down and behind you while simultaneously bending your knees and hips to a sort of jump-loading position, then very precisely follow the same path back up as your body parts made on the way down.

So whatever way you prepare to jump there are a few universal rules. DON'T LOOK AT THE GROUND! Swing your arms in a wide arc from behind you to straight above you. Don't bend your hip or knee joints past 90 degrees otherwise you will start too low and that will detract from the height you can gain in the jump. keep your torso fairly upright; pointing your chest at the ground will seriously screw up your backflip. Finally, don't forget to fully extend every part AND make sure all force exerted is directing you vertical.

Ok, now if you've mastered the set-up, all that's left is the part when you're in the air and the part when you land.

The Part When You're In The Air: Everything i say about this is very important. After you've jumped your

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