If you think about it, the only type of skills where landings are important are end skills. I mean sure, a Roundoff Backhandspring is nice to have, and multiple Whips strung together can definitely be a delight to watch.

But nothing excites like a BIG end skill such as a layout double twist, or a double tuck, or even a full in.

Heck, we have athletes doing triple layouts these days. The bar is constantly being raised, and I love it. I live for it.

Every serious tumbler I know, strives to push themselves to that next level.

Why?

Because the feeling of nailing a big end skill in front of crowd is practically priceless. It’s one of the most addictive feelings I’ve ever had in my life.

Hell, it’s addictive even when only 5 of your friends are watching during a training session.

Maybe that’s why I chase it so often. Also why my ever popular Facebook page is called Addicted To Tumbling.

Anyways, back to the point I was trying to make… which is that if end skills are important to you (as they should be) then you need to learn, understand and master the 3 KEY elements that I’m about to teach you.

These elements are the secret to nailing your landings, ever-single-time!

And it doesn’t matter what your current level of tumbling is at, or what end skill you’re trying to master.

If you’re working tucks, great! If you’re working double fulls, then you better pay attention. And if you’re working double tucks or full ins? Then even more reason to master the 3 KEY elements.

You should apply these like your life depends on it (because it sorta does!)

To be honest, it took me a long time to boil it down to something so simple, yet so powerful. Every tumbler or tumbling coach that I present this to tells me the same thing — that they wish they had been explained this concept much, much sooner.

And that’s because the 3 KEY elements are at the core of every end skill you’ll ever attempt. Think of them as a 3-legged stool. Without one of the legs, the whole thing falls apart.

So let’s get rolling, shall we?

Key Element #1: Speed/Power

As you can imagine, I get to see plenty of tumbling videos every single week. I get athletes sending me their stuff over Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Email… you name it.

Heck, I bet I’d get hit up on Myspace if it was still a “thing”.

And a very common problem that I see is that too many tumblers are trying to go for their end skill with only 50% of the power and speed that’s actually required.

Remember this: Without sufficient momentum, you’re in trouble!

So before you go asking me for some fancy drills to magically fix your layout full, first check to see if you have enough speed & power to do a layout. Because if you don’t, no amount full twist drills are going to help you.

So you know you need sufficient speed and power. Great. Fantastic.

But now what? How do you actually go about achieving this?

Well, I have 3 awesome tips that will help you speed up your passes. (Sidenote: try and apply them one at a time until you can incorporate all three together)

1. Take more steps

If you’re doing a pass that requires 2 steps, it should be enough… generally speaking. But sometimes you’re tired, or sore, or just having a bad day so it might take you more steps to get your passes built up to a speed that’s sufficient. Try doing it from 4 steps then work your way back to a 2 steps. I can’t stress enough how unsafe it is to go for an end skill with only half the take off velocity. I’d rather you take a longer run and land your skills, then try and be all bad-ass and end up on your face.

2. Time yourself

Get someone with a stopwatch to time your pass. Then try and beat that time by a tenth of a second the following turn. So as an example, if it took you 4.1 seconds to complete your RO BHS Tuck, try hitting 4.0 the next time, then 3.9 and so on. The great thing about relying on time, is that numbers don’t lie. It’s a very quick and efficient way of knowing why your end skills aren’t working.

3. Snap down harder in the RO

Your round off is EVERYTHING. Sometimes, I see athletes running half a mile before they start their tumbling passes, and yet, everything still looks like it’s in slow-motion. How can this be? Well, it’s because their RO is inefficient and is turning all that running power into piles of absolute nothingness. You need to make sure that your toes land in front of your hips and that your legs are tight. Below is a great drill you can use to make your RO more efficient.

Once you’ve mastered speed and power, there’s still a very good chance that your end skills might have trouble landing.

And that’s because you’re probably missing the second KEY element. Now before heading to the next page to find out what it is, try and take a guess. Think about what’s needed to make a tumbling pass successful in general.

Think you know what it is?

Key Element #2: Technique

I’m pretty sure you saw this coming. After all, if you’ve been following my stuff, then you know how much time I devote to this.

But I want to dive a little deeper into the rabbit hole. I want you to understand the importance of technique at a foundational level… because once you do, you’ll never forget it.

So, what exactly is technique?

Sounds like an obvious statement, but can you define it? In fact, take a second right now to think about what technique means to you. (Don’t worry, this isn’t a trick question, and there are no wrong answers.)

Got something? Good.

Because to me, technique isn’t just about body positions and shapes; it’s also about knowing and understanding the biomechanics of the skill you’re trying to perform, along with the psychology that helps you achieve success.

If that sounds like too many fancy words just strung together, let’s get practical for a second.

Consider the layout full twist: Why do you think I teach it with straight arms, but use the traditional arms “tucked in” position for the double twist?

Well, because of biomechanics and psychology.

For a full twist, you don’t need as much rotational speed as you do for a double (obviously), so bringing your arms in closer and tighter isn’t necessary. (Unless of course, you’re missing KEY element #1, and are now forced to crank that sucker over.)

But there’s more to it than that; when learning layouts, do you keep your arms tucked in or bent?

I sure hope not!

For layouts we keep our arms straight for the set, then keep them straight as our lower body catches up with our upper body until they touch our thighs. And if you’ve been doing hundreds of layouts with straight arms for the past 6 months to a year, it’s much easier to keep them that way when adding a rotation. It’s simply what you’re used to, so why change it?

For the brain, learning a WHOLE NEW arm position while adding a twisting element to your salto can end up in spectacular bails. Not always, of course. But for a majority of athletes I’ve found this to be true.

So the most important takeaway of today, is this: When it comes to technique, focus on fixing one correction at a time.

If there are 3-4 things wrong with your back handspring, DON’T try and fix all of them in your next attempt. There’s a high chance you’ll crash and burn. I’ve only met a handful of people in my time that can accurately apply 3 or more corrections in their tumbling pass at once.

Focus on one thing, and once that’s mastered, focus on another, and another, and so on.

That’s how perfection is achieved. Ironically, it’s also the fastest way to fix your tumbling mistakes and bad habits.

Now that you understand the importance of technique at a foundational level, it’s time to talk about the final KEY element. Once again, try and take a guess as to what it might be.

Key Element #3: Height

I know, pretty obvious right? I mean, in order to land something, it must first go up.

But how much “up” are we looking for?

Well, let’s expand this idea out further — why are trampolines and TumbleTraks so useful?

What do they do differently than your average sprung floor?

Well, they give you more air time. And more time in the air means you get those extra few crucial seconds to execute the skill correctly. And that’s what height does — it allows you the opportunity to execute the skill the way its meant to be done.

Now you might be thinking, “But Coach Sahil, if you have speed and power, and if your technique is on point, won’t you automatically get good height?”

Smart thinking! Generally this can be the case. In fact, if you nail down the first two KEY elements, you’ll definitely be better off than 90% of tumblers.

But even still, it’s not always true.

When I do clinics around the world, I meet a lot of athletes that have been taught skills individually, but they just can’t seem to put them together.

A good example is when they learn a standing back tuck.

They’ll nail it down with great technique and have good speed in their rotations, but when it comes time to connect it to a round off, they basically MUSCLE their way through. So to a non-trained eye it might look like a slower RO BT, to my eyes it looks like a RO > pause > BT.

If you have to muscle your way through skills in order to get height, you’re not executing this final KEY element properly.

Another way you can lose height is if you have great speed, great power, and great body positions but you take off at the wrong angle. This happens to power tumblers all the time.

Another way to word this, is that you didn’t “block” properly.

So how can we fix this? Well I have two awesome tips for you that will guarantee that you’ll always go sky-high for your end skills. (Note: Conditioning is a crucial prerequisite here. So if you’re weak, these tips won’t work. I highly recommend you check out the Cheer Conditioning Plan I’ve put together for you)

Tip #1: When you come out of your BHS, always ensure that your toes land behind your hips. The hollow body position is important here as well, but just think of getting those toes as far back as you can. If you can do this while maintaining tightness in your legs, you will be launched in the air like a rocket.

Tip #2: Once you master the first tip, start doing your end skills on TOP of surfaces such as stacked crash mats or landing mats. Generally, I get my girls to tuck/layout on surfaces that are at their knee-level. In fact, before I teach fulls, my requirement is that you MUST be able to layout on to a higher surface. If you can’t, you won’t have the height for fulls anyways, so why bother?

Final Thoughts

Speed/Power, Technique and Height. Never forget these elements as they will save you hours upon hours of frustration when your end skills aren’t landing.

If you’re a coach, start focusing your corrections around these for the next week or two. When your athlete is having issues, or a bad tumbling day, take a second to see if any one of these elements are missing in their passes.

99% of the time, they most likely are.

And if you’re an athlete, pay attention to the corrections you get from your coaches. Most of them will give you corrections that are helping your fix and master one of these elements — even if they haven’t read this article!

The Fourth Element…

I’ve always debated adding a fourth KEY element to the original three. What do you think it should be? If you have an answer or just feel like guessing, let me know in the comment section below.

I’ll be updating this article in a few days from now so you can check back and see.

As always, train hard, eat well and stay fierce!