The art of swingthroughs! Tricking, kicks, martial arts!

Hey everyone,

This week were going to talk about an advanced style of tricking that most people want to attain at some point in the tricking career. This week were going to be discussing swingthroughs. Swingthroughs are an important part in tricking because it enables you to link moves with put your foot on the ground. It's very difficult to do and you have to make sure your flips, and tricks are up to par before trying swingthroughs or you could hurt your ankles and knees pretty badly.

Some of the best ways to start swingthroughs are to attempt them from scoots or t/d raise because they are moves that meant to set up a swingthrough. These are probably the two easiest ways to get started. Once you feel like you have a good set, start chucking gainers, and than eventually corks. I always suggest trying to practice the move until it becomes second nature, and then moving on to something harder. It's always best to have clean consistent tricks rather than huge, land them 1 in 10 tries kind of tricks.

The next step to swingthroughs is to try them out of a twisting move such as a btwist, cork, or even full twist. Once you feel comfortable swinging out of almost any move try doing more than one. Such as cork swingthrough cork, swingthrough gainer. Build yourself up until you can swingthrough continuously at ease. Swingthroughs are very difficult to get down solid, but once you learn them you feel like a beast when you're throwing down tricks.

I hope you guys can learn from this, and inspire some of you to do swingthroughs! Level up and keep on tricking. Here's a link to a video of me practicing swingthroughs! I'm still learning how to do them penis as well, so hopefully you can watch me fail and stick some tricks! Keep practicing those flips, kicks, and tricks.

XSD at Rampulla's! Kicks, flips, tricks, parkour!

Hey everyone,

Hope you all enjoyed last weeks post about one of my favourite trickers! This week I'm going to talk about flips, kicks, and tricks in Rampulla's XSD class. This class is dedicated to combine acrobatics, martial arts, stunts, and parkour all in one. The class ranges from basic to advanced levels, as well as a wide range of ages. It's challenging and fun at the same time, because students work their butts off to learn a trick or move, and when they get it, the feeling of achievement is amazing. 

The one thing I have learned from teaching XSD is that everyone learns differently, and everyone is going to learn things at a different place. I've seen some students learn tricks their first try and others take years of training to get it down. The most important thing I tell them is that if you work hard, and continue to work hard anything is possible. It took me a year and a half to learn a back tuck, and I trained that move every single day. Everyone learns at a different pace. 

What I leave about teaching students, is that I get the chance to see them grow, I've seen students who first started who could barely do a cartwheel, and now they are doing cartwheel fulltwists like it's nothing. The transformation is amazing to see, it also shows what hard work and dedication can do. 

I love teaching XSD because it's what I love doing. I love being able to share my knowledge with people who are interested in the same thing I am. Tricking, flips, stunts, parkour and martial arts is my life. I want to be able to teach them everything I know and make them the best they can be in all aspects of their life. I want to be able to inspire, and motivate them every day. That's what XSD means to me. 

I put together a quick video of one of the classes that I decided to a small vaulting set-up. Check it out and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEtp5SV1I_s

Back Tuck Tutorial

Hey all,

Welcome to the second blog in kicks, flips and tricks! I'm excited about this weeks topic because it's about a move that I wanted to learn ever since I was a young child.

Today, I'm going to give you a tutorial on a back tuck! I'm going to explain to you in steps that should help you learn this move in a fun and safe way. Before you try hucking (throwing yourself backwards, closing your eyes, and hoping for the best) make sure you try learning the basics before you break your neck. Too many people these days think they're invincible and try back tucks on flat ground or sometimes off picnic benches without any training! It makes me go crazy, because a buck tuck is not an easy move! It takes practice, and dedication just like any another trick you are ever going to learn.

Anyways enough with the ranting, here are the steps for a back tuck:

Step 1: Have a good spotter, and if it's your first time trying this move, make sure you have a soft matt to land on.

Step 2: Practice your set ( jumping and raising you hands high above your head to get max height)

Step 3: Get your spotter to help lift you onto his shoulder as you set, to get the feeling of starting to go backwards.

Step 4: Set onto the shoulder of your spotter, and this time tuck your knees as if you were to do a full flip.

Step 5: Set your arms, tuck your knees, and flip over your spotters shoulder with his/her assistance.

Step 6: Practice until your spotter doesn't have to help you flip over.

Step 7: Do the back tuck with your spotter assisting you from the side, making the flip greatly less assisted.

Step 8: Once, your spotter doesn't have to help you flip, try it on your own.

Watch this video to help you understand the steps. My good friend, Jonny Caines is performing the flip, and I'm spotting him. Note: he is a professional stuntman, and I'm a certified acrobatic instructor. Learning this flip might taking longer than a day. In fact when I was learning this flip it took me over a year to finally do it by myself. Some people learn faster than others though!