Strengthening and conditioning to improve flips

Question

I would like to be able to do handsprings and flips. I have been spending one afternoon a week practicing cartwheels, handstands, backbends, and walkovers. Though I'm getting used to the movements, I'm not actually getting better.

Is there an exercise and stretching regimen that would help condition my body and accelerate my improvement at flipping/ tricking?

I'm a 25 year old woman with 23% body fat. I do cardio kickboxing 3 times a week and an occasional 3 mile run. Otherwise, I currently only do bodyweight resistance exercises.

Answer 1

I have no strength or stretching exercises for this purpose, but I do see this:

I have been spending one afternoon a week practicing cartwheels, handstands, backbends, and walkovers.

Gymnastics skills benefit from frequent practice. Even a quick few minutes of practice every day could make a huge difference versus once a week.

Answer 2

The best way to learn is by doing. Of course, the risk with flips is that a) if you don't do them right, it's possible to severely injure yourself and b) doing them repeatedly is risky, because eventually, you will get tired and it makes the odds of doing the flip wrong more risky. You can reduce the incidence of the first case by practicing the flips in a safer place such as on a trampoline, in a gymnastics facility, into a pool, with a spotter, etc. This is not a guarantee of safety but it does reduce risk. As for the latter, the key is to practice up until you start to feel exhausted and then stopping until you feel better.

There are techniques that you can do before actually trying the flip, whether to strengthen yourself or to overcome fear. For the former, recommendations include practicing leaping as high as possible and noting the apex of your jump and practicing jump tucks (jumping and tucking without flipping). For the latter, the video I linked has some suggestions involving things like practicing neckbridges to overcome the fear that landing on your upper back will kill you and practicing jumping and landing on all fours (on soft ground) to assure yourself that you can catch yourself midfall. As always, your best bet involves experienced people helping you learn.

There are similar exercises for handsprings. I know that, on the back handspring, the tumbling class I attended used a large foam cylinder over which we did a back-bend fairly slowly and evenly, also propping our legs up to make the kickover easier.

Answer 3

Phone the gymnastics clubs and see if they have adult programs. They will help you with progressions -- breaking it down into steps. They have foam pits for your first attempts so if you land on your head you won't break your neck. They have padded tracks for stringing multiple flips/handsprings together. They have foam block collections that allow you to do the movements in slow motion.

E.g. Foam blocks like giant wedges of cheese 8 feet long 1-2 feet at the thick end. You can start a roll at the thick end and the slope makes it easier to start the roll. Or you learn handstands at the thin end, and then if you fall the wrong way, you have a pad that catches you earlier.

E.g. A rounded hexagon about 3 feet in diameter. You start doing a backflip over it in slow motion

E.g. A stack of foam mattresses. When doing a jump and twist to land, you work on your jumps by landing on your back on the stack. As you get better at jumping the stack grows.

In addition a gmymnastics club will teach you exercises to build strength and flexibility, and exercises to get you comfortable with your body in weird orientations.