cheerleading?

Question

whats the best way to learn to do a back handspring?

Answer 1

As a past high school and college cheerleader, and current coach, I help teach young girls this every year. I must caution you never to do any of this by yourself...always always always have a spotter!

I don't know what your gymnastics level is, so we should begin at the beginning.

Make sure that you are well stretched, with a good 10 minute warm-up before starting.

Lay on the floor with your feet flat and your hands above your head with fingers pointed towards your shoulders. As you extend your arms, arch your back and keep feet firmly planted. This is a back bend. Work on doing this effortlessly.

When you feel very comfortable with this, try pulling yourself in an upright position - to a stand. This will take some time, but is necessary before going on. The movement should be fluid and not sideways. You should be able to stand up without any straining.

Now, get back into the backbend position and raise one leg, pointing your toes to the ceiling. Hold for a count of 10 seconds or more. Work on this until you can fully extend your leg, keep is straight up and it becomes second nature.

By this time, you will be getting strong enough to kick this leg over and complete a back walkover. With a qualified spotter, fixate on your hands visually while kick your leg ....this time, bent knee toward the the front of your body.

When you are at this point, you need to see your local gym or cheer coach / P.E. teacher to help you master the back handspring. They will have the necessary equipment and training to teach you the proper form, and you won't be bothering them with the basic fundamentals before you are ready to get down to the business of a back handspring.

I have to repeat...do not attempt to do this by yourself. You could injure yourself or worse.

Good luck!

Answer 2

like she said first learn a backbend. Don't rush on any of the steps because your muscles have to be trained to do these. After you can do a backbend well, exercise your muscles by getting into the backbend position and then rocking back and forth from hands to feet, just gently rocking. This builds the abdominals that you need to flip. Then with a spotter to guide you and even partially lift you do the whole backspring. Use a spotter until you are built up enough to do them on your own. My daughter learned this way at a gymnastics school.

Answer 3

You need to first learn how to do a back bend and learn how to stand up from back bend. Next, try a back walk over once you get really good at this you should ask someone that has experience spot you using mats with the back hand spring. Be very careful that you don't fall on your head, get someone that is experienced to help you.

Answer 4

take a tumbling class so you can learn more than a backhandspring.