Back handspring drills: for power and shapes

Hi All,

Today I thought I would share a couple back handspring drills I like. I personally believe no drill is ever perfect. Every drill has at least one flaw, but when we combine a bunch of really good drills together that have minimal flaws, we get really good gymnastics. So having a big pile of really good back handspring drills is really essential.

This first drill is one I like before gymnasts start doing standing back handsprings on the ground. This is partially due to the trampoline aspect of the aeroboard, and partially due to the slant. As the gymnast sits back to jump I think they end up in a much better position to back handspring. You can create that with a lot of different things. The end of a springboard, the end of a cheese. But just having the feet at that angle before they push off helps greatly.

The second drill is one that I know is used in a lot of gyms across the board, and that’s snap down back handspring series’. I hear a lot of coaches telling their gymnasts that their tumbling should accelerate, but often they don’t understand how that feels. When doing back handsprings in a series on the floor its much, much easier to feel if you are speeding up or slowing down.

Train hard!