Basic front landings

Basic Front Landing

Hands & Knees to Front Landing

Starting on hands and knees you begin bouncing equally – i.e. hands and knees at the same time and not like bucking broncos! Focussing eyes on an end wall or mat (rather than the trampoline) throughout this move you push your hips backwards as you bounce, and straighten your legs as you ‘drop’ to land on your front; at the same time you bring your arms to a position where your hands touch the trampoline slightly overlapping and in front of your face.

As you gain accuracy and confidence in this move, progress to standing on a mat (not bouncing) and, pushing upwards through your toes, drop to a hands and knees landing, bounce once on hands & knees and then drop to front landing.

Once this is achieved with confidence, progress to small bounces, first on the mat and then on the bed itself with mat being thrown in until you feel confident to achieve the full front landing without the intermediate hands and knees stage.

Note that many of the first front landings ought to be performed onto a throw-in mat until repeated accuracy of landing is achieved.

Front Landing

The front landing starts in an upright position with hips pushed slightly back as you jump upwards (with arms up and fingers still directly above your toes).  Extending your arms and legs as much as possible the initial hip displacement causes a small amount of forward somersault rotation – sufficient to allow you to land on your front as the diagram shows.

Initial attempts should be made on a safety mat until the correct amount of rotation and a stable landing is being achieved.  Progress can then be made to a mat being thrown in until a spotter ‘shadow’ with the  mat.  Spotters should be particularly vigilant about shoulders dropping early since this can cause a chest-heavy landing which can be quite uncomfortable.

As with the hands & knees move above you keep your eyes focussed towards an end wall or mat rather than down towards the trampoline to avoid landing in a ‘diving’ or ‘worm’ action.

The move is performed accurately when your hips are landing approximately in the same position your feet were at take-off.