[satanjie]

just last nite my school had a winter carnival dance... and whenever Billy Jean plays people always form a huge break circle.. its madd cool but whenever i go in there i always freeze up and i end up doing stuff for maybe 15 secs max..... and always forget to do a bunch of stuff like footwork.... it sux lol. plus last nite someone pulled out a back flip - something i want to learn but dont have the guts to... haha

so.. any seasoned breakers have any tips? ... besides me nabbing a pair of balls...

[Radical]

Not sure what to say.

Practice until your confident of your moves? You sound like your doubting yourself. Good luck.

[snowakeandbreak]

for the back flips you just got to get crazy, and for everything else, you need to practice every day, thats how you will see improvement fast. We just had a dance the other night at my school too, and it was off the chain. Everyone was flippin and breakin and battleing. it was cool to see so many kids breakin in my school.

[Abcme]

there's a muscle memory practice for backflip.

all you do is stand in the middle of the crash mat(might have to find in a gym), jump as high as you can and land on ur back flat, kinda like jumping straight into sleep.

you want to land about the same spot you stood.

practice that and u'll get rid of that fear of falling on ur neck.

and then just go for it. That's how I got it.

[bigstar_bboy]

lol i remember at one dance, one of the guys in my skoo went in the circle, did a backflip and left lol.. now thats pathetic.. but yeah.. dont think about impressing anybody when u go in, just think that its like practicing and if you screw up make it look like u meant to do that.. like if your doing a handstand and u start to fall.. try to go into an airswipe.. i like doing that but just have fun when u go in.. dont think too much about the crowd and it'll be all good

[Man_of_Mischief]

The best advice I can give you is not to listen to abcme. The logic behind his backflip teaching method escapes me. Best way is to work up with other flips. For example try front flips if you can find a softer place to land. (They are actually harder to land than backflips, and unrelated teaching-wise, but not as scary in most peoples opinion so you can get over the fear of going over your head at least). Start by learning back handsprings, lots of people say that valdez helps build confidence for this but its personal preference I guess. After learning handsprings its just a matter of getting comfortable with taking your hands away. Try it off of somethin higher like a picnic table and work your way down. Always have a spotter while your learning (just someone to stand by and catch you if you fall... which you won't).

Also, one of the best ways to get rid of the fear of going over your head, in my opinion, is to start first by doing backflips off of a diving board into water (no worries bout breaking your neck). Then once you know the feeling of the flip try it on a trampoline. Try doing it from less bounce as you get more comfortable and soon you'll find that flips are no problem.

And like bigstar_bboy said, no matter what you do look like you meant to do it and the crowd will love it.

I hope this helps, let me know how it goes.

[Abcme]

well, a crash mat might be too hard for landing straight on ur back(I did it into the pit), but that really is one of the more useful ways of learning backflip.

and no, I didn't just randomly make that method up. A gymnastics coach told me to do that when he saw that I was hurtin myself trying to backflip.

at first, the average person wouldn't be sensitive enough to know how much force they have to put in for a backflip, so by practicing the method I've posted, they learn to control their body in the air better, then, all they do is flip over once they know how to get rotation.

[Man_of_Mischief]

I myself am a certified gymnastics coach and I havent heard of doing that. At least not for learning backflips.
Those are called breakfalls and they just get you used to falling and absorbing shock on landings. So I suppose it could give you some confidence. However if you actually commit to doing the backflip you will make it at least over your head (or to you hands if you feel you might fall on your head). Mostly if you come up short itd be on your stomach, not your back. Thats only a quarter rotation so it would mean you chickend out on take off and didnt commit.
But the way you explained it does make some sense, and I'm sure if a coach told you then it must be useful. I still think youd have more luck with the divingboard method though.
But just so you know, abcme, I wasnt trying to call you a moron or anythin. Just saying that there are better ways of going about it.

[gobs]

About confidence in circles, just focus on what you want to do before you go in. Keep your eyes on the floor so you won't get distracted.

Make sure you have little routines memorized when you go down. Then you can rely on reflex instead of what you want to pull out your ass.

Actually most b.boys pull stuff out their ass when they are more advanced.

[Maydenchina]

Well, it all comes from practice. Practice a lot with friends or other bboys in 30 second freestyle sessions. We do that all the time, and so when I went to my first event, I jsut jumped right in and did stuff that I normally did, plus I also got my first mills there!

[Abcme]

Originally posted by Man_of_Mischief
I myself am a certified gymnastics coach and I havent heard of doing that. At least not for learning backflips.
Those are called breakfalls and they just get you used to falling and absorbing shock on landings. So I suppose it could give you some confidence. However if you actually commit to doing the backflip you will make it at least over your head (or to you hands if you feel you might fall on your head). Mostly if you come up short itd be on your stomach, not your back. Thats only a quarter rotation so it would mean you chickend out on take off and didnt commit.
But the way you explained it does make some sense, and I'm sure if a coach told you then it must be useful. I still think youd have more luck with the divingboard method though.
But just so you know, abcme, I wasnt trying to call you a moron or anythin. Just saying that there are better ways of going about it.

o haha, ic.