Most gym coaches will tell you that the fastest way to do somersaults is to practice them every day. While you shouldn’t practice on your own, you can condition your body to be ready for this type of jump. Before you are ready to perform a cartwheel, you must master several skills of gymnastics. If you don’t already have access to a gym, contact your local gym for information on classes.
Strengthen your legs and the center. Some exercises that you can perform are squats, strides, turns and abs. You can use weights or a dumbbell to increase the intensity of squats and strides. Practice jumping by jumping in place and bringing your knees to your chest.
Stretch your back, abs, hip and leg muscles. Stretching muscles increases flexibility and reduces the risk of injury, while learning to do a somersault. Before learning a new skill in gymnastics, you have to be strong and flexible enough to perform a skill.
Dominate a backward somersault, a grouped somersault and a side somersault before attempting a somersault. You must be able to jump backward by standing on your feet with your hands in the air and bending backward to lower your hands on the ground. After mastering this skill, you should be able to take off your legs from the ground and move to a standing position. The lateral somersault involves balancing your body in a somersault, but supporting the weight of your body with your arms and then landing on your feet.
Practice the somersault on a trampoline. This jump can be a mental challenge, since you must overcome the natural fear of falling back on your head. The trampoline will help you overcome the height needed in your jump to complete a somersault. This will help you overcome the mental challenge and make it easier to overcome the fear of the ground.
Stand with your knees straight and your feet flat on the ground to make a somersault. Start with the arms extended above your head and swing them down over the hip, while simultaneously bending the knees. As you move your arms back, stop your spin a little beyond the ears. Bring your hips over your head and tuck your knees as you turn in a jump and land with your knees slightly bent.
Advice
Have a central point in front of you. As your hip moves above your head, you will lose sight of the center point; however, it will reappear as you turn your body. When you see this point you are ready to land. When you do a somersault do not close your eyes. Keep your head in a neutral position.
Warnings
Incorrectly performing a somersault puts your head, neck and spinal cord at risk of injury, which is potentially fatal. Other possible injuries while learning this jump but not limited to it are: ankle sprains or fractures, sprains or fractures of the wrist, dislocated shoulders and various types of knee injuries. Never learn somersaults without a certified gymnastics instructor as an observer.
Here are a few suggestions you should follow while trying to make a backflip on a trampoline:
- Prepare your body well before you start doing backflips. You need to have an expert or some of your friends and then start experimenting. This is because there are chances of serious injury if the backflip fails.
- Warm up on the trampoline to check if the trampoline is easy to work with. If you think you’re not good with it, then go for some other trampoline better. Start jumping and limbering your legs and feel the rebounds under your feet.
- Now, after heating, you have to make a backdrop.
- When you start working for your backflip, you need to make a side handspring over the shoulders.
- Now try with the regular back.
- You have to keep repeating until you can land on your hand and feet.
- Each time you jump on the trampoline, aim for the highest jumps.
- Now the last step is to complete your backflips.
- When you are jumping look back and start jumping.
- You must be able to land mainly and stable on your feet.
- No matter what happens, just land with your feet.