M2M Day 93: Attempting to land a backflip
This post is part of Month to Master, a 12-month accelerated learning project. For February, my goal is to land a backflip.
Today, I start a new challenge: Landing a standing backflip.
This is the first of the physical M2M challenges, and probably the scariest. Yet, I’m also really excited.
What does success look like?
In order to complete this month’s challenge, I must:
- Stand on solid ground (not a trampoline)
- Jump in the air
- Flip 360 degrees around backwards (aka “do a backflip”)
- Land on my feet
Fairly, straightforward.
My starting point
I actually tried to learn to backflip three years ago, but it didn’t go very well:
During my senior year at Brown, my friend Cliff and I rented a Zipcar and drove 30 minutes to the nearest gym that would let us use their gymnastics equipment. Cliff had learned to backflip when he was a kid, and was now going to teach me.
After signing waivers and stretching, we set up some mats and Cliff explained proper backflipping technique. Then, it was time for me to attempt my first backflip (while Cliff spotted me).
I stepped up on the mat and jumped.
As soon as I got upside down, I completely panicked, flailed my arms, and punched Cliff in the face.
After that, I sat on the side and watched Cliff practice.
In other words, I’m starting from scratch…
Read the next post. Read the previous post.
