"Punch it" help

[tazer101]

Hi im having trouble with the "punch" that your supposed to do before any tricks (frontflip, side flip, ect.). I dont know what im doing and not doing i just feel like im running up to it, jumping and then jumping again. I dont feel like im getting any height at all! Can anyone help me? I would appreciate it so much 

[Janine]

What sort of ground are you practicing on?  If you have access to a spring floor, it could be really helpful to just run and punch for a while (no tricks) to get the feeling down.  The spring you experience after a punch is super obvious off of a spring floor, so you should be able to feel it out pretty well.  Also!  There are normally gymnastics coaches hanging around who are normally pretty gregarious and willing to tell you what you're doing wrong (if anything).

[Alec Furtado]

Yea, blocking can be weird until you get it.


Try for a low "aggressive" skip into a two-foot take off, straight up. You also may want to drive your arms straight up with it since you'll be wanting to do that for an actual flip. You don't really need to jump as much as just make the take off quick. You may want to make your initial skip into it longer than usual, still keeping low and quickly launching straight up.

That might not be the accepted way to teach blocking but it works for me... some people need a different way to see it anyway.