Transitions are simply how you step from one trick to another. If you have a two-move combo, the transition is how you land Trick A and how you takeoff into Trick B.
Mastery of transitions is essential to spicing up your individual style and complexity of combos, it’s what makes tricking unique and different from other movement arts. Usually there will be multiple ways of transitioning between any two tricks, and understanding all the possibilities gives you more options when building your combos.
“Transition” is sometimes used to refer to setup moves which help build momentum and power (cartwheel, touchdown raiz, scoot etc.), but those are not the transitions that are being referred to here – those are tricks in and of themselves.
A unified transition occurs when both feet are used simultaneously at some point in the transition. There are a total of four (4) unified transitions - punch, pop, reverse-pop, and bound.
The Punch can be described as a unified (two-foot) landing followed by a unified takeoff. The punch is traditionally utilized within gymnastics and tumbling and is characterized by an immediate takeoff without absorbing the impact of the landing.
Examples:
Roundoff (punch) Back Tuck
Envergado (punch) Backside 900
The Pop can be described as a sequential (one foot at a time) landing followed by a unified (two-foot) takeoff. It is differentiated by the punch by the timing and power absorption throughout the transition.
Examples:
Cartwheel (pop) Full Twist
Scoot (pop) Full Twist
The Reverse-Pop can be described as a unified (two-foot) landing followed by a sequential (one foot at a time) takeoff. Basically the literal opposite of the Pop transition.
Examples:
Parafuso (reverse-pop) Aerial
Parafuso (reverse-pop) GMS
The Bound can be described as an extension or modification of any of the previous three unified transition. That is, any unified transition that has an adjustment step on the ground before takeoff.
Can be thought of as the unified equivalent to the "carrythrough". Definitely the most underutilized of the Unified transitions.
Examples:
Scoot (bound) Full Twist
Aerial (bound) Pop 360
A singular transition is a transition in which only one foot ever touches the ground before initiating the next trick. There are a total of (5) Singular transitions - swingthrough, wrapthrough, rapid, carrythrough, and bound. However, the swingthrough umbrella transition is made up of four (4) swingthroughs - frontswing, backswing, lotus swing, and masterswing.
The Swingthrough (aka Swing) occurs when the in-air leg continues on a linear, unbroken path past the base leg, creating or maintaining momentum from the previous trick to the next. Frontswings, Backswings, Lotus Swings, Masterswings, and arguably Wrapthroughs are all examples of the swingthrough.
Examples:
Raiz (backswing) Gainer Flash
Aerial [Semi] (frontswing) Raiz
Aerial [Mega] (frontswing) Aerial
Aerial (masterswing) GMS
The Wrapthrough (aka wrap) can be seen as a type of swingthrough. It occurs when the outside leg "wraps" behind the base leg into an inside flip. In Vert Kicking, it is often used to name tricks that use the cheat takeoff that leave "overcheated" or in frontside.
Examples:
Cartwheel (wrap) Wrap Full
540 (wrap) Wrap 900
The Missleg occurs when the in-air leg travels towards the ground as if it were going to land, but chnages it's path by rebounding into the takeoff of the next trick, therefore "missing" the ground entirely.
Examples:
Sideswipe (missleg) Sideswipe
Tornado (missleg) Swing 360
The Rapid is a one-footed punch - or an instant jump off of one foot without absorbing the landing energy.
Examples:
Cheat 720 (rapid) Round
Cartwheel Switch (rapid) Boneless Double Corkscrew
The Carrythrough can be described as any of the previous singular transitions, but with a pivot / adjustment step during the transition. Can be seen as the singular equivalent of the "bound". This transition is often mistaken with the Frontswing.
Examples:
Aerial (carrythrough) Raiz
Tornado (carrythrough) Gainer
The term sequential is generally understood as a transition in which the legs each land and takeoff in a particular order, or sequence, though it can also be used to describe only part of a transition in which a landing or takeoff occurs in sequence. There are a total of four (4) Sequential transitions - vanish, reversal, redirect, and skip.
The Vanish transition occurs when a sequential landing is followed by another sequential takeoff in the same order. (e.g. Left-Right, Left-Right or Right-Left, Right-Left)
Examples:
Butterfly Twist (vanish) Cheat 900
540 (vanish) Aerial
The Reversal transition occurs when a sequential landing is followed by another sequential takeoff in the reverse order. (e.g Left-Right, Right-Left or Right-Left, Left-Right)
Examples:
Scoot (reversal) Aerial
Cartwheel (reversal) GMS
The Redirect transition occurs when a sequential landing is followed by an adjustment step and then another sequential takeoff. Could be thought of as a reversal with an extra step in between landing and takeoff.
Examples:
Sideswipe (redirect) Raiz
Tornado (redirect) Swing 360
The Skip can be thought of as a vanish with an extra hop in-between the two tricks without ever having both feet touch at the same time.
Examples:
Scoot (skip) Raiz
Aerial (skip) Butterfly Twist
