How to Do the Turtle in Breakdancing

The turtle is a breakdance power move that requires a great deal of balance and upper body strength. This move consists of balancing all of your weight on your hands and then turning the body at least 360-degrees. Follow the directions below to learn how to do the turtle.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Stretch and warm up before practicing. The turtle uses upper body strength, so concentrate on your arms, back and abdominal muscles.
2. Get down on your knees, plant both elbows into your stomach between the rib cage and the hip bone with the elbows pointing towards each other and place your hands on the ground with the fingers pointing outward. Keep your abs pulled in tight and continue to breathe.
3. Balance over your arms and bring the legs off the ground. Keep the legs bent at the knees and spread wide. Practice this freeze move until you can hold the turtle freeze for a very long time before continuing on through the steps below.
4. Shift all of your weight on one arm, move the other arm slightly in the direction you're turning and then shift your weight to the other arm. Continue shifting your weight from side to side making small turns on each weight shift until you've turned 360-degrees.
5. Practice slowly and progressively build speed as you gain upper body strength and stamina.
6. Warm down and stretch again after you've finished practicing.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear supports for your wrists until you build up enough strength.
• Do push-ups and abdominal crunches to build up the upper body. Another exercise is to practice the turtle freeze with your feet on the ground and shift your weight from side to side.
• Breakdance power moves, like the turtle, take a lot of skill and strength. Don't try the turtle without first building up the proper strength to successfully execute this move.
• Keep your hands pointing outward to avoid injury to the wrists.