Learning Acrobatic Moves

Hi friends!

Im still new to the combat scene. I have been training BJJ and boxing for about 2 years now.

Im always looking for an edge, and I was looking into incorporating some acrobatic moves into my training. I understand that flashy back flips etc will not replace the basics, but I was thinking about doing some acrobatic moves for 5-10 minutes after my strength sessions at the gym. Im hoping that this will improve my athleticism and I may possibly find some movements useful in my future combat training.

I was thinking that I would like to learn how to do a cartwheel first. Im 6’2, 205 lbs, and have never cartwheeled before. Anybody can give me some tips? Anyone else have any experience in this type of training? Im not too sure on how to go about it.

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Man Bird no one replied.

I think this is a great idea and is something I did for a while. I worked on cartwheels handstands/hand walking/ front hand springs.

I did it because it allowed for a more dynamic warm up and I thought at least I was cultivating some still at the same time.

Plus GSP did the same thing and well GSP is the fucking man so I thought I would give it a shot.

BTW what part of Aus you in?

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@oglebee: thanks for the reply bro.

I’m in Western Australia. You?

Are you still doing flips and tricks?

I’ve been spending 5 minutes doing cartwheels at the end of my gym session twice a week. Getting better.

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WA gross man. Haha just kidding.

I have in my late twenties once again found myself in school. It is all consuming so I haven’t been doing any training but I watched some inspirational David Goggins videos and that shits about to change.

I am in the Illawara.

All good bro.

School is good. You should start a training log.

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I didn’t see this first time out.
In my judo club we warm up with cartwheels and a forward jump into hand stand into froward roll.
We also do a backwards break fall into backwards roll into hand spring.
By them selves the don’t make you stronger - but they will teach you how to use your strength in this way.
My OHP has not gone up much since I’ve started doing these exercises. But in 3 months I’ve gone from a fleeting hand stand, to 1-2 second hold. And I can genuinely hand spring. Which is cool.

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Cartwheels you just need to commit to it and use body momentum. I don’t use them in BJJ but for some reason I did them all the time as a kid and can still do one. It’s a legit guard pass if you can pull it off. My instructor does it sometimes, I’ve seen him do it on high level guys. Tough to stop if you time it right.

carlbm mentioned breakfalls, which are part of our warm-ups and mildly acrobatic. Diving forward rolls is a pretty easy one. Another one I like is to have a partner set up behind you, shuffle backwards and trip you up without knowing where he is, which you can roll backwards with to stand back up or slap out into a guard.

That’s all I’ve got for you. Nothing about my game is acrobatic in the least!

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We used to do this as a warm up for judo, cartwheels, controlled backwards rolls and backward rolls into explosive pushups. I think ti works great in scrambles on the feet, gives you cat like reflexes, ur feet just seem to find the floor where as other people loose balance

We used to do these both in judo and bjj.
I had posted some judo sambo warmups that incorporate allot
of rolls hand stands cart wheels- and ukemi - breakfalls.

Im sure there where names for all of it
but I cant remember.

dug this shit out from the archive - I think I posted it like ten years ago

here are some pretty typical ones

then bro squats does a bunch of heavy snatches and then pullups

Im going to sit here and say that tricks will improve your game.
but they wil certainly warm you up
and learn to use your body. In ways that you dont use it before.
learning where you are- and how to control your body will help your bjj.
my 2c

many of these flips crawls bridges we did everyday- Ive done most or all of them at the various places I trained

Could do the one handed cart wheels. Rolling into a handstand, no, but the progression seems self-evident. How to train the neck to survive those flips?

neck training is essential for any grappling
this is a kinder gentler start

more wrestling centric bridge drill

you can do yes/nos off a bench
and neck harness work is sometimes allot safer then bridges.