I stumbled upon this inspiring compilation of one arm workout videos from Russia. Unfortunately, video embedding was disabled by request. But you can still click here and watch it on YouTube.
It seems like the art of hand balancing and bodyweight training is definitely not lost in Russia, as they perform very hard moves, including:
Most would agree that the straight handstand is a bit more advanced than the curved handstand, gymnasts in particular. There are certainly pros to going straight for the straight handstand in the beginning of your handstand career, but the curved handstand is a very viable option as well.
Having said that, here’s a great video for those looking to learn how to perform the straight handstand. Emmet Louis uses movement pyramid to explain what you need to work on before starting the straight handstand training. It’s all about getting basic stuff like mobility and stability in order before gradually moving to the specific movement itself, in this case a handstand.
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A video of a woman performing hand balancing act from 2009 went viral again on YouTube. Here’s the original, long version of that video featuring incredibly strong woman practicing tough hand balancing routine on hand balancing canes.
Roilan Hernandez is a professional Cuban born hand balancer who now lives and performs in the USA. He is one of a few hand balancers capable of performing the single elbow lever press to single arm handstand, single finger stand and similar incredible feats of strength.
In the video above Rolian shows terrific skill and strength with the single arm pike press followed by a pop-up at the end.
Simply amazing!
Hand Balancing Made Easy is an awesome book for anyone looking to learn the ropes of the art of hand balancing. Get it here.
Little John Seidel is one of the best old-school hand balancers. In the video below you can see 24 year-old John jumping on one hand, performing various handstand presses, balancing on a stick and much more, before ending the show with an amazing one hand spin at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris. They certainly don’t make them like that anymore.
Whether you lift weights or train only using your body weight, preparing for a workout is a must to avoid injuries. The same goes for hand balancing, which requires thorough warm-up.
Using various warm-up workouts with wrist extensions/flexions shown in the video above, your fingers, wrists, elbows and shoulders will be sufficiently warmed-up to start your hand balancing routine. Get your copy of The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing and start your hand balancing journey today.
Here are three awesome videos from the 1950’s. They were all uploaded by Russ Hany, so make sure to check out his channel here as he has more videos from that era.
The first one is from 1950 with people performing a couple of basic tumbling moves like backward, forward and side rolls. There are also two guys walking on their hands.
The next video from 1952 features pretty impressive acrobalance duo/trio.
And here’s another one with some very cool moves, like the tiger bend, handsprings, rolls, somersaults and much more. From 1953.
Not everyone wants to learn how to perform all these moves. But you should at least have basic tumbling skills and be able to role, perform backwards somersault and cartwheel. Click here and learn the basics!
Aaron Cook is one of the best power gymnasts in the USA. He won the 2012 American Jr Champion in Power Tumbling and this is a compilation of his amazing skills, featuring incredible feats like the quad backflip, speedy back and front handsprings, standing double backflips and much more. Some of the tracks shown in the video contain springy fiberglass rods, resulting in some crazy bounce. Enjoy the show!
To get started with a front flip, you should find yourself a soft surface like sand, grass or just use an old mattress to prevent injuries while practicing the front flip. According to Ronnie Shalvis, three main steps for achieving the front flip are momentum, blocking and set.
If you’re just starting out you’ll have to use momentum to help you with the front flip. Doing it while standing still is very cool, but it’s harder so you should not attempt it before you learn how to do it with momentum. As you get some speed by running, you’re going to go into a block. The block is basically the point where you jump with both feet of the ground and bounce upward. Note that you’re not supposed to jump low in the block, but merely bend your knees and jump upward.
The third stage of the front flip (while you’re in the air) is called the set, which is essential for getting to the proper height. Most people who are just starting out with the front flip believe they should lean forward and jump in that position, which almost guarantees bad landing. Instead, you need to keep your body upright, with chest up and throw your arms in the air as you jump. So, during the set you’ll go up and back to the tuck before opening and landing safely.
Make sure to watch the entire video to fully understand how to perform the front flip and also pick up additional tips from Ronnie.
Interested in more complete tutorials for flips, tumbling and more? Check this out.
The 10 minutes handstand thing – DONE!
“Just do it man” (Sascha Bachman)
I guess that’s all I really needed to hear…
A few months ago I took upon myself to finally tackle this 10 min endurance challenge….
I was introduced to the “high numbers” through Andrey Moraru who reached an impressive 26min long hold back in this school days in Ukraine. I then met the legendary Denis Tolstov (through Andrey) who held a hand stand for 1 hour long!!! back in the “Good old” Kiev circus school days. The up and coming circus artist Sacha Bachman recently completed 45 min on his hands before graduating from the Montreal national circus school. There are of course countless and nameless Chinese kids who do this stuff before breakfast but lets not go there…
OK back to my personal challenge.
As you recall, my approach was to break those 10 minutes into 3-4 segments and slowly decrease the resting time in between. For the last couple of months I have been doing these sessions 2-3 times per week in the end of practice and have been slowly been increasing the length of my holds and also decreasing the resting periods in between. My Endurance sessions looked and progressed as follows:
4 x 2:30 (60 sec rest in between sets)
4 x 2:30 (30 sec rest)
3 x 3:20 (60 sec rest)
3 x 3:30 (40 sec rest)
5:00 (1 min rest) + 2 x 2:30 (30 sec rest)
6:00 (1 min rest) + 2 x 2:00 (30 sec rest)
*I also added long holds against the wall inspired by John Sapinosso and the Ido portal team, and reached a 20 min wall assisted hold which was a great addition to my preparation.
So this is where I was last week before a random chat with Sascha Bachman, who basically told me to forget a little about the progressions…, “Just go for it” and approach it more as a psychological /mental challenge rather than a physical one.
Today happened to be a nice day so I went outside to practice. I was a little short on time, so I decided to go for some technique work and then an endurance session… Although I had the 10 min on the back of my mind, I still didn’t really decide to go for it… 6 minutes into it I started to think, why not…, one minute at a time, one arm handstand at a time… And there I was, at the 10 minutes mark with some fatigue but not something to write home about…
So what’s next? Time will tell…
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