Tumbling is a sport of patience.
This is especially true for those that are new, and have just begun their journey in the art of going upside down.
I think the reason it tests one’s patience is because you can never accurately predict the day you’ll accomplish a new skill or trick.
Sure you can train hard, eat well, and condition to keep yourself strong and injury free, but you can never say, “exactly X days from now, I’m going to land Y skill!”
You just work at it, then work at it some more, and one day it just lands. Then you come back another day, and it’s gone. Then it comes back again, until you become unconsciously competent and can literally throw it half asleep with the energy levels of a sloth.
Anyone that has mastered their standing back tuck, knows what I’m talking about.
But what if you there was a way you could shave a few weeks off your learning curve? What if there were little things you could do that would provide an immediate improvement in your performance?
Does something like that even exist?
Well actually, it does. I call them tumbling hacks. I use them during private lessons or while giving seminars – since I’m getting paid to deliver results as fast as humanly possible, and today I’ll share eleven of the best ones I’ve been able to dig up.
Tumbling is a sport of patience… you can never say, “exactly X days from now, I’m going to land Y skill!” (Tweet This)
How did I acquire such hacks? Some were through my own experimentation, but as for others, my research process was simple: I contacted a some great coaches and athletes who have figured out their own tumbling hacks, and asked if they would be willing to share their knowledge with the world. And you know what? They happily agreed!
So without further ado, let’s begin…
Tumbling Hacks From Lee Grobstein
Tumbling Coach and Owner of Star Athletics Cheerleading
Hack #1: Develop Round Off Power
“I would say that kicking your 2nd leg up (the back leg) in the roundoff can really help drive your kick stronger/faster thus creating more power for your tumbling pass.”
Lee has a great point here. A lot of times, athletes will get the correction to snap their feet together in the round off but this can go one of two ways:
- They might snap them together too early, resulting in a loss of power
- They may snap them together too late which is again, not very efficient
Instead, try this simple two step process:
- Train your needle kicks to be as fast as possible. Really focus on driving those heels up (see video below)
- Once your needle kicks have become quick, work on snapping the feet together at the 12 o’clock position in the handstand.
Once you get good at that, it’s just a matter of doing the same thing during your round off. A fun and fool-proof drill is to try a round off on to a block. It’s really hard to do this unless you have a good drive from the back leg, and a pop off your shoulders. See the video below.
Hack #2: Increase Power In Back Handsprings
“I would say that pulling the arms to horizontal (straight out in front of you) after your round off, before swinging them back, can increase the length and power of the back handspring.”
This is a great tip, especially if you’re looking to work whips in the future since having your arms out in front (or even at a 45 degree angle) instead of by your ears out of the round off can really give you a chance to drive them back as hard as possible. To see a picture of what this should look like, I’ve thrown in a picture below using my good ol’ action figure (his name is Kenny, btw)
If you’ve been doing back handsprings for a long time and already have lots of power, then this might not be a hack for you since there’s no point in fixing what’s not broken. But for anyone that needs to work their speed (especially if you’re level 1-3), then you should definitely give this a try.
Tumbling Hack From Richard Marks
Gymnastics Coach, and active Power Tumbler (his Facebook)
Hack #3: Getting more set for a back tuck or layout.
“This advice is for anyone who already can do a back tuck or layout and wants to learn how to make it higher. One thing that I’ve been doing to achieve more height in any of my tumbling is keeping in mind a very simple technique: if you want to go higher in your sets, you have to get your upper body lower.
What that means is that whether you’re tumbling out of a round-off or a back handspring, it’s very important to focus on looking at the floor and trying to keep your chest as low to the ground as possible before take off. You can achieve this in one of two ways:
- As you rebound off your shoulders, you want to absorb slightly through your arms (yes, bend them) so that you get lower to the ground before pushing hard and standing up quickly! Or…
- Make your back handsprings longer and really reach back, which in effect brings you lower to the ground like the first technique but you don’t have to sacrifice form to achieve it; however, this technique is a lot harder and takes a lot more strength.
Focusing on looking at the floor longer, getting your chest closer to the ground and standing up quicker will all help to a higher and more efficient set!”
It’s no secret that a deeper and stronger block gives you more height for your end skills, but what I like about Richard’s approach is that he helps you achieve the same result in two different ways. I’ve thrown in two pictures below, using Kenny to demo it for me.
If you want video representation of the first method (arms bending) you need to look no further than Brandon McCuien. And for a video of someone who’s mastered the art of a blocking low with beautiful straight arms, see Florian Landuyt.
Both great tumblers with two different approaches to blocking. Use what works best for you.
Tumbling Hacks From Elliot Helms
Tumbling Coach and Active Power Tumbler (his Facebook)
Hack #4: Ultimate Round Offs
“Probably the ultimate hack is the kick over the head in the round off, if the chasse(ing) motion is fast and the kick hard, it rotates the round off faster and takes a ton of pressure of your hands.”
I know what you’re thinking, “Hey wait a minute, isn’t this similar to the tumbling hack Lee was talking about?”
And the answer is yes. The reason I didn’t edit it out, is because I wanted you to see the importance of having a powerful round off. It’s always amazing to see how great coaches and athletes end up with similar conclusions. This tumbling hack is a great example of that!
Hack #5: Front Twisting Without Getting Lost
“In front fulls you should actually look over the opposite twisting shoulder, which allows you to see the ground the whole time.”
Pretty self-explanatory. Elliot is one of the only people I’ve ever seen do a split kick Adolf (3.5 front twisting) and so when it comes to front twisting, he definitely knows what he’s talking about.
Hack #6: Smelly Twisting (this one is my fav!)
“Can’t get a student to get their head turned around to spot in a full? Putch a scratch and sniff sticker on their twisting shoulder and have them tell you what flavor it is after the full, if they don’t know the flavor then their chin wasn’t turned in!”
After Elliot told me about this, I have made it a mission to go shopping for a boat load of scratch and sniff stickers. It’s so simple, yet so brilliant that you can’t afford not to try it.
And why not get creative with it? After thinking about it, another way you can use this is when athletes that have very open tucks (front or back). Put the stickers on their knees – they will have to tuck tighter if they want to smell the flavor!
Enjoying This Content?
Did you know that 99% of the resources on this site are available for free? That's over 100 articles and 300+ drill videos with no paywalls and no ads. Just real value shared with everyone. All made possible by generous readers that stepped up to support the site's maintenance costs. If you would like to help keep this resource alive, click below to donate or visit the store to show your support.
Hack #7: Get That Chin Down
“Can’t get a student to get their head in? Especially in double backs or vaulting? Teach backward rolls with arms behind head grabbing your opposite elbows.”
Like this, but grab your elbows
This one is great because it’s basically fool proof.
If you need to see it visually, see the image to your right (note: the only difference is that she’s putting her hands behind the head, but you should use them to grab your elbows)
What you’ll find is that your forearms really don’t allow your head to be thrown back, so when you attempt the back roll, it forces you to feel what it’s like to have your chin tucked in.
I cannot tell you how important a tucked chin in for your tucks and layouts. I literally will not let an athlete progress to layouts until they’ve shown me good back tucks and pikes with their chin tucked in.
The reason?
My job is mainly to coach tumbling, not fix tumbling. Getting it right the first time is a lot easier than correcting a bad habit later on.
So if your chin needs some work, give this a shot!
Tumbling Hacks That I Use
Tumbling Coach, Powerlifter, Taco Eating Specialist
Hack #9: Go Higher… Without Actually Going Higher
When I train standing back tucks – especially on blocks – the one question I’m always asked is, “How do you jump so high?”
And my answer is, “I don’t!”
Now I’m not saying I haven’t spent time training my vertical jumps, I have and you should too. It’s definitely beneficial. But since developing strength takes time, I cannot classify it as a hack. We want results now.
Truth be told, plenty of guys out there can jump as high, if not higher than me. The reason my standing tucks (and fulls) look as high as they do, is because I really drive my center of gravity (hips) as high as possible.
See the illustration below.
The easiest way to work this hack is to do jump backs on to a mat that is at least hip-height, while landing in a candle stick position. While driving the hips up, focus on the following 3 things:
- Keeping your chin down
- Opening up your shoulders but not bending your back
- Squeezing your glutes (your butt)
See my back tuck video below to see the end results.
For those who want to see how this applies to a standing full, see the video here.
“Getting it right the first time is a lot easier than correcting a bad habit later on” (Tweet This)
Hack #10: Your Tumbling Is What You Eat?
As far as sports are concerned, tumbling is about as “unnatural” as you can possibly get. Think about it for a second, soccer revolves around running; something we’re designed to do. Football (or Rugby) requires throwing, running and smashing into each other; something humanity has been doing for a while. But tumbling? Well we weren’t exactly designed to hurl ourselves upside down.
So as a tumbler, you need to take advantage of every edge that you can get. This is why inadequate nutrition is something you cannot afford to ignore.
Below is a simple but powerful smoothie recipe I’ve come up with, which will do the following: Flood your body with anti-oxidants (which will help reduce muscle soreness), repair and rebuild muscle tissue (so you can come back stronger) and finally, provide you with ample energy so you can push hard at practice.
I’d drink this 1 hour before practice and then again immediately right after.
- 1 cup frozen mixed berries
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cup low-fat greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup tart cherry juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/3 scoop vanilla whey protein
You may add water, extra tart cherry juice or even some orange juice if you want to make the consistency a bit thinner. Play around with it and have some fun.
If you’d like more information on how nutrition can help boost your performance, help reduce soreness keep your joints feeling healthy, check out my book The Cheer Diet. It is currently being used by National Level Powertumblers like Jordan Sugrim, elite gymnasts and World-Level cheerleaders!
Hack #11: Fixing The Set Before The Twist
If you’re working on your full or double twist, chances are you’ve been told to “set” before you actually do the twist. Nothing wrong with that, as it’s a very common correction, and something that takes time to master. But here’s something that will fix the setting problem in literally 10 minutes (provided you have a solid layout!)
It’s called a layout to pushup, and I picked it up at the amazing Woodward Camp. Basically, you do a round off >BHS into layout with the arms in the set position (by your ears), and leave them there! While doing this, stay in a hollow body position and you’ll notice your layout rotates slowly. Be patient and keep it that way until you land in the pushup position. Once you land, you can do a log roll in whichever direction you twist.
See the video of one of my athletes below.
I haven’t found any other drill out there, which teaches you to delay your twist as well as this one. But be advised, if you throw your head back, drop the arms to do anything else that’s weird, it won’t work. You need a solid layout, not those pikey looking things I see so often.
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed these tumbling hacks, and that you get to try them out the next time you hit the gym. But before I sign off, I should say that you should never neglect working on your basics.
Sure, it’s fun to use these once in a while, but if you really want to improve (and continue improving), your fundamentals not only need to be strong, you need to work them every single time you hit the gym.
A tumbler who applies some of these tumbling hacks to a strong foundation of basics will see their tumbling improve so quickly, it will seem like magic.
Found This Article Useful? Don’t forget to share with your friends, coaches and teammates!
Experience The Best Tumbling Clinics At Your Gym!
If you're a Coach, Director or Owner of a program and are interested in hosting Coach Sahil's clinics at your gym, click the button below to fill out the interest form. He is available for staff training, program design, and athlete development. Imagine what it would be like to gain 20 years of tumbling knowledge in just a few days!
About Coach Sahil
For over 15 years, Coach Sahil has been on a mission to help athletes master their tumbling and acrobatic skills in the shortest amount of time possible without sacrificing safety or the quality of their technique. As a former Power Tumbler and Power Lifter himself, he fully understands the inner struggles of an athlete and how to help them get to the next level. To date, he has worked with thousands of athletes around the World and provided training to hundreds of coaches in almost every country you can imagine. He is also a Certified Gymnastics Coach, founder of Addicted To Tumbling, and former co-owner of a gym. He is also the author of the best-selling book The Cheer Diet.
I tired the layout to pushup last night, and while it took a few tries (mainly because i was scared shitless) it really did help me with my fulls! My coaches always tell me I twist wayyyyy too early out of my handspring so thanks fo rthis!
Cant wait to try the rest of these hacks out
Haha yes it’s slightly scary at first because it’s slow and you just want to make it over but if you keep at it, things get easier. Glad to see it helped!
I’ve had an okay layout for about a year and a half. My coach keeps spotting me for round off handspring fulls.. I can’t seem to get it. I always stop at a half, I feel like I disappointed him. Btw I spin left
When you go for you full try to twist earlier
I also twist left, Twist when you see the floor and when you see it pull you arms in towards your chest faster and with more power, your right arm should be bent across your chest and your left should be bent at the elbow with your fist facing the ceiling like this
http://www.hsgymcoach.com/images/img10.jpg
Also visualizing helps
how do u make your rotation faster in a back tuck and higher
Damn coach, that is one crazy back tuck you have! I wish I could set like that lol
I’m thinking of using the scratch and sniff idea on myself. Even though I’ll know the flavor, at least I can be honest with myself to know whether I could smell it or not!
You can! Just gotta practice Cindy.
And you absolutely can use the scratch and sniff stickers on yourself. In fact, I never even thought of using it like that, but it makes total sense. What’s your favorite flavor?
Well I love strawberry banana (if they have it) but on second thought I figured I’d go with MINT, because then it can act like a second deodorant when I get really sweaty! lol
HAHAHA! Smart move Cindy.
So I saw when you posted this on your facebook page, and tried out round offs on a block at practice last night.
OMG is that harder than it looks! How does she make it look so easy? I managed to make a few land but I just kept going to my knees 🙁
P.S going grocery shopping today to try out that smoothie. Sounds delicious! But can I use soy protein instead of whey?
Becks,
Holly has been training under me for a while so it’s definitely a bit easier for her but remember that everyone starts somewhere. Also, did you try the progressions or just go right to the block? Make sure to take it one step at a time.
As for the smoothie, you can definitely use soy, though whey is much better quality and has more protein per scoop then soy. Either way, use whatever you like!
I have a question, my tumbling coach keeps telling me to get my arms all the way up by my ears as Im just learning my round off bhs. But when i saw the hack about having your arms in front, it makes sense to me.
I’m just confused whether or not I should try it. My bhs are slow and I think this might help me.
Tasia, there’s nothing wrong with the arms by your ears approach. in fact, that’s how I learnt my RO BHS. I’d say listen to your coach in practice, but when you get some free time or during open gyms, TRY the hack and see how it goes for you. If it works then great, keep doing it 🙂
So glad to hear that I did some of these hacks without ever realizing it! Great article. I can’t wait to try out that smoothie recipe with my Magic Bullet!
Great to hear Violet. Yes when you tumble you certainly can figure out certain hacks all on your own – that’s the magic of practice. And yes let me know how you like the smoothie. The Magic Bullet is the perfect tool for such a job 🙂
In my RO > BHS > TWIST …. i have learnr to do the log roll as i see the mat then we gradually build it up to the actual twist … and i really liked ur idea and gave it a try 🙂
Thanks for all the tips they have been really helpful
Great article. But there are only 10 hacks you missed out hack #8 or I should say tips they’re not really hacks but tips.
😉
Good job Bob. I believe you’re the first to have caught on. The “missing” hack is being released to the newsletter subscribers VIA email.
Do you have any good hacks for back handsprings and handstands
My Daughter has very solid running tumbling including a full but she is struggling with power in her standing backhandspring series. She has a very flexible back and uses her back too much in her backhandsprings instead of using the power in her legs and blocking correctly. Are there any drills you can recommend to make her standing backhandsprings faster and more powerful? She needs to get her hand hand full to make the team.
I require some tips for my BHS. Because my BHS is actually not anything close to what i want, it doesnt go smoothly nor have the ‘whip’ feeling to it, and i notice my legs somehow becomes bend at the part where my hands touch the ground. any advice?
my daughter is trying to do 3 whips but keeps slowing down especially when track is harder. What can she practice to help keep up speed?
Hey coach! I definitely needed some of these tips! Thank you!
With the smoothie recipe what can you reccomend in replacement of the cherry juice?
Hi, I’ve just got my back handspring. It’s not very good yet but the thing that annoys me is that I keep landing in a seal on my belly. Can you tell me why? Thanks!
A way that I could come up with is putting your arms down too late, or not pushing up off of them. Another one being not arching your back when you jump.
1. Try doing a handstand snapdown into the backhandspring
2. Practice blocks (using your shoulders to press off the ground)
3. Take a video of yourself doing a backhandspring and compare it to online videos or discover the problem by analyzing the video
4. Watch some tutorials to catch up on extra tips that YouTube tumblers have to offer
Good Luck!
How can you practice keeping your chin down when you look straight on ur tuck
If you look straight until actually completing the tuck part of the skill, you shouldn’t have to worry about correcting your chin
Hi Sahil,
I’m, coming from a Parkour and Freerunning background.
This article has actually helped me a lot a while ago (I remember being super glad finding the piece, it was shared on Facebook and I accidentally stumbled upon it).
Today I’m curating my own blog on Parkour and Freerunning – and I would love to share this article as guest-article with my readership.
This should also help and introduce new readers to tumblingcoach.com
Would appreciate if you could get back to me, Coach Sahil,
best regards,
Aaron
I am on a j3 team and I got my round off back tuck about a month ago I landed them at he start. I had a bad fall at one of my privates and I was scared to do it now I’m back at point A I landed like 2 tucks last week but that’s isn’t good I had practice today and I didn’t land not one my team is going to u.s. Finals in about 2 weeks and coach said I’m opening up to early is there anything I can do to land my tuck every practice or is there anything I can do to prevent opening up early?
I would just say that proper technique is to never bend your elbows for more power. You should always be blocking through your shoulders. It’s harder that way because it’s the right way. Competitive gymnastics team coach here. Just thought other readers should know. Yes it’s a shortcut but you’ll lose power that way and wear yourself out in the process. Take the time to develop strength to do it right. You won’t regret it.
I’m trying to help my friend with her standing back handspring because she keeps whipping her head back. I can’t remember how to fix it! Any tips other than putting a scrunchie or something under your chin?
If you bite your shirt before you go it will help not throwing your head back, I used it to fix my tuck and layout
I’ve always been told that I have too much power and I need to learn how to control it and I need to go up more on back tucks and layouts, any tips about this? especially on standing two to a back. it’s like I just go too fast without setting anything, but I don’t know how to get out of the habit. do you think I should work on getting my feet behind me before the back tuck in two to backs? idk I need help.
I keep opening my legs after my Bhs when I’m not supposed to. How can I stop this habit?
Try putting a lose-ish rubber band around your ankles to get you used to keeping your legs together
My teammates and coach keep telling me that i lean back/arch back on my Layout but i feel like im not as i spot before i get my toes up but they still tell me that i lean/arch back always what do i do?
I don’t stride back enough on my back handsprings, what are tips to help?
1.Practice on a tramp and use chalk on your hands to see how far they go, and lay down and mark on the tramp where your elbow is and try getting your hands to reach that far
2. Swing, pause until your on your heels, then jump into it
Hi I’ve been cheerleading for 6 months and I’m doing ok. I’ve done 2 Cher comps and I loved them but I always get nerves before them how can I get rid of these because I’m scared If I fail with me fulls or stuff. And is there a my cheer diet male edition ?
This was all really helpful but I really need help on my standing tumbling. I’m working on hand- hand layout but I can’t seem to use the rebound from my handsprings because my feet are really behind me and I end up muscling my tuck/layout making my set travel backwards.
Practice handstand rebounds
Thanks for the tip on how to get higher sets (for me a layout.) Running harder and putting more power into your round offs and back handsprings definitely help a lot. 1 thing though, my floor routine is really fast (I hate it) and so when I do my tumbling passes, I feel so exhausted like I could pass out so I can’t run as hard and put power into my tumbling.. ?
Try talking to your coach and maybe ask some others to all “petition” together?
I’m working on getting my back handspring back tuck and I’ve been finding it hard to get enough momentum going from the handspring to the flick. Do you have any tips or tricks to help?
So when I do my standing tuck, my arms don’t stop at the top like a good set, they always are too far back which causes me to go back, then I don’t land it. Any tips on how to fix that?
So I’m really just getting started, and still working on my round offs, but I’m having this issue and I honestly don’t know how to fix it. When coming out of my round offs I always end up folding myself in half, meaning my feet hit the floor and my hands have barely left it. Any suggestions on how I could possibly fix This??
Practice blocking in a handstand and then twist (like you would in a roundoff) and block (but you don’t necessarily have to go into the roundoff)
Most of there are complete crap and will get you a lot of deductions, but please please please do not try jack number three that will get you so many more deductions and it is so easy to hurt yourself!
will totally try these!
i want to know how to do a backhandspring but i am too scared to do it do u have some tips for me? thank you anyways
Spotting and a trampoline can help you get over the mental block. Also having a mat with pillows on it and a blanket on top might reassure you of the safety and ability to complete it, that’s how I got my first aerial.
Ok, so, to start off, face a wall, turn around and do a cart wheel. Then, start jumping into more, going more over your shoulder(you should use one hand for this). Keep throwing over whatever should till u get used to it, then try to lean back farther into it and start placing two hands down. It’s kind of hard to explain. But when u want to learn backflip, do the same thing but no hands and tuck. Do this on something soft
Take it little by little
My daughter is having trouble with her running full. She is twisting too early. In your hack you talk about a layout to pushup to delay the twist. Unfortunately I don’t see the video example. Also what is the reason to delay the twist ? Thanks for your help.
Wow your set is amazing! I can’t land a standing backtuck because for soem reason I find it hard to tuck? Any tips??
Totally understand! Practice on a mat first doing verticle jumps As HARD AS POSSIBLE! That is what got my tuck. Second: Don’t be afraid of going backwards and landing wrong, you wont be able to make it if you are afraid. Third: When doing this skill, try tucking a little bit harder. The problem may be that you don’t have enough power from your jump, which gives you less time to complete the tuck. Also, the problem may be that you are completing your tuck quick enough, or tightly enough. By not tucking enough, your body wont be able to “Cut” through the air as well and will leave you being “heavy” in the air.
The best Tips I can give are
1. Don’t give up/Be persistent and consistent in practice
2. Film yourself doing it and find out what’s wrong and compare it to a professional’s
3. Research and learn as many tips and tricks there are to the skill
Good Luck!
cool
This really helped thank you so much I loved it!!!!
I’m working on my full but when i do my round off back hand i do the full and then i over rotate and fly left (i turn right) what can i do to fix this? come off the ground last or faster?
I am really trying to work hard on not throwing my head back. are there any other drills that can help with that?
I have a good set but don’t pull fast enough on my stading tucks. How can I remember to pull fast?
Soooooo, how would I do a double back correctly? Is it like a RO back flip but holding on, or is it different then that?
Hey, just needed some help. I have relatively good tumbling round off double two layout being my highest running and standing tuck as my highest standing but about the standing tuck. I set a lot and my problems in my rotation. Some days I land it some days I don’t and I’m always so stressed about it. HELP! Also I just think I’m too weak so I’m trying out healthier diet options?
Hi! I’m working on my back handspring, I got it perfect on the tumble track, and almost floor, but I am now twisting. I REALLY need to get a round off back handspring but I have HD to basically re start.
So um you talked about “pikey layouts” I have a super piked layout and I just cant find a fix to it… any tips to fix a piked layout?
Hi. I’ve been working on twisting for almost m 7 months now but I can’t get past a half. I feel like I’ve tried every Trick in the book but I’m feeling really discouraged like I’ll never get my full and I need to have it in less than a month cause otherwise I’ll get my pass taken out of my routine.
Hi! I got my roundoff backhand spring, but I bend my legs and I am pretty slow. Got any tips? Also, I don’t know if you tried it, but are airtraks useful?
Hi! I got my roundoff backhand spring, but I bend my legs and I am pretty slow. Got any tips? Also, I don’t know if you tried it, but are airtraks useful? Thanks!
i have a question. im learning my standing tuck and i go high enough but then im landing short what do i do?
Do you have any tips on standing multiples/ getting the power to do skills out of standing handsprings?
I keep travelling far 8n my back tuck how do I fix this ??
I am a cheerleader and I was hoping to get my full before tryouts (which are probably gonna be a few weeks after life goes back to normal) so I’m trying to learn it on the grass. I have an okayish layout and I can do a full on the trampoline. I’ve also been doing a lot of drills. Is it safe to attempt and how can I attempt it without bailing? If not, what is my next step?