How To Bridge

Learning how to Bridge will take more stretching than skill. Bridging is a gymnastics move that made its way into the world of breakdancing. The only real way to pull off a decent Bridge is to be very flexible. While learning to do a Bridge, you'll be spending just as much time learning how to stretch as you will learning the mechanics of pulling off the Bridge itself. Once you learn it, however, the Bridge will, well, be a bridge for you to smoothly transition into other moves. Let's learn how to do the Bridge.

1. Begin by stretching. Because we're talking about the mechanics to doing a Bridge, we won't dwell on stretching for too long. But we will say this: your back in general needs to be loose. If you're too tight you won't be able to pull the move off, period. Also, your legs need to be loose as well. And what the hell, you might as well stretch out your arms and shoulders too. Whatever stretches you do before a sporting competition, do them here.
2. Get started. A lot of breakdancing moves look similar to one another. The differences can lie in how the B-boy gets into positioning. A Bridge could actually become a number of other moves, but for the purposes of showing you the Bridge, we will stop once you've reproduced the bridge formation. So, to start out, get into a positioning for doing push ups. Make your leg base a little wider than shoulder length apart for balance purposes. If you didn't feel the need to stretch first, you're going to wish you had in a second.
3. You're going to take one of your legs and cross it to the opposite side of your body, towards your chest. For example, say you chose your right leg; you're going to pull it out of its original position and place it where your left hand is currently located.
4. In order to put your leg in the right place, the rest of your body's going to naturally want to change positions. So, while the leg is swinging towards your arm's previous spot, you should be lifting that arm up to the sky by twisting your torso up and back towards where your leg previously rested. Keep your off arm planted (though you will probably need to rotate your hand slightly to allow for the change in position). When your leg has found it's new positioning, your mobile arm should be planting itself where your leg was. Sounds like a game of Twister, right?
5. Don't allow your midsection to sink down during the maneuver. This is a Bridge, not a Crab, so you need to keep your lower back arched during the move. It may be easier to push your weight towards your legs while twisting your torso into it's final resting position. Your final position should be with both your feet pointing forward, your back arched upward, and both of your hands facing backwards with your wrists pointing towards the heels of your feet. If you're having a hard time doing the move it's because you didn't get loose enough at the start.