# Front/Backflip Help



## alex is w0rd (Aug 26, 2008)

Basically, i wanna try a front flip. pretty bad. i can 360 nicely, and i know i can gather up the speed and get the height needed to flip..

there lies the problem.

how much speed/height would i need to flip? what type if kicker/roller should i first try it off? 
i have absolutely no fear of flipping, im just afraid im going to miscalculate how much speed and height i will need. 

anybody have any tips?


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## Guest (Feb 27, 2009)

go into the pow and build a lil jump or if u have some feature to launch off. this way you can get used to the kind of speed and rotation you'll need to land back on your feet..backflips are easier to do on a board than frontflips..at least thats how it is for me...i cant get enough forward momentum for the frontflip..anyways when doing a flip its all in how u throw yourself off of it and grabbing your board and stayin in a low posistion as opposed to a streched out posostion will help the rotaion just make sure u dont under or over rotate..peace and good luck..rememebr powder is more forgiving than hard pack


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## Guest (Jul 9, 2009)

ok, i cannot 360 (not that ive really tried) but yesterday i decided to give a frontflip a go. i built a kicker that was about waist height and went straight to flat so there was no drop after the kicker. there was about 10cms of fresh pow on the landing so it was soft, and the ramp wasnt very steep so you dont have to counter-act the angle of the ramp so much when you throw your weight foward. i went just at a comfortable cruising speed and threw my weight directially to the nose of my board. i ended up landing it on about my 4th attempt and suffered no pain at all. the rotation is very natural as long as you roll right off the nose. 

using your arms to replicate a cartwheel for the first attempt is a good idea cause ithelps you put your weight foward and makes the flip seem just like a regular cartwheel

great fun trick [: i love it


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2009)

The hardest part of doing the flip is getting over your own hesitation, once you do that the rest is pretty easy. When you're coming up to the jump, lean back (almost like you were trying to butter) and then just as you hit the lip of the jump you will throw your weight forward (as if doing a nollie) that'll start your rotation. Make sure to commit to it cause if you don't it doesn't feel to hot.


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## ETM (Aug 11, 2009)

I suggest you get down to your local gymnastics centre and bust out on the trampoline. Its gotta help with getting used to the time it takes to perform the rotation and will help bigtime with your confidence.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2009)

^^^ ding ding. if you can do it in a trampoline then your half way there. Its not that we cant do it or are not able to..its fear obviously. so get them down on a trampoline then bring that movement to a power day and once you get them there you will be hitting them everywhere.


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## Guest (Sep 24, 2009)

Like someone else said, do it into powder so you don't have to worry about it. How much speed/height you need really depends on your body height/board length and abilities. Some people need bigger hits than others. Personally, I can rotate fast enough to hit the back of my head on the tip of the kicker. 

The biggest thing is commitment. Everything after that is cake. Someone else explained a front flip. For a back flip, find a nice steep jump. Go up to the jump with your knees bent a little bit, but not much. You want to stay fairly tall, so it's easier to lean backwards. As you approach the jump, you can rotate your torso so your upper body is pretty close to facing the jump. Don't let this affect your legs and cause you to do a heal side turn. I keep my hands down and don't use them to rotate. Start to lean back as you go up the jump and then just look up and lean back more as you start to leave the jump. Just keep looking up the whole time. 

Once you start rotating, you can suck up your legs some to help you rotate faster. Now, with your torso facing down hill instead of to the side, your legs will want to follow so you end up landing like a skier, but don't. Keep your leading leg in front so your board is still pointing down hill for your landing. As you come around for your landing, pull up your front leg more than the back leg so your nose doesn't dig in if you are slow on your rotation (or since your legs are already sucked up some, you can extend the back leg to make your nose angled higher). Now stomp that shit. 

You can do all sorts of grabs once you're comfortable, or just straight leg it, put your arms out and rotate slowly. This is one of my favorites. I think it looks awesome. Keep experimenting with how hard you lean back and how much you suck up your legs in order to get your rotation right. Just be confident as you're landing in powder and the real danger is only in a small part of the rotation. If you're not landing on your head, you're pretty safe, and pretty much anyone can get enough of a rotation around to avoid that. 

That's basically what I told myself when I started doing backflips without a board on flat ground. As long as I can get about 200 degrees of rotation around, I can stick my hands out and have my legs far enough around to avoid head/spinal injury. Anyone can get 200 degrees if they just commit.


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## RIDErjon (Oct 22, 2008)

Front flips and back flips are very easy as long as you totally commit. If you don't commit you better be wearing a helmet or you will have a head ache


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