A Primer for Back Tucks on the Trampoline

This article is designed to help gymnasts who are struggling with their back tucks on the trampoline. It offers lots of how-to tips and detailed, step-by-step descriptions of the hows and whys of the drills I’ve personally used to improve my technique.

One of the main questions I often get relates to getting over the fear of going backwards. People really want to do a back tuck or back handspring, but cannot bring themselves to chuck it. I completely understand this fear. I’ve had it. Sometimes, I still have it.

It makes perfect sense: why would our Lizard Brain allow us to hurtle ourselves backwards in space without being able to see where we are going? How is that possibly a safe venture? So, Lizard Brain quickly shuts that down by inserting a healthy dose of anxiety and sometimes utterly paralyzing fear. Perhaps it’s so we don’t actually wind up paralyzed.

The good news is that it is possible to eventually move past the fear, with the proper setup: conditioning, fundamentals, support and lots of repetition over time. The hard part is the most important word: eventually. That means different things to different people and impatience and anxiety play a huge part in how long “eventually” will be.

Let’s do a deep dive into the building blocks that might help you overcome some of your fear.

Fundamental conditioning for back tucks

It is essential to condition both the body and brain. If you don’t have the ability to set in a vertical position, to maintain a tuck position (core strength), to locate yourself in space (gymnastics vision), to change your body position while in space (kinesthetic awareness), a safe back tuck is not in the cards. Here, I offer some fundamentals that will help your brain and body connect with the requirements.

Conditioning drills on the floor

Hollow body egg rolls (slow and fast)

These will help you develop core strength, body control and a strong “set” position on the floor.

HOW TO TIPS:

From a hollow body position, sit in a tight tuck position on your tail.
Rotate to your back and return to your tail in a smooth egg roll.
Go back to hollow body and repeat.
Use a focal point on the wall to always put your eyes on.
Do this slow first for strength and control, then faster for power.
Do not let your feet touch the floor. It’s harder than it looks.

Back tuck wedge drill

This is a great one to understand the need to lift up, then tuck hard.

HOW TO TIPS:

Set up a stack of mats with a cheese mat on top, thick part closest to you.
Standing with your back to the mat, use an arm swing and set high to jump high enough for the back of your hips to clear the top of the mat.
Pull quickly into a tight tuck with your arms overhead as you roll back on the mat.
You can continue the momentum into a back roll. I don’t because they make me nauseous, but it will help with continuing the tuck position all the way around.
Practice keeping your eyes looking straight ahead. Do not look up – it takes you out of proper spinal alignment, and a bad habit to form.

Conditioning drills on the trampoline

Back bounces

This helps your dynamic activation of the core (abs and hip flexors), stability and control while moving in the tuck position.

HOW TO TIPS:

You can start this from a bounce or from a still position.
Keep your arms extended up to the ceiling. You can also make it harder by putting your biceps by your ears.
Eyes to the ceiling. Keep your neck in alignment – let the back of your head rebound on the trampoline with your hips and shoulders.
Use the lower legs to power the action. If you move from the hips, you’ll bounce all over the place.

Tuck jumps from stretch position

This will help activate your lower abs and hip flexors, improve control and spatial awareness in the air, as well as hitting a proper “set” to launch and open position to land.

HOW TO TIPS:

Start jumping at the center of the trampoline. When you have good height, pull in to a tight tuck position.
At the highest point in the air from your tuck jump, explode out to hollow body before you land.
Make sure you are spotting something on the wall. You’ll need that ability when you move to the actual back tucks.

Drills for rotation on trampoline

Front drop to back drop

This drill really helps you activate your tuck muscles quickly.

HOW TO TIPS:

As soon as you land your belly drop, quickly pull the knees up and into your chest as you rebound up.
Hold a tight tuck position as you rotate and land in a back drop.
Make sure you aren’t launching forward on the front drop; your belly should always replace your feet!
As an interim step, you can do belly to seat to back drop.

Donkey kick to back drop

This is another great dynamic drill to activate the core muscles needed for back tucks from an upright position.

HOW TO TIPS:

From the handstand, snap down quickly to the knees.
Quickly draw the knees into your chest, which will help you rotate to your back.
Keeping the chin tucked, look for the ceiling as you land on your back.
The higher up your handstand goes, the more time and power you’ll have to rotate. You’re basically doing a quarter back tuck.

Back drop, back to feet

It took me a long time to get the courage to try this move. But when I did, it unlocked so much understanding of what my back tucks needed.

This is all about developing a skill that scares you.

You can see in the video how much anxiety I have. I was really worried about landing on my head and hurting my neck. Adult concerns. But, with the support of a manual belt, a Pit Pillow, and a lot of encouragement from my flipping partner Tammy who knew I was capable, I was able to get past Lizard Brain.

When I built the confidence to finally go solo without the belt or Pit Pillow, I started to really feel the muscles involved in the tuck position going backwards. My original attempts kept going off to the side, but when I held the tight tuck position a little longer, they started going straight. Then, my back tucks improved overall and I was able to launch and land in the same spot. It’s all about understanding the physics and angles involved.

HOW TO TIPS:

In the back drop, think of hitting a pike position, which will give you momentum to keep rotating backwards.
Make sure you hit the tramp squarely on your back and not your head or neck.
As you rebound and rotate, pull in to a tight tuck position.
When you see the trampoline, open and stand up.

Using the belt

If you have a belt system in your gym, I HIGHLY recommend using that if you have a well-trained coach who knows how to spot you. Hand spots are okay, but as adults, we (I) have a lot of fear associated with another person being in our (my) space. The belt has been a way for me to work through fears of going backwards with a literal safety belt.

In this video, I was slowly coming back to flipping after having broken my foot. Since I got the injury on a roundoff back tuck landing, my Lizard Brain was in full force when it came to going backwards. Instead of forgetting it altogether, I kept my sneakers on and put on the belt. Then, it came back to me right away. My body remembered what to do.

A couple of months later, I started working on consecutive back tucks. I’m still not mentally ready to do it solo, but I know it’s in me, whenever I decide to try.

I’m including this because the ending is hilarious. It’s a double back tuck with my friend and coach Michael Morenberg spotting me on the belt. My husband asked “Who’s Batman?” I could watch this video all day.

When you’re finally ready to flip

Whenever your “eventually” is, after you’ve worked for weeks and months (maybe years?) on the fundamentals and drills to get you there, you’re doing to want to apply all of the body and brain training. When you do, these are the steps to follow:

Bouncing back tuck

Start jumping in the center of the trampoline, aiming to get height.
When you’re ready, set the arms straight up,
Activate the hip flexors and lower abs, bringing your knees up to your chest. You can tap or hold your knees as you rotate. Do not lean back or look up.
Hold the tuck until you see the trampoline bed.
As you extend your feet to the trampoline, change your focus to the wall in front of you and extend your arms up.
The standing back tuck should launch and land in the same spot on the trampoline.

PROS: Bouncing before the back tuck can help you get the airtime you need to complete the full rotation.

CONS: It also can be scarier if you don’t have full control of your bouncing, rotation and ability to open on time.

Standing back tuck

Stand tall, arms stretched up over your head.
Swing back like a back handspring, but instead of leaning back, you go straight up. The front of the hips should feel like they are pressing forward.
Activate the hip flexors and lower abs, and hold that tuck until you see the trampoline.
As you extend your feet to the trampoline, change your focus to the wall in front of you and extend your arms up.
The standing back tuck should start and land in the same spot on the trampoline.

PROS: Less scary, more feeling of control.

CONS: More likely to lean back and flip in an open position (no bueno).

In this video, the second attempt was much better than the first; I got more lift and held the tuck a hair longer and was able to rebound really high. That is great for connecting to a second tuck.

While I don’t offer this as a “end-all-be-all” of back tuck advice, these are the things that have helped me improve my technique over the years and reduce the fear factor. I have yet to re-apply this stuff to the TumblTrak, AirTrak, towers or floor; I’m still wary of bad landings on harder surfaces after having broken my foot (read about that here). But, my trampoline technique is better than it ever was.

I hope any or all of this is helpful for you. If it is, please leave a comment below.

Stacey Tirro is an arts educator, a high school physical education teacher, a mom and wife, a singer, an author/podcaster, and a coach at Flipper’s Gymnastics in Ramsey, New Jersey. She loves creating content of her Geriatric Gymnastics escapades, which you can find on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.