What Is a Full in Cheerleading?

Quick answer: a full (short for "full twisting layout") is an airborne backward flip with a complete 360-degree twist added to a straight-body layout shape - one of the most common advanced tumbling skills in competitive cheer.

What Does It Look Like?

Taking off from both feet, the athlete performs a straight-body layout flip while simultaneously rotating a full turn around their body's vertical axis, combining the flipping and twisting rotations before landing on both feet facing the same direction they started.

Who Is Involved?

Tumbling is performed individually, though multiple athletes typically perform fulls together, in unison, at the end of a connected tumbling pass.

Where It Fits in a Routine

A full is most commonly the final skill in an advanced running tumbling pass, following a roundoff and back handspring, replacing a straight layout with the added twist for higher difficulty.

How the Term Is Used

"Full" is shorthand for "full twisting layout." Additional twists are named accordingly - a "double full" adds two full rotations, and so on.

Related Skills

A full builds directly on a consistent, controlled layout, adding a twisting element on top of the same straight-body flipping shape.

Level / Division Context

Under the USASF All Star rules (2026–27), a running full is allowed from Level 5, which permits up to one flip and one twist in running tumbling. Standing fulls have to wait until Level 6, because Level 5 standing tumbling still allows no twisting. Athletes usually work on fulls once they have a strong, consistent layout.

What Judges Look For Conceptually

Judges are generally looking for a straight body line maintained through the twist, a clean and complete rotation, and a stable, controlled landing facing the correct direction.