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Back to Gymnastics

A few years back I regularly attended a gymnastics class. This wasn’t back when I was a kid, as is the case for 99% of gymnasts, but because I wanted to master gymnastic skills as an adult. I wanted to strength and skill that comes with it.

This fell away as I went to work on other training. But there is nothing quite like being in that class. Let me tell you why.

1. It’s a Dedicated Chunk of Time.

If you go to a class you’re going to be there for an hour and a half to two hours (at least that’s how long my classes run). That’s a lot of practice time. At it’s very much in contrast to the typical 15 minutes, maybe half hour, I’d likely spend on my own.

This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it’s a long time and the more you practice the better you’ll get. Of course it can be too long to the point where you get tired, run down, and then you can’t get any better at the skills at hand.

But if you go into class full of energy and know how to rotate from one skill to another you can minimize this effect.

gym rings2. The Equipment.

If you want to get good at something you need to have the proper tools to do so. A gymnastics facility has the following: trampoline, tumble-trak, spring floor, rings, bars, pommel horse, balance beams various mats and pads, a foam pit, and much more. Depending on your goals you may need different tools.

For example if you take some one of the street who wants to learn how to do a back flip you’re much better set if you have these tools. It is possible to teach someone to do it just standing with the proper instruction and spotting. Better to have all that and tools so you can learn the skill on a trampoline first, then off or raised mats with padding and finally on the ground.

This makes it more step-by-step and of course much safer. Safety, or rather the feeling of safety, is a big deal when you first attempt many acrobatic skills.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon

3. The Coaching.

If you practice be yourself, often times its hard to know what you’re really doing. A video camera can help you to SEE what you’re doing. But a coach can do that plus tell you what you need to do.

Even a half-way decent gymnastics coach is going to be able to help you get to skills much beyond what the average person would be able to do.

And as was mentioned before having a spotter the first time you try a move is very helpful.

Hand balancing skills can easily be worked at home. (Some equipment can be useful as well as coaching which is obvious.) But for acrobatic skills at least getting your start in the proper facility can be a huge help. It can be the difference between mediocre skills and really going far.

For that reason I’m going back. I’ll have the story of my first day back for you tomorrow.

Good Luck and Good Gymnastics,
Logan Christopher

P.S. For moves you can do at home and at the gymnast facility be sure to check out Tumbling Illustrated.

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New Rolling Articles

There are two new articles on the site, complete with videos, on the subject of rolling. These are important skills everybody should have. Real basic, but amazingly few people can do all these.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon

Front RollHow to Roll

Forwards and Backwards Rolling

Check them out.

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher

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How to Learn Parkour

Merry Christmas!

Regardless of whether you celebrate this holiday or any other this time of year, I’m in the spirit of giving.

I mentioned this before and now its ready. Grab my new interview with Mark Toorock of American Parkour

In just over an hour we covered tons of information from the beginnings of parkour on to how to learn parkour. Here’s a few of the things you’ll discover when you listen:

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon
  • The difference between doing Parkour and training Parkour.
  • What your fitness level should be before you get started in Parkour. The answer may surprise you…
  • Tips on keeping the knees, ankles and other joints healthy so you can train a long time while avoiding crippling injuries.
  • What a typical Parkour training session should look like.
  • How to find other Parkour practitioners (aka Traceurs) that you can train with.
  • Tips on finding places to train (including the legal aspects of doing so).
  • The fundamentals you MUST focus on and why neglecting to do so will mean slower progress.
  • And much more…

We do talk about the Parkour Tutorial DVD, available here, but besides that its all great content on how to get started learning and training in parkour.

Good Luck and Good Free Running,
Logan Christopher

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Damien Walters

Meet Damien Walters, one of the very best acrobats in the world. Combining tricking, parkour, trampolining, free running, and all manner of acrobatics along with a big dose of creativity.

This guy knows how to practice and get good.

If you want to get started tumbling like Damien Walters can you got lots of practice ahead of you. But let me recommend something to set you in the right direction – Tumbling Illustrated and the Parkour Tutorial DVD.

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon

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Most Flexible Ross Sisters

This is footage from the movie “Broadway Rhythm” (1944). The Ross sisters, Aggie, Maggie and Elmira, sing and move in ways that’ll make your average contortionist blush.

Just watch past the minute mark to see the moves begin. And my favorite is at the 2:50 mark. That has to be the most impressive back bend ever.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon

Good Luck and Good Acrobatics,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Thanks to Mike for pointing me to this video!

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What Trampoline should I use?

With the release of the Trampoline Handbook I’ve received a few questions on what type and size of trampoline I recommend.

To do the tricks in the book you’ll need to be able fully layout on the trampoline. For this reason I recommend a trampoline that is at least 10 feet wide. And the bigger the better. Just gives you more room to do the tricks safely.

As to shape the standard round trampoline works fine, but the square or rectangular versions are great too.

As far as brands or where you get them a simple search on google for ‘trampolines’ will find you many places selling them. Or most likely you can buy them locally in your area.

And once you have it set up the real fun begins. See the Trampoline Handbook to find out how you can get started in tons of beginner and intermediate trampolining tricks.

Walking and Jumping On Your HandsWalking and Jumping On Your Hands on Amazon

Good Luck and Good Trampolining,
Logan Christopher

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The Trampoline Handbook Available Now

The new Trampoline Handbook is available now. You can skip right ahead and get it now.

Or read below to get the back story…

—–

I’m human. And because of that I make mistakes. But I like to think I quickly learn and fix them. However sometimes that’s not the case and it takes years to realize your fault.

As you may know a while back I attended an adult gymnastics class. Having no prior tumbling skills it was certainly a challenge.

But even from the time I was young I wanted to be able to do a backflip among many other tumbling skills. So I went and I slowly got better.

They had a giant trampoline as well as the tumble-track, basically a lane of trampoline leading into large pads.

Unfortunately I hardly ever used these tools.

You see, I had this idea in my mind that I wanted to only be able to do skills without the assistance of anything. I wanted to jump rather than be launched into the air by a trampoline.

And this was my big mistake!

I didn’t realize that using a trampoline I could better learn to control my body in the air. And that definitely translates to doing moves on the ground or anywhere else.

When you’re in the air you can work on flipping, twisting and many other skills. It really doesn’t matter how you got up there. Just what you do when you’re there.

But the trampoline allows you do to it easily without wasting energy. And that means more practice (not too mention safer too).

Now I’ve learned from my mistake.

I discovered this book that takes you step-by-step through the most basic moves all the way to much more advanced tricks.

The Trampoline Handbook

So that you don’t make the same mistake I did, I’ve made it available once again.

I know not everyone has access to a trampoline, but if you do I urge you to get this book. And if you haven’t used a trampoline in a while you don’t know what you’re missing.

You’ll be able to use it to build up your skills to improve your tumbling whether you do gymnastics,  Parkour, tricking or anything else.

Plus it’ll be even more fun then just a little random bouncing. So go check it out.

The Trampoline Handbook

Sincerely,
Logan Christopher

Trampoline Handbook
Trampoline Handbook on Amazon

P.S. You can read more about it at The Trampoline Handbook including a list of the 50 stunts you’ll learn and when you act now you’ll get $5 off.

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Videotape Your Handstands and Acrobatics

“Whoa, that’s what I’m doing? No wonder I‘m not pulling it off”

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon

It wasn’t the first time I said that phrase and it wouldn’t be the last.

Back in gymnastics I liked to bring in a digital camera to take video of myself performing moves. I’d leap upwards to do a back flip and land it real low.

After seeing the film I knew my takeoff was too far back and not straight up where it needed to be. Even though I THOUGHT I was jumping straight up.

Especially when you are starting out it can be difficult to tell what you are doing. You are concentrated on just completing a move without hurting yourself that you can’t tell exactly where you are in space.

But when you watch yourself from the outside you can see it with ease. You can see the little details of what you’re doing. And this makes it easy to correct most of the time.

I’ve used it a lot for acrobatic moves but it’s equally helpful for hand balancing.

Even just a picture can help. Because you can compare your position to a picture of someone who is much better and find out what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

Most of the time what you think you’re doing is not what is actually happening. And that can be the difference between pulling off a move and failing miserably.

Even if you don’t personally own a camera, you probably know someone who does. If you want to get better and do it faster using a camera is a must-use tool.

The tip for today is to start recording yourself.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If you need a video to compare your handstand to, not to mention a step-by-step plan to get there, check out the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide.

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Injury-Proofing Your Ankles

A subscriber wrote in after the release of the Parkour Tutorial DVD with a warning. Thanks again Adam for bringing it to my attention.

Tricking, Parkour, even gymnastics can be rough on the ankles. Sprains, strains, and broken ankles are unfortunately not that uncommon.

In order to avoid this you want to do two things. First off, you want to make sure you can do moves within your capabilities. Don’t start off jumping off of two story buildings.

Hand Balancing Made EasyHandBalancingMadeEasy_on_Amazon

Secondly, prepare for the worst. Make your body more resilient. The stretches on this video will help prepare your feet and ankles for landings and all the impact.


Injury-Proofing Your Ankles

And if you take part in running, these same moves will injury-proof you so that no pot-hole is likely to roll your ankle.

Just add a few of these moves to your regular routine and you’ll be better off no matter what you do.

Good Luck and Good Training,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Of course you need to know how to do the moves properly. If you want to get started in Parkour this is the video for you.

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How to do a Cartwheel Article

This one is on How to do a Cartwheel. A simple gymnastic move that everyone should be capable of doing. Are you?

I should of done this one a long time ago, judging by the number of questions I’ve had. But hey, better late then never right?

It has a video too. It’s from this month’s Acrobat Accelerator where I also cover one handed cartwheels, muscle control, and a variety of hand balancing moves. There’s still a few issues available. Look at the PS for more info on how to get one.

But most importantly check out that article if you need help on your cartwheels.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Get Acrobat Accelerator at no charge along with one of these products:
Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide
Hand Balancing Mastery Course

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon
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