The Physics of Tricking

What Is Tricking?

Tricking is a relatively new acrobatic sport or hobby that borrows moves from martial arts, gymnastics and breakdancing.

Tricking athletes put together kicks, flips, twists, and ground moves in creative combinations, sometimes just for fun and sometimes in "battles" of friendly compeition. Some trickers describe it as the ultimate form of movement and expression.

Tricking began in the 1990s, as martial artists looked for ways to add more flare into their competition performances. Since then, tricking has grown past “extreme martial arts” into its own activity.

Trickers are now a devoted international community of athletes who take joy and pride in challenging themselves to throw their body around in impressive ways.

The best way to understand tricking is to see it. Check out the tricking battle below.

You've Probably Seen Tricking And Didn't Realize It.

If you've seen The Avengers, or The Matrix movies, or Cirque du Soleil, you've seen trickers in action. One career path for good martial artist trickers is to become a stunt double, fight choreographer, or even Cirque du Soleil performer. Tricking is what makes the flips, kicks and gymastics action so exciting to watch.

Here's a fun vidoe of a tricker and parkour athlete recreating stunts from the movie The Avengers: Age of Ultron, where you can see the movie stunt side-by-side.


Tricking is one of my hobbies.

I started learning tricking as part of competing in martial arts tournaments. For tricking, I train mostly at a place called Loopkicks in Santa Clara. It's a center for tricking that is actually known internationally and a great place to watch and learn from amazing athletes. They offer tricking classes, private lessons, open gyms and battles for people of all abilities.

There's Lots of Info on Tricking on the Internet!

Here are some resources to get started.

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