One of my all time favorite tricks is the flash kick. A spin (literally) on the back flip, a flash kick is performed with one leg extended and the other tucked. You land on one foot at a time, creating an awesome visual. As you probably know, no trick exists in a vacuum. To do a flash kick, there are prerequisites, and even if you have those, it’s all about practice. As a self-taught tumbler, I’ve spent hours, days, months, and years at the gym perfecting my tricks. My confidence comes from having done something thousands of times. That said, here’s my how-to for the perfect flash kick:
Prep Work
What should you be working on to strengthen your skill set and complete a flash kick?
The Mechanics of a Flash Kick
A backflip is absolutely necessary to do a flash kick and serves as the base to the trick. This means it needs to be a confident backflip at minimum. Once you feel comfortable in your backflip to the point that you can do a few in a row, the flash kick evolves by slowly splitting your legs before the landing. Over time, you’ll go from landing on two split feet to landing on one foot and then the other.
As you may know from my other videos, a cardinal rule for traditional backflips is to never throw your head back. This is still a rule for tricks where you’re looking to get maximum height in the air. However, for a flash kick, I break this rule in order to whip over as quickly as I can and see exactly where my foot will land. This is what allows me maximum control when I’m doing flash kicks on super narrow surfaces.
Check out the video for my flash kick details and bonus tricks from me and my teammates!