Performing a backflip while sitting down is trick guaranteed to impress your friends. The backflip is one of the most difficult floor skills for gymnastics, but when you start from a sitting position, the difficulty is significantly increased. Do not attempt to learn a sitting backflip without help from a qualified gymnastics coach.
Step 1
Learn how to do a regular backflip. A backflip is a gymnastics skill that is best learned in steps. Learn to complete a back handspring and standing backflip before attempting a skill as advanced as a sitting backflip.
Step 2
Strengthen your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, arms and your core muscles. A sitting backflip take a lot of muscular strength. A regular backflip involves a powerful jump to move your hips over your head, but a sitting backflip lacks the jump, which increases its difficulty.
Step 3
Sit in an Indian-style pose. The outside of your ankles should rest on the floor. Rest your wrists on your knees.
Step 4
Lean slightly forward as you simultaneously extend your arms to your sides and swing your arms backwards. The backward swing of your arms should be slightly below shoulder level and the motion looks like you're trying to clap your hands from behind your body.
Step 5
Keep your arms extended behind you and then quickly and forcefully rotate your arms in a clock-wise motion. Stop rotating your arms when they are extended above your head and slightly past your ears.
Step 6
Lift your body so your weight is on the outside of your ankles. As your arms are moving slightly behind your ear, push off with your ankles and bring your hips over your head. Keep your head in a neutral position and once you see the ground, you're ready to land. Land with your knees slightly bent.
Tips and Warnings
- Master the skill of moving from sitting Indian-style to standing before attempting to add a backflip. Work on difference services to help with transitioning into a backflip, such as a trampoline, elevated map or spring board.
- Performing a sitting backflip incorrectly puts you at risk for neck and spinal cord injuries, which are potentially fatal. Other injuries that could occur are lower back sprains, strains or fractures, as well as inflammation of the knee and achilles tendon.
