Correct cartwheel form

After asking for help on a few other things I realized I'm not sure if I know the correct form for a cartwheel either, so I have a few questions. I looked up some instructionals and they seemed to say enter from a lunge both arms raised, turn sideways early, trying to maintain a straight line all the way from the hands through the lifting leg.

All of that makes sense in relation to what I've heard here except for turning sideways early. I know I want to keep my shoulders square to the ground as long as possible for the roundoff, is it really supposed to be different for the cartwheel?

Also, (I'm specifically thinking about reaching out for distance) does everything stay the same for the entry when you attempt an aerial cartwheel? Because for my purposes as long as the cartwheel is smooth the only technique that really matters is what helps the aerial.

Anyone?

the entry into the cartwheel or round-off from a forward lunge should be similar to a front handspring.

keep shoulders square as long as possible.

For aerial cartwheel, yes.

All I needed to know, thanks!

Ok new question.

When you enter the cartwheel the first leg (driving leg) will come up straight behind you. When you finish you want to be able to bring it straight down in front of you. During the middle though, there will be a part where you are sideways. Is it okay for the leg to travel sideways for a significant portion during the middle, or do you want that turn to happen as quickly as possible so that there is less side to side motion happening with the legs?

Let me know if I need to clarify anything. I know it's a somewhat confusing question.

I found a gymnastics video a while back where everything seems perfect. The guy is just amazing, and clips are shown in slow motion. It's how I got my front handspring substantially better in about 30 seconds.

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Hmm, ideally you want the leg going over the top as much as possible. How high it will go before it starts going off to the side will depend on if the torso is turned to the side as the hands are placed on the ground. That's why we want to place the hands on the ground with the torso as squared as possible instead of opening up to one side.

The body turns with the hand placement. Just worry about kicking the legs over the top.

That is an awesome video and will probably help many people with many things.

Okay in that video the guy ends sideways so the whole second half of the cartwheel is basically sideways.

The other stuff was cool, but the cartwheel doesn't really help.

The basic cartwheel is sideways, look at a wheel on a cart. Doing it from a lunge or landing in a lunge necessitates a 1/4 turn besides trying to emphasize that you stay square as much as possible.

Ok, so let's say I'm only using the cartwheel as a tool to improve my roundoff (mostly true in my case).

You of course need to enter from a lunge to get the most power, but since you need finish the roundoff facing the direction you came from to get your back skills lined up, then wouldn't you want to finish the cartwheel facing the direction you came from as well?

Assuming you want to do that, then would you be aiming to turn the hips over right after vertical or would you wait more toward the end?

I don't think cartwheels have much of an impact on roundoffs. In cartwheels you just roll over, but in a roundoff, you would have to snap down in a different way from cartwheels. There's something with pushing off of the shoulders in roundoffs too, but I can't explain it too easily.

I don't think cartwheels have much of an impact on roundoffs.

Pffft. One cartwheel we teach is a cartwheel that is similar to a round-off. We call it a step together as the second leg steps in and next to the first leg to cause the body to over-rotate backwards. Basically, we want a cartwheel that turns over like a round-off but doesn't bring the legs together. It's the progression before the round-off and deceptively difficult to master. There is a difference between good enough and optimal.

Interesting. I'm not sure I understand how stepping in causes roundoff like rotation. I couldn't find anything by that name... any chance you have a clip of it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV7piCTbANM

The second girl does a cartwheel step-in to back handspring. Not great form, but gives you an idea.

The second drill shows the vertical kick "needle-kick" that begins the front to back cartwheel or lunge cartwheel to lunge

More round-off drills and cues.