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10 Minute Handstand – Guest Post by Yuval Ayalon

By admin on September 9, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, One Hand

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)

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick

*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…

You can find Yuval Ayalon on Facebook and Youtube.

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Advanced Frogstand for Planche Progression

By admin on September 2, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, Planche

Learning how to do a frogstand is a must for anyone who wants to master the handstand. If you can’t hold a basic frogstand for at least a minute or so, you have no business trying to perform a free standing handstand.

Mike Fitch from Global Bodyweight Training shows a couple of great frogstand variations for building your way up to the planche.

In advanced frogstand, you’re putting the knees on the inside of your fully extended elbows, whereas in the regular frogstand the knees are resting on the outside of bent elbows – making the exercise much easier. This frogstand variation will help you strengthen the entire body, but it’s particularly good for improving wrist flexibility and balance.

After you get in a starting advanced frogstand position, flex your elbows slowly and lean forward to lock yourself in a more stable position. From there you’ll begin with alternating hip extensions while shifting the weight from one leg to another to stay in balance. Keep your abs tight at all times. Make sure to watch the entire video for detailed explanation of this advanced frogstand variation.

If you want more detailed instructions from Mike Fitch, check out his Hand Balancing for the Bodyweight Athlete DVD here.

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Elbow Extension in Relation to Handstands

By admin on August 28, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands

Here is a great video on elbow extension in relation to hand balancing by Yuri Marmerstein. If you can’t lock out your elbow while in a handstand, this video will give you everything you need to fix this somewhat rare issue. This may not be a big problem in the beginning of your hand balancing training, but once you progress and try to achieve something like the one hand handstand, it might prove to be a bigger issue than you thought initially.

Some people simply have a psychological barrier which prevents them from fully extending their elbows in a handstand. On the other hand, some literally cannot straighten their arms fully, whether due to tension in biceps or some other physical factor. Yuri Marmerstein shows two different workouts you can do at your home to work on this issue gradually in order to fix it permanently.

Also make sure to check out The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing by Professor Paulinetti and Robert Jones, which is a great resource for anyone who’s into hand balancing.

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Impressive Hand Walking

By admin on August 26, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, Walking & Jumping

Walking on hands is a fairly tough exercises which requires tons of balance and core strength to perform as shown in the video below.

Before you try to walk on your hands I highly recommend you to learn how to do a handstand first. Once you are able to stand on your hands for at least ten seconds, you can safely proceed to learning how to walk on your hands. Prof. Orlick’s Walking and Jumping on the Hands is one of the best resources available on that subject, so make sure to check it out.

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Unbelievable Strength Workout by Simon Ata

By admin on August 19, 2014 in Bboy, Gymnastics, Handstands, One Hand, Planche, Presses & Pushup, Walking & Jumping

Simon “Simonster” Ata is a professional break-dancer from Melbourne, Australia. In this video he performs an insane bodyweight workout which he uses to stay incredibly strong and maintain ripped physique. Here are just some of the moves performed by Simonster in a single workout:

Various presses
One leg backflips
Clapping Planche pushups
Handstand to planche pushup
Kip ups
Jumping on one hand
One hand press
Windmills

In addition to Simon’s extraordinary skills, this video shot at the Hanger 4 Mixed Martial Arts Studio in Melbourne was professionally edited, so it’s not surprising it went viral so quickly. Definitely a must watch!

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How to Become a Performer in Cirque Du Soleil

By admin on August 8, 2014 in Acrobatics, Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Parkour, Tumbling

What does it take to become a performer in Cirque Du Soleil?

16×9 crew followed Cirque Du Soleil members for four months in order to show you just how tough their training is and how good you need to be in order to become a part of the most popular theatrical production company in the world.

Even though this video is not entirely focused on subjects relevant to this website, like hand balancing and gymnastics, it’s well worth watching the entire episode. Enjoy!

P.S. If you’re not quite ready to become a part of Cirque Du Soleil, check out these resources and take that first step in the right direction.

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Hand Balancing Training Variations

By admin on August 5, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, Head Balancing, One Hand, Presses & Pushup, Walking & Jumping

When it comes to handstands and hand balancing in general, there are many ways to train and progress. In this video we have a chance to see quite difficult hand balancing moves by Pablo Molina.

Starting with a straight handstand, Pablo goes on to walk on hands and perform various hand balancing moves, including press handstand and even unsupported headstand; but he also shows some amazing one arm handstand variations and handstand pushups on hand balancing stands, which make balancing easier and increase the number of stunts you can perform. Check them out here.

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Quick Press to Handstand Tutorial

By admin on July 31, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Presses & Pushup

Here’s a really short but effective tutorial on how to perform a press handstand.

Firstly, you’ll want to get in a plank position and pull your butt all the way up in to the air while keeping your hands in one place. To do this, you’ll have to lean forward , use your shoulders and suck your abs in. After you master this move, put a raised surface (mats work the best) behind you and press your feet onto the raised surface. Repeat the process to get off the mats, back to the floor.

Now you’re ready to press from a raised surface to a handstand against the wall and essentially end up in a supported handstand before coming back into the raised surface. After you feel confident enough, add more mats to raise the surface behind you. If you can make it at least 6 inches high, you’ll be very close to performing a press. Try to come down as slow as possible to build strength and improve balance. Also don’t forget to use your finger tips to keep in balance!

How great would it be to impress your friends with gravity defying hand balancing skills? Check it out here.

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Johnny Sapinoso Got Some Moves

By admin on July 28, 2014 in Bars, Flexibility & Contortion, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Handstands, One Hand, Planche, Presses & Pushup, Rings

In this video from Johnny Sapinoso we can see a number of very demanding workouts and feats, like:

Front and back flips
Cool moves on a bent bar
One arm pullups on gymnastic rings
Planche on rings and bars
Planche pushups
Amazing partner acrobatics (including a handstand)
One arm handstand at the end of the video

Johnny Sapinoso has been training since the age of 5. But you certainly can achieve some of the feats listed above much quicker. If you are interested in learning how to do a one hand handstand, a back flip or just want to get started with lever training, then make sure to check out this page.

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Yoga Scorpion Handstand Tutorial

By admin on July 18, 2014 in Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion, Hand Balancing, Handstands, Yoga

The Scorpion handstand is a quite difficult move, where you bend your back and knees while in a handstand and touch the head with your feet or toes. Check out this video from Kino to see how it’s performed and what you can do to achieve it.

According to Kino, there are three main things to watch for before trying out the Scorpion handstand, also known as vrischikasana.

First of all, you need to be able to to confidently hold a straight handstand for a reasonable amount of time, like ten seconds.

Secondly, back bend or your spine flexibility needs to be fairly developed to be able to perform the Scorpion handstand. If not, you’ll need to work on improving that flexibility before trying out vrischikasana.

Finally, you need to be relaxed and calm in order to let your body open and avoid tipping forward.

Most people looking to achieve this move do not have much problems with holding a handstand or being in a calm state of mind, but they do suffer from lack of flexibility. Check out this resource to improve flexibility and increase your range of motion.

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