How to Do a Front Flip

I have a lot of friends where I live and they all wonder how I can do front flips. I’m a tall guy (6 feet), so I am not one of those midgets who can do flips extremely easily.

Alright, first of all you must stretch your legs and your back. Trust me, spend five minutes here rather than five+ hours in the hospital. Believe it or not, but stretching is more important than it actually sounds. Once you have done that, go outside. Outside, try to find a jumping point (it could be a leaf, patch of grass, anything) around ten to fifteen feet away from you. I know what you are probably thinking right now: “I’m not ready for this yet!!!” Don’t worry, this jumping point will serve as a way to practice the jump without actually flipping. Now, start running and once you get near the jumping point, jump with your dominant leg and land on the jumping point with both feet on the ground. Jump outwards with both feet and throw your arms up above your head like superman. Repeat and practice this practice jump anywhere you like. Just remember that you look like a retard doing it so you might not want to do it in the hallway at school. Once you have got that down, try lying on the floor and tucking in your legs (so as to make yourself oval-ish) and hold it for a few seconds. Now shoot your legs out and then bring them back in. This process is similar to what you will be doing in the air. Once again, repeat and practice this tucking technique a few times.

The moment of truth has arrived! Something you must consider is that no one gets it right the first time. Everyone will land on their butt (it doesn’t hurt much at all once you get used to it). As long as you remember this, however, you may perfect the front flip faster than everyone. When you jump with both feet, do NOT only jump upwards. You have to jump forwards too. This simple aspect of front flipping is very important and I did not get it until just recently. I experimented one day and found it about twice as easy to land the flip if I jumped more forwards than upwards.

Anyway, it is best if you got some type of padding to land on if you are afraid of injuring yourself; however, as long as you go through with the flip – and don’t stop half way through – you should be ok. Now, find your jumping point. Pick any object. Run up to the object and do the practice jump, only this time throw your arms DOWN right as your feet jump off the ground. This throw gives your body forward spinning momentum. Tuck, like you did in the practice technique and then you should naturally land it.

It took me about 30 flips to finally land one, and it felt amazing. Have fun and enjoy doing these awesome techniques! Most importantly remember to be safe during this; I am not responsible for you injuring yourself while attempting this flip. I merely told you how to do it. Also, there are many shows on YouTube if you need a visual aide in learning this flip!