Can anyone give me front handspring tips?

Question

I'm trying to learn a front handspring and I almost have it. At class I run on a sping floor into this foam pit that is level with the floor and I land consistantly up. my coach told me I need to make it longer but I don't know how. Also I can no longer afford the tumbling classes so i want to do them in my backyard. I do have a foam mattrass that is about four inches thick that I can use to land on but other than that I don't have anything I can use to help me learn that I know of. I really want to get it can you please give me tips on how to get it and drills I could do to help me get it. please don't tell me you need to have a proper coach because yes thats what I would prefere too but the first person who did tumbling I doubt had any coach and having a coach just isn't going to happen anytime soon. Any advice you can give me is greatly appriciated.

Answer 1

* When throwing your hands down in the beginning, throw them down as hard as you can without hurting yourself. Good rotational momentum is what you need.

    * Do not bend your arms when they are on the floor. That’ll only decrease the amount of height you’ll achieve.

    * Spring off with your hands as soon as you can. Do not wait for your legs to be overhead

    * Kick as hard as you can with your legs when in the handstand position. Very important since landing on your hands slows down your momentum. Kick hard and you will spin faster. Do this well enough and you will not fall onto your back like some of you were having problems with?

    * Very important a lot of you complain about landing with your legs bent in a squat position. To avoid this you cannot bend your legs at any time during the flip. It will be harder to land it when legs are straight but if you bend them at all you will not land standing up.

    * If your torso turns during your front handsprings, fix this immediately. This will mess you up a lot from perfecting your handspring, and will look really ugly to other people.

    * Do NOT stop in the middle of running.

    * Try doing it on grass or a mat, this way you have a smaller chance of injuring yourself or being sore.

    * You should always try your best, and sometimes doing these activities such as handstands in the pool or on the trampoline will help you understand how to do a front handspring better.

Answer 2

I know you don't want to hear about needing a coach, but you are risking potentially serious injuries working on tumbling alone. Anyway, to make it longer push off harder and instead of pushing all UP push OUT. Get some to video you and then watch videos of other people doing FHSs and see if you can tell what they are doing differently from you.