the secret to a 1 handed cartwheel is speed, the faster you go the less stress on your one hand and the easier it is. if you can cartwheel easly on your hands try it on the back of your wrists (sa ma gi) for an extra challange.
Another cartwheel tip: Try using your arms to add momentum to your spin. A “martial-arts” cartwheel, or any cartwheel intended for practical advance or retreat, is not supposed to be the High arching gymnast cartwheels you see cheerleaders in hot little outfits do (…mmmm cheerleaders) Now where was i?... O right. You are so vulnerable, mid-cartwheel, that unless you really know when/how to do it in a fight/sparring match… you’re setting yourself up to be slaughtered. The trick is to perform the cartwheel as fast as you possibly can (this will also help you with your no handed cartwheel later on) So anyway, start by learning how to spin your arms: Wind your arms towards your back leg, then in a quick motion, untwist your torso and arms in the direction towards your leading leg. (the more perpendicular your arm-spinning motion is to the floor, the more vertical your cartwheel will be). At the point where your body and arm spin are both fully dedicated (twisted) towards the direction of your cartwheel, kick your back leg up as hard as you possibly can, while at the same time pushing off from the ground with your leading leg (this is very much like a sideways application of proper high hae jun nak bup(sp?) and the energy of that kick should throw both of your legs over your body… (even without support from your hands) If you learn how to do this… you should have no problem doing two handed, one handed, elbo, no-handed. As you practice any of the “handed or elbo” cartwheels, work on kicking that back leg as hard as you possibly can, then pay attention to how much weight your hands are supporting (they eventually shouldn’t be supporting any.). Also try shortening the delay between take-off and landing without looking too horizontal or sloppy (this isn’t capoeria, we don’t fight well on our heads ^_~)
a long time ago i saw an ksw article on cartwheels as an attacking method, basicaly you cartwheel at some one knocking them down and you end up standing on them. allso in the breaking hand book there is a picture of someone doing a cartwheel break. i have tryed to throw a cartwheel in sparring and it does cathch people unawares, i will try it again and let you all know if it worked or if i got a kick in the head.
haha, yeah...most of the time, if you don’t use it at the perfect time, your going to get your face stomped into the ground. But again, it’s like everything in Kuk Sool, it has a purpose but you need to damn near master it to find its practical application. I think EmberKSW is right, the most realistic application, IMO, would be weapon retrieval (though for blunt weapons, I prefer our bong retrieval (kicking the object up to your hand)). The other applications I have been told are advance, retreat, attack (mid-cartwheel, axe kicking with the back leg is something we’ve worked on in class), and Defense (using your legs to deflect or deter enemy attacks while at the same time quickly moving a fair amount of distance in one motion) Until you’ve become comfortable using any cartwheel in a controlled fight, I wouldn’t suggest trying it in a life or death situation.
