How to Do a Front Handspring

• On solid ground, run, hop, plant your hands on the ground, throw your legs up, push yourself forward, and land back on the ground on your feet.
• To do this move on a vault, run towards the apparatus, jump onto the springboard, throw your hands onto the vault, push off with your arms, and land back on your feet.
• Over time, practice drills and strength exercises to make performing a front handspring easier.

Doing a Front Handspring on Level Ground

Run and hop. In order to gain momentum, start by running a few steps and then doing a hurdle. A hurdle is a quick hop or skip that allows you to start the handspring. Hop from your dominant foot, land on your dominant foot, and then quickly step with your non-dominant foot. Raise your arms straight up in the air when you hurdle.

Plant your hands on the ground and kick your legs up. Use the momentum from your hurdle to propel yourself forward and direct your arms and upper body towards the ground. Plant your hands on the ground and then kick your legs up to get your body vertical. The distance from where you last stepped to where you plant your hands should be about one body length.

Close your legs and keep your body straight. Just before your body becomes completely vertical, focus on keeping your legs together and not bending at any joints. This will help you straighten out your body.

Push yourself forward and land on your feet. While keeping your arms next to your ears, continue to propel yourself forward with your hands and land on the balls of your feet. Focus on keeping your legs as straight as possible while finishing the handspring.

Doing a Front Handspring on Vault

Run towards the vault. Build up some momentum by running towards the vault. It’s necessary to run fast so that you have a powerful handspring.

Hurdle onto the springboard. When you’ve reached the springboard, do a hurdle onto it in order to move horizontally through the air towards the vault table. Make sure to keep your legs slightly bent, your backside tucked under, and your core squeezed.

Go into a handstand on top of the vault table. Plant your hands onto the vault table at about a 20 or 30 degree angle and use your momentum to bring your legs up into a handstand.

Block off of the vault table. Once you’ve reached a vertical position, quickly turn your vertical momentum into horizontal momentum by shrugging your shoulders and pushing off the vault table. This pushing motion is called blocking.

Land with your feet in front of you. As your legs are coming down, focus on making sure your feet contact the mat slightly in front of where the rest of your body is. This will allow you to rebound upwards instead of shooting forward or falling back.

Practicing Drills

Practice doing hurdles. Hurdles are very similar to skipping. Push off from your dominant foot, land on your dominant foot, and then leap onto your non-dominant foot. Start off by skipping like you normally would around the room if you’re having a hard time understanding the rhythm of the hurdle. Once you have the motion down, try using it to go into a simpler gymnastics move, such as a cartwheel or a roundoff.

Work on your handstands. Once you’ve got hurdles down, it’s time to master the handstand. Practice your handstands in whatever way you’re most comfortable with. This could mean doing a handstand against a wall or doing a handstand into a high bridge position on top of a gymnastics block.

Do front handsprings over a barrel. While being spotted, try doing front handsprings over a gymnastics barrel. Doing a handspring this way feels a little more secure and supportive if you’re just starting to get use to the motion.

Use bands to ensure good form. If you have access to a tumble track, which is basically a long, narrow trampoline, force your forearms and ankles together with two bands, and practice your front handsprings this way. This will help you to learn and maintain good form in your front handspring.

Building up Strength

Do lunges to strengthen your legs. Lunges can help you to develop a strong hurdle. Stand with your legs together and place your hands on your hips. Step forward with one foot and bend both of your legs until your front thigh is parallel to the floor. Then, stand back up and repeat with the other leg. If you’re using weights, keep your arms by your sides. Keep your upper body straight and look forward as you do the exercise. Keep your front knee above your ankle and your back knee off of the ground.

Build your glute muscles with hips lifts. Start by laying on your back with your arms flat on the ground and your knees bent. Squeeze your backside and lift your hips to the ceiling. Hold for a couple of seconds and then lower your hips back down. Keep your back straight while doing this exercise. By doing hip lifts, you can gain the strength needed in your backside and the back of your thighs to push off the ground and also control your landing.

Strengthen your core with planks. Start in a pushup position and either hold yourself off of the ground with your palms or your forearms/elbows. Squeeze your legs, backside, and core while you hold the plank position. Keep your shoulders over your elbows. Focus on keeping your body in a straight line all the way from your head to your feet. Having strong stomach muscles will allow you to hold your body tight while you complete front handsprings.