nope nope nope. went down a flip tutorial rabbit hole on youtube last night and i'm pretty sure i could do at least a back flip pretty easily if i had a safe place to practice or could muster the stones to do it on my lawn. must not rush, though. am enjoying the gradual, prescribed road.
What I meant about a training protocol that is too gymnastics centered is that a lot of coaches with gymnastics background are waaaaay to rigid about how you must learn technique. Sure, I know they love their sport and pointed toes, stuck landings, no cowboy grabs, etc are the standard rules in gymnastics...
That said if you are a athletic guy who wants to learn some cool gymnastics skills (a lot of actors here in LA want to obviously) you can waste a lot of time with a coach like this.
There are a few bad habits that you want to avoid but for the most part if you set your training up correctly you can just bang at it and learn skills that will be more than satisfying for anyone but an elite gymnast.
The only bad habits I have seen that people seem to do are:
1) Handstand walking. Avoid this too early. Handstand walking can be learned by arching the back and letting the legs fall over to counterbalance... This will allow you to walk on your hands but won't provide a base for handsprings or any actual moves that involve touching the ground. Use the wall or forward roll out of a missed handstand rather than getting ahead of yourself too early unless you can stay disciplined.
2) Don't (backflip) flip onto soft surfaces. Some people are natural flippers. I was a daredevil second child with an older brother than made me try everything first - it made me fearless but also stupid and with a fair amount of injuries. I have people try to build there way up to doing a backflip by flipping into a pool because they are scared. This is really counter productive. Flipping backwards from a high surface or off a pool edge is dangerous. You have to avoid the edge. But you don't have to set. This is the opposite of an actual flip. Everyone on this board can jump more than high enough to do a backflip. The higher you can jump and the stronger you abs/back are (eg the more you can deadlift) the more you can get away with. You can do a backflip with a 16 inch vertical. But you have to go straight up, wait, tuck. This isn't a natural move for most people.
So use a spotter. A spotter will make you backflip a million times faster. The spotter basically forces you to have correct timing - up, set, throw. Someone decently strong can start with a spot where you are held the entire time, then progress to a lighter and lighter spot. It takes the fear and the guess work out of the move completely.
For front flips you can flip up onto a high jump mat to safely eliminate fear without ruining technique.
*** My point is that aside from a few bad habits you are strong and limber enough to take to this sport very quickly. And unlike in sprinting you actually have a far more optimal build relative to me. My legs are way to long to be a good gymnast relative to my body height - I think your build will be perfect for it.
