How To Flip

The Aerial flip is just like a cartwheel or round off but twice as cool because your doing a cartwheel but with NO HANDS!  You'll see this flip thrown a lot in kick@$$ martial arts films. I know when you see it in ninja movies you think the same thing I do, "That was BAD-A! I gotta learn that!" And then imagine throwing that sick flip anywhere and everywhere...going to class ...aerial....while out with some friends.. yea might as well throw an aerial here too....Some Hott babes walk by...you know you're throwing one! So if you're ready to take your cartwheel to the next level and become a ninja rockstar! Let's get started...

Step 1:Run up with a nice pace to build up momentum

Step 2:Plant your left foot down, really stomp it down and block to get more height when you jump.

Step 3: Jump with your left leg as you swing your right leg , both arms , and upper body UP to get maximum height.

Step 4: Really drive that right heel up and once your body is inverted drive it down.

Step 5:Land with the right foot

Key Points:

1. You will likely aerial the same way you cartwheel or round off. (so you will go the same direction and jump and land on the same feet as you cartwheel)

2. Flexibility will help with this flip. Especially theses stretches : Splits and pike stretch

Super FAST Progression Steps

*Note I put progression steps for 2 styles of aerial, the ninja style and regular straight style. Pick which ever one is more comfortable for you.

Style 1: Ninja Aerial

1. Learn your cartwheel

2. Do a one-handed cartwheel or b-kick

3. Do a B-kick

4. Invert the B-kick more - so it becomes a martial arts aerial.

Style 2: Regular Aerial

1. Perform a round off

2.Run and attempt the aerial form, place your hands down for support.

3. Perform a nice straight aerial, without hands.

Congratulations you are now a NINJA Rockstar! Go out and show the world!

For many of us, especially when we are new to the parkour scene. We see parkour, freerunning, and flips off things as the same thing. You jump across buildings and flip off of stuff. Well, technically parkour is all about efficiency and freerunning has more style and has flips and other "non-efficient movement. Personally I just see these two things as names. I just enjoy the movement.

So I'm going to call it all parkour so I don't have to throw out specific names and complicate things. So you've seen parkour on T.V., online, and in the movies and you want to learn how to flip. You've seen the massive diving front flips, the huge backflips off buildings and walls, and crazy ground flips that look awesome. Now you want to learn how to do it! But you don't know where to start?

Well later in this article I'm going to give you the exact steps on how to start learning flips and become a top tier free runner. When you train with the right techniques and system you can learn these incredible flips quickly and get them comfortable. So comfortable, flipping off walls and doing backflips is as easy as jogging for you. And you don't have to be an elite gymnast or martial arts expert, I sure was'nt. I just played regular sports as a kid.

I would see guys on t.v. flipping around and off walls. I thought,"Man! Those guys are awesome!! I want to learn how to flip!" But I would go outside and not know where to start. I'd be too afraid to go for the flips and end up giving up on it. I thought flips maybe just were'nt for me. So how do you start? How do you learn how to flip? And how do you learn how to flip with your parkour?

Well I'm going to give you the exact steps that I discovered getting my parkour and flips down.

1. Train your body to become an athlete.

Do workouts and body conditioning to make your muscles strong, springy, and efficient. One thing that will allow you to learn how to flip very fast is becoming an athlete and having control over your body.

You know those guys who learn how to flip in one day or just a few weeks? It's because they have base strength and coordination. They have great control of their bodies, very agile, they've developed their standing jump, and core strength.

So for guys like us, who might not have developed that base coordination and strength. Flips can be frustrating and seem to take FOREVER to learn.

And most of us just keep on working on the flip instead of implementing specific exercises to stengthen our core, jump, and body coordination.

While learning how to flip or before you start flipping work on developing that base muscle strength and coordintaion.

Perform agility drills - run in and out of cones and suicides.

Perform jumping drills - do workouts that involve just jumping.

Develop your core - Do exercises like planks and hanging knee raises.

2. As you begin to develop your muscles and body, train the basic parkour movements.

This will help develop additional muscle coordination and get your body and mind comfortable moving through the urban environment filled with rails, ledges, walls, and concrete. Work specifically wall runs, the parkour roll, and jumps from ledges.

3. Beigin to learn your basic flips on ground in a comfortable setting.

Gradually develop your backflip, front flip, side flip, gainer, and etc.

Train your flips in a comfortable setting, soft grass, your back yard, gym, a sand pit, trampoline, whatever place you feel comfortable.

Then gradually develop your flip while staying close to your comfort zone.

So start off with a back roll, front roll, and build into other flips (handsprings and cartwheels) and continue the process.

4. Then start integrating your basic flips with your parkour movements.

Gradually start to backflip off a wall. You will incorporate the wall runs and backflips you have trained earlier making the wall backflip more comfortable and less scary to develop.

Then use the same gradual process we discussed with the basic flips. Try to stay close to your comfort zone.

Use this system and you will progress rapidly with your parkour and flips.