Floor: Tricking Starter Pack
The canonical beginner-to-cork line every trickster walks. Feeling lost? Start with Floor: First Tricks.
A cartwheel travels sideways along a straight line, passing through a straddled handstand and back to the feet — hand, hand, foot, foot. It starts from a lunge facing the direction of travel, with the chest lowering as the upper body turns a quarter so the hands arrive in a line rather than scattered. A hard swing of the rear leg with a push off the front one carries the hips over the shoulders, and the arms stay straight to take the whole bodyweight at the midpoint — which is why plank and wall-handstand strength come before the skill. Most crooked cartwheels are a hand-placement problem rather than a strength one: the hands are guessing where to go instead of tracking a line, and drills that impose one (a mat, a floor line) fix more than extra effort does.
A roundoff is a cartwheel that lands on both feet at once — hand, hand, feet — with a half turn that leaves the body facing back the way it came. That turn is what makes it the standard way into back tumbling: it converts a run-up into backwards power. The entry hurdles into a deep lunge with the arms reaching long, since distance through the skill matters more than height. The first hand turns out and the second comes over turned further in, roughly in line with it, and that inward placement is what brings the body around. The legs join at the top and snap down together while the chest and arms come up; landing on the balls of the feet with the body tight is what produces the rebound that carries into the next skill. Arms left low absorb the power instead.
Capoeira's monkey flip adopted by tricking: from a low squat or crab position one hand reaches back, and the body swings over the planted arm on an off-axis arc, legs kicking overhead to land cartwheel-style on one foot facing where it started. Its forgiving progression is why coaches love it — start by barely leaving the ground and walking around the side of the arm, then steepen the arc round by round until it travels over the top. The cues repeat across every tutorial: turn the planted hand's fingers backwards or the wrist pays for it, squat low and let the balance break before reaching rather than jumping too high too soon, drive hard off both feet with the hips thrust toward the sky, and keep the eyes fixed on the landing spot the whole way around. It is the classic cure for backwards fear and a stepping stone into back handspring, touchdown raiz, gainer flips and more.
💡 Low, safe, and teaches the gainer feeling.
An aerial is a cartwheel with no hands: the same line and the same rotation, with the floor never touched. It is built on a cartwheel that already travels straight, and coaches are near-unanimous that anyone without one should go back and get it before trying this. The entry is a step or short hurdle onto the front leg; from there the chest drives down and forward while the back leg kicks up and over as fast as it will go, and it is those two together — not jumping height — that turn the body over. The instinct to hold the chest up in order to stay further from the floor is the mistake named most often: it stalls the rotation and puts the hands down anyway. The body passes through an upside-down straddle with the arms swinging down and back, and the feet land one at a time in a lunge.
A horizontal spinning kick and one of tricking's true fundamentals: the body lays out flat over the floor while both legs sweep around in a wide arc, like a low aerial with no hands. From a sideways step-in the arms wind across the body and the chest dips low — that dip and rise of the upper body is what powers the trick, with the back leg kicking hard and straight behind while the front leg pushes off. The chest stays low right up to takeoff, then lifts as the arms swing out, and the eyes hold a spot on the wall behind rather than dropping to the floor; looking down at takeoff is exactly what turns an attempt into a cartwheel. The first kicking leg lands on the ball of the foot while the second finishes the turn. Solid b-kicks open the door to aerials, flash kicks and the butterfly twist.
B-Twist performed on the ground. Butterfly twist — a horizontal, off-axis 360 twist that lands facing forward.
A standing backflip on floor rotates backwards from two feet and lands on two, with no hands down. The setup is a slight bend with the arms drawn back and the chest held up — tipping the chest forward sends the body travelling backwards instead of up. Height comes first: the arms swing up and the feet push off the balls, driving the body straight up before the shoulders tilt back to start the rotation. Looking forward through takeoff rather than throwing the head back is what keeps the flip going up rather than away. Once airborne the knees pull to the chest and the tuck stays tight for rotation; opening early kills it and turns the landing dangerous. The eyes find the floor on the way round, then the body opens to land on the balls of the feet with the legs bent to absorb. Because it is a backwards, blind-ish rotation, it is worth learning over a soft surface or with a spot before the floor.
Back Handspring performed on the ground. Backward handspring: jump back onto the hands, then snap the feet over.
💡 Optional but powerful — easier once flipping holds no fear.
Back Full performed on the ground. Backflip with a full 360 twist.
A cork is an off-axis backwards flip with a full twist — essentially a cheat gainer and a b-twist combined, which is why coaches treat both as prerequisites. It sets up from a J-step, and the takeoff is the make-or-break: leave the ground straight and vertical off the balls of the feet, because taking off tilted lands you tilted and throws the exit all over the place. The kicking leg drives up hard toward the opposite shoulder while the base leg jumps — the kick is what produces the flip, and the twist follows naturally from wrapping the arms and legs in tight rather than being forced. Keeping the hips and shoulders aligned makes the spin fast and clean. Corking too soon, before the leg has driven up, gives a flat, low, fast spin and a heavy landing — the common fault. The eyes spot the floor on the way out, the body opens, and the aim is to land in the same stance you took off from so the cork can chain straight into the next trick.
💡 The gateway trick — everything after this is style.