Cartwheel Drills

All 4 contacts — both hands and both feet — must land on a 2-inch tape line. 10 reps per direction. If contacts wander off a floor line, the cartwheel is not yet technically sound. The line makes every error immediately visible.

Look for: Paint the ceiling with your feet · one hand then the other · land facing where you started

Gymnast performs cartwheels with the wall 12 inches behind her. Feet should kick to the wall at the apex. This verifies true vertical hip extension — most beginner cartwheels peak at 45°, not vertical, and the gymnast doesn't know.

Look for: Paint the ceiling with your feet · one hand then the other · land facing where you started

Start in a lunge. Cartwheel. No run, no hurdle, no approach confusion. Isolates the cartwheel mechanics from everything before it. Once the lunge-cartwheel is clean in both directions, reintroduce the approach.

Look for: Paint the ceiling with your feet · one hand then the other · land facing where you started

Kick to handstand with both hands, hold 3 seconds. 3x5 per direction. The cartwheel passes through a one-arm handstand — if neither arm can support a held handstand even with two arms, the cartwheel weight-bearing phase is inadequate.

Deep side lunge, hold bottom 2 seconds, press back to stand. 3x10 per side. The cartwheel landing is a lateral lunge arriving — build the specific lateral hip stability for clean cartwheel landings.

Plank position, alternate hand-to-opposite-shoulder taps. 3x10 each side. Cartwheels require single-arm weight bearing under rotational load — the instability in a shoulder tap plank mirrors this and builds the shoulder stabilizer response.

Athlete performs the full Cartwheel on their own — spot only as needed. Goal: consistent, confident, competition-ready execution with the cue: "Paint the ceiling with your feet · one hand then the other · land facing where you started."

Look for: Paint the ceiling with your feet · one hand then the other · land facing where you started