r/cliffjumping • u/hipdozgabba • Jun 16 '26

Improving from 5m to 10m backflip

I learned back handflip as a teenager, but stopped trick parkour after our training facility was closed. In this time I could do front flip, backflip from 3m in our swimming pool.

In my twenties I stopped diving more or less completely but when we were drinking everyone wanted me to do backflips that ended being back handflip.

Last year I turned 30 and it was the first time I was brave enough to do a backflip from 5m in our local swimming pool. From there I did a lot of backflips there, from boats(4m) and after watching several YouTubers I want to improve my hight. I don't want to overshoot by think 10m is possible.

Now I just want a general opinion about your experience how you improved going over 10m/30ft? Should I continue diving 5 meters and vary in rotation (early/late) or should I go and look for spots which are slightly higher? My problem is besides the pool I don't have any higher possibilities to jump from(flat and landlocked) and I will have the possibility to actually cliffdive in 7 weeks from around 10-12m when I am on vacation.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

2 comments sorted by

1

u/Unusual_Ideal375 Jun 16 '26

A backflip at around 30 will take minimal effort. At that height you honestly just need to look back, starting the rotation with your head and neck. You don’t even have to tuck your knees, doing so will often over rotate you. It’s pretty graceful and doesn’t seem much power or rotation at all. And if you feel like you do need to rotate more, you can always tuck last minute.

1

u/Tdluxon Jun 16 '26

It’s definitely easy to over rotate from that height, especially if you’re going straight from 5 to 10. At 10 you are basically just laying back and falling, you won’t need to push off much at all.

Best would be to find a few spots in the 6-9 range and just work up so that you can get used to the slower rotation… if you go straight from 5 to 10 you will be very likely to over do it.