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Conor McGregor Movement Training

By Jarell Lindsey on August 20, 2016 in Acrobatics, Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Mobility, Walking & Jumping

Photo courtesy of mmajunkie.com

Tonight is the long awaited night: the two powerful welterweights Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor will go at it for the second time in a fierce battle to prove the stronger welterweight once and for all at UFC 202.

While Nate Diaz won the last bout and proved himself a much more patient and strategic fighter in their first bout, Conor McGregor seems to have honed his focus and sought more patience in this fight.

What, then, has he sought in his training?

It may make more sense to say whom. Ido Portal is an Israeli movement expert who seeks to find a union between strength, conditioning, and technique. We’ll get to see below the ways that Ido sought to blend the three together for Conor in his next bout, as he helped Mcgregor attain the physical shape to defeat the legendary Jose Aldo in a mere 13 seconds. (He has trained other MMA fighters as well, like Alberto Mina.)

Ido Portal Method

Conor Mcgregor continually hones his striking. Both his fists and feet are fierce weapons in the ring, both thus far unmatched in the 145 weight class. But he has focused on training that truly boosts his mobility in the ring, training with complex and bouncy animal movements and different movement chains that engage the tendons and ligaments, boost proprioception, and aid the utilization of full body power in fight situations.

Here is a video of some of the movement training that McGregor did with Ido Portal as he trained for his last fight. I’d say more people understand how important body movement is for overall health and functionality. Are you one of them? If so, watch this video and try out some of the movements for yourself. I truly believe that you’ll discover patterns and freedom of movement that will get your body singing.

And tonight, may the best man win!

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Dynamic Tension Hindu Pushups

By Jarell Lindsey on August 18, 2016 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, Mobility, Parkour, Presses & Pushup

Pushups. Something so simple and yet so versatile, so progressive yet so intense, a pushup is one of the ultimate multifaceted tools of hand balancing mastery.

Of this multifaceted tool, this variation is one of my personal favorite pushups: the Hindu pushup.

Also known as a dand, this is a full body workout; with one simple exercise, you can work the shoulders, back, arms, legs, and chest. Not only that, but the mind muscle connection that you gain from honing your technique through the movement will help your body very quickly return to its natural state of absolute strength.

Now, this exercise was used often by Indian wrestlers like the famous Great Gama to develop incredible strength, mobility, and power. Now, add to that the intensity of a dynamic tension workout, flexing the appropriate muscles from the start to the finish of your training, and you’ve got a phenomenal workout.

Dynamic tension has been used to strengthen tendons, muscles, and nerves in so many physical arts through history that it almost seems like adding it to a Hindu pushup was meant to be.

Additionally, if you want to increase the intensity of your workout even more, do a dynamic tension Hindu pushup on your fingertips and engage the power of your grip strength. For the truly adventurous, using a weight vest will take the intensity of the pushup to a whole new level.

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast

This is an exercise that is not for the faint-hearted. This is an advanced variation pushup, so take it slowly. As I say in the video, slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

That goes not just for your movement speed during the exercise, but also the speed of your progression. There’s no need to rush, and no need to risk injury. Enjoy the training journey, keep it fun, and look forward to the incredible levels of strength that you acquire. Onward, and happy training to you all!

Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts on the variation.

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Skills Vs Attributes: If you don’t use it, you’ll probably lose it!

By Jon Magno on July 26, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, Mobility, Other Skills

Hey Guys! Today Im going to share my thoughts about Skill Vs. Attributes.

What is a skill. Its basically the ability to perform a task. This is the base set of any coordinated movement. Whether it being running, jumping or climbing. Even the squat can be considered a skill. Attributes are the inherent characteristics gained from building a skill. These more often than not take the form of strength, endurance, agility, etc.

So why am I talking about this? Basically for two reasons. The first is because LAOHB is all about building skills. The second is a little bit more internalized. When most of us started on our training journey, we had a vision of who we wanted to be. That vision most often came from our idols and mentors who were capable of doing incredible things. Whether with their minds or with their bodies. We saw the results of their hard work but we didn’t have a pathway to get there. We have people like Usain Bolt who could sprint 100 meters in 9.58 seconds or even Bruce Lee he could impact a person within only an inch of distance. So we imitate and progress forward. As we progress, we build our bodies seemingly stronger and faster, yet we still don’t meet the goal of doing those incredible things and possibly hurt ourselves in the process.

What do we find as the missing link?

The real secret is that we try to build our bodies to enhance what we want to do, yet we don’t stay focused on the main foundation. What does a person need to do to perform the task. Specifically how should a person move in order to perform a task effectively. Rather than running endlesss reps and sets of jump squats and dumbbell pullovers in hopes that it will help your 3 pointer. Why not pay more attention and mindful to how the skill should be performed.

More specifically, figure out how your body should move to perform the specific and give it the ability to adapt to most tasks. Our bodies are dynamic and meant to move. So move! Find ways to test safely test yourselves and get your bodies to adapt. Learn new skills, break them down, and then build your attributes through them.

Here is an example video of me doing just that!

Now going straight into playing like that could take time and might need some guidance. Luckily we have friends in many different areas of movement and fitness. One of our friends, Gold Medal Bodies, has a program that can help you gain that skill. Its called Floor 1 and here are some things it can give you:

A systematic practice in 4 movement categories: jumps, single leg balance, hand balance, tumbling
24/7 availability on any device via online course area
Accessible day-to-day outlines

Stay Inverted,
Coach Jon

P.S. If you pick it up before Saturday July 30th, 2016 you’ll 4 new Flow Routines to help you develop your athletic body!

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Bodyweight Strong 2.0 – Old School Strength

By Jarell Lindsey on July 14, 2016 in Acrobatics, Bars, Bboy, Bridging, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Hand-to-Hand, Handstands, Mobility, One Hand, Other Skills, Parkour, Presses & Pushup, Uncategorized, Walking & Jumping

There are numerous bodyweight training programs that litter the fitness industry, but many of them target calorie burning with no attention to strength development. After all, the hand balancers of the past didn’t seek calorie programs — they sought strength, and they achieved it through bodyweight training.

For a man weighing 240lbs to do a one arm handstand, you need more than just a calorie burning program

After all, physical culture was loaded with men of incredible strength, so why create a program that wouldn’t allow the men of that time to match up to their counterparts? These were men who understood the importance of proper progression, so sought to increase, for instance, the difficulty of their pushups rather than how many they could do. If they could manage 100 pushups, they would elevate themselves or do one arm pushups to increase the difficulty, rather than just shooting for 200.

Furthermore, very few physical culturists emphasized training to failure. “Whoa, hold on, I was always taught for weightlifting to train to failure for the most gains.” Well let me tell you that Sig Klein, one of the most renowed weightlifters and bodyweight trainers in history, as well as Maxick, a master muscle controller with incredible lifting feats, never advocated training to failure.

Sig Klein is the kind of man you’d want to listen to about training

When it comes to bodyweight training, you want your nervous system to be fresh and gain energy from workout to workout, rather than have it depleted. Thus, they focused on consistent, daily training, which would overly tax your nervous system if you trained to failure each time. In fact, the more you advance in bodyweight skill, the less you’ll want to train to failure to improve skill and prevent injury. Failing during, for instance, a handstand pushup wouldn’t quite have a Cinderella ending.

One of the main reasons that people have trouble doing a handstand is that they simply haven’t trained it enough. If your goal with a single handstand session is to feel the burn in your shoulders until they’re essentially numb, you’ll have a much more difficult time progressing with a handstand than if you practiced daily with consistent progression.

Body Weight Strong 2.0

Bodyweight training balances you as an athlete, and introduces you at a skill level that anyone can begin with — their own weight. If you can learn to truly master your own weight, your strength can skyrocket. In addition, you may not take your weight set everywhere, but you take your body everywhere, so the training convenience is bar none.

These legendary physical culturists knew the proper way to train bodyweight, and Forest Vance is the kind of man who understands old school bodyweight strength. Luckily for you, he has created a program with a contemporary understanding on classic strength philosophy. Plus, there’s thorough video instruction for you to follow every step of the way.

In basic terms, Body Weight Strong 2.0 can evolve your strength to reach incredible levels just as true bodyweight training should do.

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Irradiate Your Path to Handstand Mastery

By Jarell Lindsey on July 13, 2016 in Acrobatics, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Hand-to-Hand, Handstands, One Hand, Other Skills, Parkour, Planche, Presses & Pushup, Tumbling, Walking & Jumping

If you’ve ever been inside a gym, I’m sure you’ve seen it: the classic gym bro doing bicep curls, perhaps easily at first, but soon devolves into using practically his entire body to curl the weight.

Although personally, when I see a weight, curling it isn’t my preference…

What you’re actually watching is the law of irradiation, one of the Sherrington laws. What it means, in essence, is that you can contract other muscles in your body to strengthen the one you’re applying force with. If you’d like to experiment with this, try tensing your glutes the next time you shake someone’s hand; you’ll find that your hands can actually apply more force with the handshake.

Let’s review the curling gym bro again. As he continues to do the bicep curls, his biceps get tired and lose their strength of contraction. To compensate, his abs, forearms, lats, glutes, and even feet start contracting in order to provide enough force to lift the weight — it’s an unconscious response.

The problem is that the form of the curl itself begins to look incredibly sloppy as he’s unconsciously recruiting other muscles.

Now, what does this mean for handstand training?

The Law of Irradiation for Handstands

Here’s a great video of Otto Arco doing hand balancing and muscle control (which is key for the LOI)

Well, the handstand is an exercise that largely focuses on the shoulders, triceps, lats, forearms, traps, scapular muscles, and your core. However, fully body tension is really needed to maintain proper handstand form. Part of the reason is that having relaxed muscles can throw off your balance with the exercises, but the other factor is that recruiting other muscle groups like your glutes, neck, calves etc. into the handstand will help the required muscles to contract stronger.

“But you said that contracting extra muscles ruined the curler’s form…” Therein lies the difference, unconscious muscle recruitment vs. conscious muscle recruitment.

See, if that bicep curler had muscle control, and could consciously choose to flex other muscles to compensate, he could do so without affecting his form. That way, he wouldn’t lose the benefit on his biceps, and would also increase the benefit to other muscle groups and his overall muscle control.

The same goes for handstand training. If you’re able to consciously recruit different muscles to develop your overall strength in the handstand, you can help to both maintain your form and develop muscle control. Sig Klein, Otto Arco, and Maxick, who are all legendary hand balancers, knew the importance of muscle control and the law of irradiation in training, and used both to their advantages.

Try it out: develop your muscle control, and boost your progress with the law of irradiation.

Then, if you want to try more advanced moves like the handstand pushup, you’ll be more prepared.

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GMB Vitamin Feature: Coach Jon Flipping and Falling!?

By Jon Magno on July 10, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, Mobility, Other Skills

Hey Everyone!

As you probably now we have lots of friends in the fitness and movement community that we work with in order to bring you the information you need to develop yourselves into excellent hand balancers and movement mechanics. This is a style of fitness that we don’t just talk about, but we also live the lifestyle as well.

One of the things I’ve been working on lately is my physical autonomy and being able to adapt my body in different situations. Our buddies at GMB featured one of my videos on their feeds and I’m super stoked!

You can watch the full video here!

Finally! If you liked the moves I was playing with in this video and want to develop a stronger sense for your own body, check out the GMB Vitamin Program here!

Stay Inverted,
Coach Jon

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

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A Mini-Series on Flexibility Part 3: Full Bridge for Spinal Flexibility

By Jon Magno on April 28, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, Mobility, Other Skills

Ok everyone, we are headed into the final installment of the Flexibility Mini-Series from Gold Medal Bodies! Jarlo and Keira went through many iterations to prep you for the final movement. In today’s post, you’ll be focusing on none other than the full bridge.

The full bridge is an excellent way to increase your shoulder mobility, thoracic extension and rotations, your hip flexors, wrists, and the list goes on and on. While preforming this movement, you basically get a chance to work on the muscles that you never get a chance to. Muscle balance and mindful movement gives you the understanding of what your body can do as well as allow you to delve into those crazy acrobatics. Lets first take a look at the initial bridge demonstrated by Keira.

After getting into the initial bridge, she starts by correcting her curvature and form. She lowers her arms slightly, opens up her chest, and walks her feet closer to her hips.

Once gotten into a more balanced position, she extends her arms and drives up her chest and hips.

In order to achieve a cleaner curve with her bridge, she extends her chest towards the wall she’s facing and her hips to the opposing wall.

To get a full breakdown from Jarlo, watch the video below!

One more thing guys!The GMB special will be ending this Saturday April 30, 2016 and you will lose out your chance to get the program with the NEW BONUSES for $75. After Saturday the price shoots up to $95. Be sure to grab GMB Focused Flexibility Plus program here: https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/go/focusedflexibility/

Stay Inverted,
Coach Jon

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A Mini-Series on Flexibility Part 2: Back Bend Preparation for Spinal Flexibility

By Jon Magno on April 27, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, Mobility, Other Skills

Welcome to Part 2 of the Spinal Flexibility Series! In yesterday’s post we discussed the Forward Bend. As the Back Bend is a bit more extensive, its been broken up into two parts. Today’s portion will be focused on the prep work. Pay special attention to the thoracic extensions and rotations as they will directly affect your handbalancing!

The first movement we will be working on is the thoracic extension. While working this movement situate your chest up and hold your shoulders into place.

The next movement pattern in your back bend prep is to work a thoracic rotation. If you have good shoulder mobility, you can keep a locked arm position as seen below. If your mobility is lower, try the position with wrist and elbow behind the back which is viewable in the full video!

The next movement is the first pre-back bending pattern we’ll dive into. In the Kneeling Back Bend, start in a tall kneeling position and drive the hips forward. Lift your chest up and look backwards. A key point is to relax your glutes during this movement.

The next pattern is a deep lunge sequence. The main take away from this movement is to rotate towards the lead hip.

The Camel Stretch is the next pattern. Its a similar movement to the Kneeling Back Bend except that you stay on the balls of your feet and grab your heels to increase difficulty.

Up next is the Quadricep Stretch. Focus on keeping your body between your heels. Another key point to work towards a posterior tilt while in this position to decrease the lower back arch and flatten the back as much as possible.

The final movement pattern is the Shoulder Bridge. In this movement your are going to grab your ankles and push through your quads. Be sure to keep your ankles in line with your hips and relax your glutes do allow your hips to drive up!

There is a lot of information in this post so be sure to check out the full video here for all of the info!

If you like this information and thought it was useful in your flexibility, GMB has a special going on that will end this Saturday April 30, 2016 where you could get the program with the NEW BONUSES for $75. Afterwards the price shoots up to $95. Be sure to grab GMB Focused Flexibility program here: https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/go/focusedflexibility/

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A Mini-Series on Flexibility Part 1: Forward Bending Sequence for Spinal Flexibility

By Jon Magno on April 26, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, Mobility, Other Skills

Flexibility and Acrobatics. The two go hand in hand. Yes its true that people need more flexibility in their lives. But for the Acrobatic enthusiast, flexibility takes a stronger hold as you’re going to need much more of it in order to pull off the different maneuver’s and be in tune with your own body. In today’s post, we’ll be looking at a great sequence on spinal flexibility from our friends at Gold Medal Bodies. If you’ve ever wanted to do a back handspring, work on your rolling, or even make your handstands more dynamic, pay attention to this sequence!

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick

Listen to Jarlo as he keys Keira in to the sequence. Keira starts off with some prep work by going in a deep squat with her heels up and feet close together. Her goal here is to open up her hips by rocking back and forth. After working the position for a bit, she kicks back and goes into upward facing dog.

Once she’s warmed up, she goes into the first sequence. In the Standing Forward Bend her focus is on flexion and rotation. She begins in a deep squat with her hands placed onto the floor to her side. She then drives up her hips and pulls back on her hamstrings while focusing on keeping her heels to the ground. She works the position on both sides. Jarlo gives more detail and another variation in the video.

The Final sequence is the Seated Forward Bend. This sequence is completed at a 45 degree angle. Keira keeps her chest up and extends with her shoulders.

Check out the full video here!

I want you all to stay tuned because we have more spinal flexibility tips from our friends at Gold Medal Bodies. For those of you who took advantage of the Focused Flexibility program about a month back, you should be reaping the rewards as well as the new update that just came out! If you haven’t, GMB has a special going on that will end this Saturday April 30, 2016 where you could get the program with the NEW BONUSES for $75. Afterwards the price shoots up to $95. Be sure to grab GMB Focused Flexibility program here: https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/go/focusedflexibility/

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1 Min Tip: Lateral QM Strides and Your Handstand

By Jon Magno on April 12, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, Mobility, Other Skills

Hey Everybody! Its been a while since we’ve done a video just for you. So today, we’re coming at you with Lateral QM Strides! This lateral movement pattern is going to you keep your balance as well as to feel the hold on the top end.

The first thing you are going to do is sit into a deep squat and shift your hips side to side so that you can open them up a bit before you start moving.

Start the actual movement pattern by extending your hands and placing them to your sides. You’ll then elevate your hips and land them next to your hands!

Move in both lateral directions and see if you can start driving your hips higher with each pass. Don’t forget that you should do this within the range of your comfort levels!

Finally, see if you can slow the movement at the top end with your hips above your shoulders so you can simulate the handstand hold!

Check out the full video here!

I hope you liked this tutorial!

Stay Inverted,
-Coach Jon
Do you want the quickest way to develop your handstands?
Then go to our Handstand Mastery Course at:
https://www.handstandmastery.com/

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