We haven’t had a Damien Walters video for a while and this one is pretty awesome. If you didn’t know, Damien is one of the greatest acrobats in the world and this video just goes to show what he is capable of.
We’ve seen bicycles, bikes and even cars running a loop. But what about using your own feet instead?
It’s really worth watching the whole thing, despite the fact that it’s basically a commercial for a soft drink.
If you want to be able to tumble and run like Damien Walters, there is a lot of practice ahead of you. But let me point you in the right direction – Tumbling and Acrobatics Starter Package.
The acrobatics start around the 2:30 mark. They do some bridging acrobatics. This is different from the gymnastic or wrestler bridging exercises, but instead involve some tumbling, hanging, and handstands on a bridge.
This is followed up by some interested tree climbing. Instead of going up the base they start at a branch and move across to another one.
At 5:30 they say they’re starting with some parkour. What it really is is jumping off a tall building into some crash pads. Although this move wouldn’t take much skill I’d still say many people would be afraid of doing it.
This video features Damien Walters and Tim Shieff in what I’ve termed as clothing related acrobatics.
The name of it is ‘One Leg at a Time’, which is going off the saying “I put my pants on one leg at a time,” which implies I’m a normal human being just like you. Of course these guys are anything but normal, and how they put their pants on, as well as other clothes, and taking them off in this video, is far beyond the ability of most people.
There’s lots of amazing acrobatics and other stuff, like undressing while hanging on a bar. Tons of cool partner tumbling drills too.
Then there is some goofing off with water balloons followed by some very inventive escalator tricks. I want to try that first one, hanging on it from the outside.
There’s a series featuring two of the best athletes in the world, Damien Walters and Tim Shieff, who I’ve featured a whole bunch on this site. In this series they do a bunch of random acrobatic things together, along with some of their other friends.
To start with they work on a slack line, and they aren’t very good. This goes to show that just because you’re excellent at one thing it doesn’t mean you’ll be good at everything. Still the manage a couple near handstand that are probably beyond the ability of many slackliners. And if they stuck with it I’m sure they’d pick up skills very fast with their acrobatic base.
Then they move onto using a physio ball, also known as a swiss ball to try out new acrobatic moves. Some are awesome, but they also miss a whole bunch.
It’s great to watch a video like this where you see people just playing around with their skills, and how often they miss and make them. While your skills may not be at this level, the training could look much the same. Of course, it goes without saying that it’s not recommended to try any of these moves without a proper facility to train in, coaching, and making sure you only work at things within your skill range.
Trampolining and tumbling go together hand in hand. Trampolining involves doing all sorts of acrobatic tricks on a trampoline which provides much more height. Tumbling involves doing the same or similar moves on the floor (and with gymnastic spring floors more height can be had).
I’ve mentioned this before. When I first started doing gymnastics I never really used the trampoline. My idea was that I should be able to do all the moves without artificial apparatus. Basically I wanted to be able to do every move outside.
The problem with this idea is that the trampoline is such a useful tool. Although it easily allows you to get tons of air without needed to generate it yourself (by jumping off the ground for instance) you need to control your body in the air. The same control and acrobatic ability in the air is applicable to being on a trampoline or not. It doesn’t really matter.
So even if you only want to do moves outside like I did, the trampoline is a useful tool for getting there.
Just ask Damien Walters. One of the best out there in free running and all manner of acrobatic stunts. One of his primary training methods and tools is the trampoline even competing in the trampoline world championships along with doing all manner of stunts in the gym and out.
For this reason you should use everything available to you. Set goals for tricks you can do on a trampoline. If you need ideas on getting started check out the Trampoline Handbook. In it you’ll find 48 different moves to work on. These range from basic to intermediate. From there the world of trampolining really opens up. Work on doing more complex tricks as well as stringing several more basic tricks together.
Here’s a video showing some amazing trampolining stunts from Adam Menzies along with some other moves at the end.
Want to do a twisting backflip? Do it on the trampoline first and nail it down, before moving onto the floor. Not to mention a trampoline can just be a lot of fun.
When it comes to tumbling on the floor you should follow the same progressions. Work on what you can and build from there. For a wide range of moves (248 to be exact) check out Tumbling Illustrated. And again, do more complex moves and focus on stringing moves together.
The truth is just about anyone can build up decent acrobatic skills if they work on it with persistence. You may not be trying out for Cirque du Soleil anytime soon but you’ll master moves few people can do.
Trampolining and tumbling skills are well worth going after. Working on one will help the other and vice versa. Use the combination and get better starting today.
In case you haven’t seen this video, check out one of the greatest athletes out there, Damien Walters.
One thing I think you can take away from this video is that much practice is done in a gymnastics center as well as outside in ‘regular’ terrain. Build up your skills in the safer environment before going outside.
