How to Do a Backflip
Master the standing backflip through safe progressions, focusing on maximum vertical jumping height, explosive knee drive, tight tucking, and a controlled two-foot landing.
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🧰 Required Tools & Equipment
- ✓ Gymnastics crash pad (minimum 8-inch thickness)
- ✓ Flat, level grass turf or sprung gym floor
- ✓ Elevated soft mat or plyo box (12-18 inches high)
- ✓ Smartphone with slow-motion video recording capability
- ✓ Trained spotter or coach
📦 Materials & Supplies
- ✓ Athletic grip tape
- ✓ Chalk for hand and foot grip
- ✓ Supportive athletic cross-trainers or bare feet
⚠️ Safety Checkpoints & Warnings
- • Ensure minimum 10-foot vertical overhead clearance and a 12x12-foot landing perimeter clear of obstacles.
- • Never throw your head straight back on takeoff; keep your gaze forward at eye level until your hips rise above your chest.
- • Always warm up your neck, ankles, wrists, and core with dynamic stretches before jumping.
📋 Step-by-Step Guide (5 Steps)
Condition the Vertical Jump and Arm Set
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, swing your arms behind your hips, and drop into a quarter squat. Explode straight upward through the balls of your feet while swinging both arms straight up past your ears. Keep your chest tall and maintain forward eye contact to drill vertical height rather than jumping backward.
- • Biceps align directly beside your ears at the peak of the jump.
- • Body achieves full vertical extension with no backward drift over the floor markers.
- • Throwing the head back immediately upon takeoff, which kills vertical jump height.
- • Bending the knees deeper than 90 degrees, which slows down takeoff velocity.
Drill the Fast Backward Roll and Hollow Body Hold
Perform backward rolls on a padded mat, pushing firmly with your hands to keep weight off your cervical spine. Transition immediately into holding a hollow-body shape on your back, pulling your ribs down toward your pelvis and lifting your shoulders off the floor. This conditions the core compression required to whip the hips over during rotation.
- • Smooth backward roll without neck compression.
- • Hollow body hold maintained with lower back flush against the mat for 30 seconds.
- • Rolling directly over the neck instead of pushing through the palms.
- • Arching the lower back during the hollow body hold.
Practice the Elevated Tuck Jump to Back Drop
Stand facing away from an elevated crash mat or plyo box setup. Jump vertically with maximum power, drive your knees toward your armpits, and let your momentum rotate you onto your back directly atop the elevated mat. Focus on pulling your knees to your chest rather than dropping your chest down to meet your knees.
- • Back lands flat across the elevated surface while knees remain clamped tight to chest.
- • Hips elevate higher than shoulder level at the peak of rotation.
- • Reaching down for the knees early instead of letting the knees drive up to the hands.
- • Leaning backward during the jump takeoff instead of jumping straight up.
Execute the Spotted Full Flip onto Crash Mat
Position a spotter with one hand on your lower back and the other under your hamstrings. Execute your full vertical set, drive your knees aggressively upward at peak height, and grip your shins firmly just below the knees to speed up rotation. The spotter guides your hips completely over until your feet face the mat.
- • Hands firmly grip the front of the shins during mid-rotation.
- • Complete 360-degree rotation finishing on feet atop the crash pad.
- • Grabbing behind the knees, which loosens the tuck and slows rotational speed.
- • Opening the tuck prematurely due to fear before spotting the landing.
Transition to Solo Backflip on Flat Landing Surface
Remove spotter assistance while retaining the soft crash mat underfoot. Set straight upward with full commitment, initiate your knee drive at peak jump elevation, and pull your shins into a tight tuck. As rotation passes 270 degrees, spot the ground beneath you, release your shins, extend your legs to catch the floor, and absorb the impact with a 45-degree knee bend.
- • Eyes actively spot the landing ground before the feet make contact.
- • Controlled two-foot landing within 12 inches of the original takeoff spot.
- • Bailing mid-air or extending legs too late, resulting in under-rotation.
- • Landing with stiff, locked knees which causes dangerous joint stress.
Credit: inspired by an original tutorial by Pierre Dalati — watch the original on YouTube.
Don’t have everything?
- No Crash mat? Stacked household mattresses or open gym foam pit
- No Plyo box? Sturdy elevated platform or stacked firm gym pads