Front and back flip at home

Question

I am a Taekwondo student. I want to learn front flip and next back flip at home. I have two quilts at home. What are the requirements to practice those flips myself. Please specify any warm up exercises and web links for that. I want expert advice because there is a risk of fracture.

Answer 1

I'll first disagree with Wigwam about flips not being a part of any martial art. Capoeira and some forms of Wu Shu include acrobatic flips as part of their repertoire (primarily to show off and to intimidate opponents). There are Jujitsu and Aikido ukemi that involve flips to react to a throw or joint locks. And lastly, learning how to do flips improves your air awareness, which can be an asset when you lose your footing, whether it's due to a throw, a trip, or simply slipping. In general, in such cases, you're not going to land on your feet, but if you're used to shifting your weight in mid-air, you're less likely to land on your head.

As to how to learn flips, you can find any number of tutorials on Youtube. I personally have found pigmie and Nick Provost to give good progressions on how to get into it. pigmie has more videos going into details, such as how to overcome your fears, how to improve technique, and some tricks for using mattresses to make it a bit safer, but you also have to endure his short commercial tags for his bodyweight exercise system.

Frankly, your best bet is to learn from a professional in a proper gymnastics setting with the springy floors, mats, and all of that. Failing that, the next best is to have at least two good friends to help you through the flip if you freeze up. One can work, but it's more likely to unbalance you sideways. Past that, learning the flip off of a diving board or on a trampoline isn't a bad way to get over the fear of a bad landing, but may get you into some bad habits regarding landings.

The basic progression for a back flip:

1. Learn the jump. Go into a crouch, knees bent at about 90 degree angle. Straighten your legs and jump straight up, swinging your arms up into the air and just past your ears (basically straight up). Do this multiple times until you feel that you're getting a decent amount of height and have a good sense of where the peak of your jump is.
2. Learn to tuck. A lot of people start this one on the ground, lying on their back, practicing going from straight to bringing their knees up to their chest and wrapping them with their arms. This needs to be a quick motion. Knees go up to the chest, not head to the knees. Once you feel comfortable, do a couple jump tucks, same technique for jumping as before, but practice bringing your knees up and having them fully tucked at the apex of your jump. During this tuck, you may need to do a bit of bringing your head to your knees, just to avoid doing the flip early. Doing this on a soft surface, and with friends spotting you, is a good idea.
3. Flip. This is where you definitely want either to be doing this in a pool, on a trampoline, and/or with spotters. As before, you go into a jump-tuck, but focus on bringing your knees over your head, looking back slightly. Your body should naturally go up and rotate. Keep your eyes open and when you see the ground, untuck for the landing.

It's really that simple, for good or ill. A front flip is essentially the same thing, but the tuck involves bringing your chest to your knees instead of knees to chest, and your head goes forward, still spotting the ground for when to untuck.

Answer 2

Advice? Don't do it.

Flips are not part of any martial art - including Taekwondo.

If you want to flip, you should seek out a good gymnastics coach, and practice on proper equipment in a proper environment with proper instruction, not on quilts in your home from advice you randomly got from the internet.

Failing to do this, you run the very real risk of enjoying the rest of your life getting comic books every Christmas, and drinking your meals from a straw.

I promise you: fractures are the least of your worries.