Cheat Gainer
Gainer

Prerequisites

The long and confusing terminology explanation

 

The Gainer in tricking can be quite confusing. You may have heard names like gainer flash, cheat gainer, slant gainer, kick the moon, moonkick and maybe even a few more. And then the same trick is being called different by many people. That’s because the gainer is part of many sports and thus it’s always different depending on who you ask. 


In most sports it’s a backflip that travels forward. So a backflip that is “gaining” distance. The way you take off doesn’t matter. You can take off two-footed or swing into it with one leg. As long as it’s a backflip that is traveling forwards, it’s a gainer. And then there is the gainer in tricking…


In tricking it’s simply a backflip that takes off of one foot. However a gainer doesn’t have to be completely inverted to be considered as one. You can flip off-axis to the side instead of completely backwards and it would still be called a gainer in tricking. 


The base variation of this trick is usually not tucked but similar to a flashkick where you keep the first leg straight through until the landing (that is where the name “gainer flash” came from). Tucking your legs in for a gainer is not very common in tricking and usually more seen in parkour and freerunning. In tricking you could simply call that “gainer tuck”.


Then there is also the very confusing name “cheat gainer”. The name has its origin in the parkour community and was originally used to describe a gainer that is “cheated” over to the side instead of a true backflip. Hence the name “cheat” gainer. In tricking however “cheat” is a takeoff-technique commonly used for cheat kicks and raiz-type tricks. That’s how the name “slanted gainer” was born, to avoid confusion. But as you see it just made everything even more bloated and confusing. A cheat gainer is still just a gainer. It’s just not as inverted. 


Gainers are also sometimes called “moonkick” or “kick the moon”. In tricking a moonkick is a gainer that terminates in a hook or outside crescent kick. If there is no kick, it’s not a moonkick. The true technical term for the moonkick would be “gainer hyperhook”.


As you see the term “gainer” can be very confusing. When Veli-Mati “Vellu” Sarella landed the world's first double gainer on flat ground many people didn’t count it as a double gainer, because it was “just” a one-footed double backflip. However in tricking that is exactly what a gainer is:


A backflip off one foot.


Even after all that explanation, you don’t need to know how to do a backflip to learn the gainer. You can flip off-axis to the side first and then gradually invert it more and more. It’s even less scary than the back tuck.

You can look at this trick as if it was an aerial that you swing backwards into. You can start out with a butterfly kick that is swung into and gradually turn that into an aerial.

To get a better understanding on how the trick works and how you can teach your mind at how easy it is, I recommend learning the progressions from a standing position first. If you can do it from standing, you can do it even better with a setup. First up, always stand with your back facing the direction of momentum. It should be a backflip after all. 

01 standing round hyper

This first progression is similar to the Cheat 540 Kick but only the second half. It’s a lot easier. You can think of it as a swing 540 Kick. Spot forward and kick through your target. Try to kick as high as you can but don’t worry if you can’t kick super high. Later on when you drop your upper body, it will become a lot easier to swing higher. However if you are more flexible it will definitely help for the later progressions. Use your arms to generate more height.


02 standing swing bkick

Imagine doing a Butterfly Kick but starting with your back facing the direction of travel. This is what this is. You are basically doing the previous progression but with a lower upper body, so it is at least horizontal. This time you look at the ground instead of a kick target. Swing your arms up first and then over to the side, like in a normal Butterfly Kick. 




03 standing swing aerial

Now we work on inversion by turning the butterfly kick into an aerial. Start out exactly the same but as you kick up, drop your upper body in a whip like motion. Just like how you would for an aerial. Spot the ground and use your arms to generate more momentum. Being flexible definitely helps here, so you can swing your leg up high before you leave the ground.


 

04 swing round hyper

Now let’s go back and add a setup. I like to use scoot or a pivot step. If you practiced the standing progressions long enough, adding a setup will be very easy. 



05 swing B-Kick

Now again lower your upper body and look at the ground to turn that into a butterfly kick that you swing into. Really make sure that you don’t turn your upper body too early. You want to take off with your back facing the direction of travel and not your chest.





06 swing Aerial

And lastly do the same but with the whipping motion of an aerial. Enter your swing setup and think of doing an aerial but with your back facing the direction of travel as you take off. Don’t worry too much if you are looking off to the side first. You can fix that gradually as you improve. 




07 looking back

This next step will finally make it look more “backflip-ish”. Look back and stick your chest out. This will make you flip backwards. If you practice the last progression a lot it will feel very natural to transition to this one. It’s not as scary as learning a backflip from scratch. You will see the ground very early and you can just gradually try to look back more and more. 





Tips

You can also learn this trick by learning aerial and macaco first. The aerial will teach you how to flip and the macaco will get you used to flipping backwards. Both macaco and gainer are great tricks to ease you into backflipping tricks without much fear. 

Don’t use a running setup for this trick as it’s not needed except if you were going for a traveling gainer. Actually try to travel less and maximize height. 

Treating gainers as if they were butterfly kicks and aerials is actually quite helpful if you want to learn corks. Turn your swing b-kick into a swing b-twist for a horizontal cork. Turn your swing aerial into a swing a-twist for an inverted cork. 

Try to see the ground early and almost throughout the whole trick. That will give you orientation in the air and will make sure you land in a more safe manner. 

As you get better and you want more height, swing your arms up higher, shrug your shoulders up and stick your chest out. Imagine trying to do a gainer over an obstacle. 

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