Do a Cartwheel
The cartwheel is a basic and common gymnastics skill that will strengthen your upper body and help you work your way up to more advanced moves. There are two basic types: the side-to-side and the front-to-back cartwheel. To do the side-to-side cartwheel, you'll start and end in the same direction. While this type of cartwheel is easier for beginners, the front-to-back cartwheel, where you'll start facing forward and end facing backward, is the traditional cartwheel you will encounter in gymnastics. If you want to know how to do a cartwheel, just follow these steps.
Contents
Steps
Getting Ready
- Stretch. It's important to stretch your muscles before you dive into the cartwheel, or you may pull or strain a muscle. To prepare for a cartwheel, you should stretch your wrists, your ankles, and your hamstrings and inner thighs by sitting in a straddle position and reaching toward the ground in front of you. Spend just a few minutes stretching your wrists by pulling back your fingers while facing your palm away from you, rolling your ankles in circles, and rolling your neck and shoulders, and you'll be good to go. Try using the support of a wall of strong furniture and practice doing handstands.
- Make sure you have plenty of room. Practicing on a beach, park, carpet, lawn, or large gymnastics mat will allow you enough space to practice the move. It's also best to learn on a soft surface such as a mat or a well padded carpet. If practicing indoors is your only option, be sure to clear away furniture, cords, and hanging items; these might not only get in your way, but also make you too anxious to perform properly.
- Imagine a straight line on the ground. Your feet should both be on the line; during the cartwheel, your hands will land on the line just beyond the foot you decide to lead with. If you don't think you can nail a straight cartwheel just forget the line and try it again.
Side-to-Side Cartwheel
- Assume the proper starting stance. Face the side of the room instead of looking ahead to the direction you'll be going. Spread your feet just over a hip’s width apart and extend your arms straight above your head with your palms facing forward. Keep your elbows fairly straight so that they don’t give beneath you when make the cartwheel, but be prepared to bend your wrists back as your hands make contact with the ground.
- Decide whether to cartwheel to the left or the right. This decision should be based off of what feels more comfortable to you. Also keep in mind that though you may tend to want to move in the direction of your dominant hand, the direction may not necessarily correspond with whether you are right or left-handed.
- Point one foot in the direction you will be going. Turn the other foot slightly outward for better balance.
- Look down at the spot where you are going to place your hands. This will help you control your aim and avoid becoming disoriented.
- Plant your lead hand on the ground in front of you as you begin to turn your body upside down. If you pointed your left foot, then sweep your left arm down until that hand hits the ground just past the point where your left foot is pointing. While your first arm goes down, your opposite leg should be coming up. The foot you pointed will rise last as you gain more momentum. Your second hand will land on the floor just after the first, shoulder's length apart from it.
- Plant your second hand and straddle your legs in the air. Kick powerfully so your legs come off the ground. You'll be balancing your weight on your arms, using your shoulders and core for support, like a handstand, with your legs in the air in a v-shape, or a straddle. Remember that you won't actually have to hold this position -- the cartwheel should take no more than 3-4 seconds to complete, so your body won't actually be still in this position and will still be moving forward. It's not as hard as it looks.
- Your hands should be straight, firm, and balanced.
- Stack your hips over your shoulders, keeping your body straight.
- Land on your non-dominant foot. As the hand you started with leaves the ground, the opposite leg should swing down just past your other hand on the imaginary line. Once that foot is firmly on the ground, your second hand will lift off of the ground as your final foot swings down. Keep in mind that as you swing each leg back to the ground, you will need to slightly bend the corresponding knee.
- Remember the rule of thumb for the side-to-side cartwheel: hand, hand, foot, foot. You should first plant one hand, then the other, and then plant one foot followed by the other. This is the basic formula for the cartwheel.
- Practice. Practice this cartwheel as much as you can. It'll take hard work and persistence to get it to look perfect, but you'll be able to do it if you put in enough effort. Once you’ve mastered a side-to-side cartwheel, you can build off of it to learn a front-to-back cartwheel. Some people even start off by learning the front-to-back cartwheel, which is a standard move in gymnastics, but it's a bit tougher to master.
Front-to-Back Cartwheel
- Start in a lunge. Get into the lunge position, extending your arms straight above your head with your palms facing forward, and up. Whichever foot you put forward will lead the cartwheel, so pick the one you feel more comfortable with. As you lean your body forward, your body should be in a straight line from your fingertips to your heels.
- Picture your imaginary line going straight out in front of you. This will help you guide your hands and feet. As you prepare for the cartwheel, you can turn your shoulders slightly to the side instead of facing straight ahead.
- Plant your lead hand on the ground in front of you as you begin to turn your body upside down. Start your cartwheel with the arm located above your forward-lunging leg. For example, if you’re leading with your right foot, sweep your right arm down until that hand is on the ground a good distance past where your right foot is pointing. While you swing your right arm down, the left leg will start coming up (or vice versa). Just kick your back leg up and push off your front leg for support.
- Swing your other hand down just a few inches past the first hand on the imaginary line. To better prepare yourself for the second half of the move, try to make sure that your first hand lies perpendicular to the imaginary line but the second hand runs parallel, facing inward toward your other hand. While your second arm swings down, the forward-lunging leg swings upwards.
- Straddle your legs in the air. Once both hands are planted, you'll be balancing your weight on your arms, using your shoulders and core for support, like a handstand, with your legs in the air in a v-shape, or a straddle. Remember that you won't actually have to hold this position -- the cartwheel should take no more than 3-4 seconds to complete, so your body won't actually be still in this position and will still be moving forward. It's not as hard as it looks.
- From here on out, it might help to think of the cartwheel dismount as trying to get out of a handstand.
- Use your arms to push off the ground in a popping motion. This is where having one hand facing inward comes in handy. As you pop off the ground, swing your straightened legs down from the hips.
- Straighten your body back into a lunge as your legs swing down. You should now have your arms above your head and be facing the direction you originally started in.
- Hop backwards slightly on the landing. This will help you keep your balance and give your cartwheel that finishing flourish. Your front foot should be a comfortable distance in front of your back foot, and your front knee should be bent.
