Front Flip Frustration

One of the things on the Genbukan curriculum is zenpo tenkai, aka handstand flip. For some reason, it is part of the curriculum for your white belt. Probably because it is in the same category as all other rolling / jumping moves. It is not a mandatory item though. It is not considered in grading you. But since I managed to learn the rest of the curriculum in a fairly short time (due to having a JJ background and practising a LOT) I wanted to add zenpo tenkai as well.

A good example of a handstand flip is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p64G0nBZ6jA&feature=fvw
There are other examples as well, if you search for zenpo tenkai, but there is a big difference: they usually include a running start.

This was how I learned it the first time. It is 'simpler' to do this with some speed because your momentum will carry you through when your technique is dodgy. Performing this from a standing start is more difficult because your technique has to be very good. Btw that does not mean that I think that this guy has crappy technique. I just mean that using a runup could make me think that I got it when in fact I didn't.

I've noticed (in no small part because of my sensei telling me a couple hundred times :)) that fluid motion is the secret to many techniques, and that using speed and power is usually done to make up for holes in a technique.

I have watched that youtube clip over a hundred times I think, trying to analyse her technique and figuring out how she can do this from a standing position and still land standing up straight. It looks so deceptively simple :)

Lots and lots and lots of falling and aching later, I can now say with some degree of confidence that I can do this. I don't yet end up standing straight, but at least I land on my feet.

Now I am preparing for learning koho tenkai aka the backflip (while continuing to improve my zenpo tenkai of course. It doesn't look pretty yet). That will probably take some more time, because launching yourself backwards is freaky scary.

Comments

There are no comments to display.

Blog entry information

Author
Bruno@MT
Views
355
Last update

More entries in Main category

More entries from Bruno@MT

Top