Have you ever wondered how to balance on your head?
Many people can do a regular headstand (and many cannot). But that is just the first step of many.
The real goal is to do a freestanding headstand using just your head, no hands at all.
And now The Science of Head Balancing shows you how.
This is the first part of a three part book being made completely free online. Let the head balancing begin!
I want everyone here to thank Rick Schwarz.
He sent me a copy of a book I’ve been long looking for. The Science of Head Balancing by Professor Paulinetti and Bob Jones.
Back when I found that original copy of The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing by Paulinetti and Jones, I also saw that they had a book on head balancing. At the time I wasn’t that interested in it, just in learning handstands, so I passed on it. Unfortunately since that time I’ve look for it everywhere I could but to no avail.
But then out of the blue Rick sent me a xeroxed copy of it. It’s much, much shorter then the hand balancing book and unfortunately the picture quality is quite poor. However the information is great.
And you know what? I’m going to put it up on the site for FREE. No strings attached. I just need to retype the work and scan the pictures in.
There are three sections:
The Science of Head Balancing
Head to Head Balancing
The Head Balancing Trapeze
Most people will be interested in just the first part but I’ll put up all three.
Good Luck and Good Head Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. To get you started here is the foreward by Bob Jones
*********************
Forward
The First Two Chapters of this works, on solo and head-to-head balancing, were published by Professor Paulinetti in 1929; that edition is now exhausted (April, 1943) and in reprinting it I am presuming upon myself to add a few words in a place or two, and to supplant his original line drawing illustrations (made from photographs which I took under his supervision) with those actual photographs in figures 12-13-14-15 and to pose for illustrations for the first ten positions (four of which are additions to the original course). Again, thanks to the increased interest in the art, I am adding a chapter on head balancing trapeze as taught me by the great master some fifteen years ago. Under his guidance this was the easiest feet I ever learned, and I trust that you, too, may find it likewise not difficult.
The Professor has answered his last curtain call, but his masterful accomplishments will ever keep his memory aline and his name honored by us of the balancing clan. It is to the memory of the man personally and his spirit of friendly and sympathetic helpfulness that this revised edition is respectfully and lovingly dedicated.
Robert L. Jones
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 18, 1943
The more strength and skill you have the better you’ll be in hand balancing and acrobatics.
You may be saying ‘DUH’ but this works on multiple levels.
Obviously you’ll require more strength in order to do high strength movements like the planche, iron cross and more.
Among various moves some are more strength oriented like those above and others are more skill oriented like the handstand and more so the one arm handstand.
Still all require some degree of both strength and skill.
Yes you need strength in order to do a handstand. Its not much if you get into a proper body position but it is still present. And if you hold a handstand for a minute or two you’ll start to feel those muscles burning.
Even though it doesn’t require much strength, practicing the skills can take strength and endurance.
Lets say you’re working on the one arm handstand. Maybe you get ten minutes of practice in before your shoulders are fatigued and you can’t get any more quality work in.
Let’s say you’re trying to do a bent arm press. It takes strength plus skill. If your strength is lacking how good are you going to get at the skill of that movement?
Freestanding handstand pushups? Going to be very hard to work the balance of the movement if two handstand pushups against the wall is all you can manage.
So more strength makes doing the moves easier but also allows you to get more quality practice in. If you’re fatigued then its hard to do fine motor movements.
That’s why building a foundation of strength is important. And when you’re just focusing on this foundational strength you want to minimize the skill necessary.
I have a video that talks more about this and the four bodyweight exercises that work best for the whole body.
All you have to do is go here and signup to watch it immediately.
And soon I’ll have even more to help you get stronger and thus more skilled.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. If you’ve already signed up the next video on the Do’s and Don’ts of Technique is set to come out tomorrow. But if you haven’t go here now.
Here is a great video I saw recently of an excellent hand balancer from France. It shows a wide variety of amazing hand balancing skills.
Hand balancing stands are used in about the first half of the video. Then a few other tools are used throughout as well. One of my favorites is jumping off of the table in a handstand. And it ends with some tumbling movements as well.
Just by studying this you can find something you can add into your routine, even if you’re not as advanced the basics of moving the body around while in a handstand is great for just about everybody.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Hand Balancing Stands are back in stock here. Get your pair while they’re still available.
Ryan Hurst from Gold Medal Bodies is here to show you how to build a training foundation with parallettes. This is the first of a three part series.
If you’ve ever seen a gymnast perform skills like the planche, you’ve probably wished you could too. Maybe you even got right down on the floor and tried one. Then looked around to make sure nobody was watching after you landed on your face.
Most of the classic bodyweight feats of strength are really damn hard (that’s why they’re called “feats of strength”), but with the right foundation, there’s no reason they can’t be achievable. But how do you build that foundation? Surely, if it were as simple as doing more bench presses, you’d see a lot more people who could perform a planche.
There’s a right tool for every job, and the tool gymnasts use to build upper-body strength for floor work is a set of parallettes.
Parallettes are great for a number of reasons. Not only do they allow greater stability and leverage than our hands have on the floor (which makes it easier to practice many skills), they’re small, light, and easy to build for yourself.
Everyone knows that pushing exercises are key for practical upper body strength, but what you may not know is how basic pressing can lay the foundation for more sophisticated, full-body movements, and parallettes are an ideal tool to help bridge that gap.
In recent years, parallettes have been adopted primarily by CrossFitters, owing primarily to their portability and cost. Unfortunately, the information on the web about parallette training is limited and simplistic. A quick check on YouTube shows tons of videos of people performing maybe three or four different parallette exercises, usually with poor form.
So let’s start there – by learning one high-leverage exercise with perfect form.
Enter The Parallette Push-Up
“Just a push-up?”
When you focus on your form and pay attention to finer details of the movement, you’ll find that doing correct push-ups on parallettes can be much more challenging than you’d expect.
As a reminder:
• Keep your elbows tight in to your side, with hands slightly wider than shoulder width. Shoulders stay over your hands and don’t let them drop below the level of the bar on the bottom of the repetition.
• Push and drive your elbow pits facing forward.
• A three second hold on the bottom and top position, with a locked down core, tight butt and legs will create a whole body tension, and make this into a full body exercise.
This exercise can be performed daily if repetitions are kept low (not more than 5 repetitions in a set).
We’ll have another video in a couple of days that builds on this foundation and really tightens up your core strength for more dynamic movements.
Until then, give these a shot and be sure to leave a comment and let us know how you like ‘em. Do you still think they’re “just push-ups?”
Gold Medal Bodies has a full blown course on Parallette Training.
I was working with a client again today and came up with something that can help you big in the frog stand, and thus work your way to the handstand.
I’ll shoot a video of it soon and put it online for you to see. (Should have had the camera rolling right then…oh well, maybe next time.)
That brings me to the new Secrets of the Handstand 2.0 DVD.
Thanks to everyone that picked it up over the past week.
There is still time to get in on it. After all, it’s free. All I ask is your help in shipping and handling.
And you get to try out the new Advanced Bodyweight Training Monthly along with it too.
I’ll let you in on a little secret…
Starting now and over the next couple months I’m giving all the members what’s going to become my bodyweight strength training course.
And they’re getting it for a fraction of the price I’ll be selling it at later by getting in now.
People have been asking me about this course for years. I’ve finally just put it together so that anyone can become ridiculously strong with just four exercises (including the variations and progressions found inside).
Some of this material I have never seen covered anywhere else.
So when you sign up today you get an 80 minute DVD that shows you how to master the handstand. You’ll also get the first Advanced Bodyweight DVD covering one of the major exercises, that builds strength applicable to all hand balancing and acrobatic skills.
And over the next two months you’ll get the other four DVD’s to complete the course.
23 of 50 spots have already been filled. After this week is over this month’s DVD goes into the archives until the BIG course comes out.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Sorry if you think I’m coming of a little pushy, but this is a insane deal and I highly suggest you check it out while I have it available.
The vast majority of people that come to this site are beginners looking to get into a handstand for the first time.
Yes, there are those that can effortlessly hold a one arm handstand but they are few and far between. And everyone else is jealous of them of course. 😉
I was working with a client named Tom yesterday who has a goal of doing a freestanding handstand.
I told him that when I started doing handstands I made every single mistake you could. Only through my persistence was I finally successful.
But for Tom and you, it doesn’t have to be that way.
I told him all about the lead-up stunts and how these allow you to build the skills necessary to do a handstand but do it in an easier method then the handstand itself.
Can’t hold a stable headstand? You shouldn’t be working on the handstand. (I made that mistake.)
Can’t kickup very well? You should practice that instead of just the handstand. (You guessed it, another mistake of mine.)
Barely can hold a handstand against the wall for ten seconds? You should improve your position and endurance before going freestanding. (Okay, here’s one I wasn’t so bad in.)
As you may know I just completely re-did my Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start DVD. This is 2.0. While I had upgraded it in the past this time it was redone from the ground up.
It totals 80 minutes long as there was so much information to cram on there that will get you into a handstand faster then anything else.
I’m testing something on a new site. But since you’re already a loyal subscriber you won’t need to subscribe again.
https://www.handstandmastery.com/yourvideo/
If you’ve been around awhile you may already have these gifts. If not, grab them know.
There’s a video that gives you more details on the lead-up stunts.
There’s a special report that details 10 mistakes people make when doing the handstand.
And lastly a mp3 of a special call I did with Jim Bathurst from Beast Skills that goes over all manner of hand balancing skills.
Then and only then if you want you can take me up on my ridiculously generous offer on the new Secrets of the Handstand 2.0
I’ll leave you to see why its’ so great by going to the next page.
https://www.handstandmastery.com/yourvideo/
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. If you’re still struggling with the freestanding handstand run over to this page right now and see what I’ve got for you.
https://www.handstandmastery.com/yourvideo/
P.S.S. Even if you can easily do a handstand you may still want to check this out…
I’m often asked about handwalking in the many questions that come in. Usually it comes in two types; how do you hand walk, and what to do next?
Let’s talk about the first part.
First a warning. I’ve said this many times before and will continue to say it. You must learn to stand on your hands first, before you start walking around. The reason for this is that if you learn to walk and never to stand, you will only be able to balance by walking around and never learn the necessary wrist and shoulder balance necessary for all other hand balancing.
Assuming you can stand, walking should pose no problem. Simply lift one arm up slightly, place in a little in front of where it was, repeat with the other arm, and continue on.
In the beginning, strive to make small steps to stay in control. As you improve you can lengthen your stride. With this you’ll be spending more and more time on a single arm, thus making hand walking harder to do.
The thing you want to strive for at all times is to stay in control. Just about anyone can stumble around on their hands for a few seconds. Even someone proficient in doing handstands may be able to walk on their hands but lose control the last few steps as they over balance beyond their ability.
Now let’s tackle the second part. After you’ve done some handwalking what do you do next. Here is a list of different things you can do.
For tons more details on all these and more, including stair walking and jumping, be sure to check out Walking and Jumping on Your Hands, one of the books only available in the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.
This should give you tons of ideas on where you can take your hand walking skills.
In fact, I’m going to be working on some of these tonight at my gymnastics class.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Mark apparently got this move from me (and I got it from Professor Orlick in the Hand Balancing Mastery Course), but the way in which he does it was new to me.
Once you get into a handstand move your hands in closer to a touching position, and then from there you move them even closer so a hand is on top of the other hand.
This in many ways mimics a one hand handstand as you’re lessening your base of support. A great lead-up stunt.
The difference is I had always kicked up into position with the hands closer or on top of each other, rather than moving them in. I have to say I like this one a bit more after having just played around with it, although both ways are valid.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
In my working towards a one arm handstand I’ve figured out that the amount you must lean over your hand is quite significant. Even more than you may think is necessary. Without this lean you won’t be able to get into a balance.
Getting help in a one hand handstand from Mark Reifkind
If you look at a bunch of one handed handstand pictures you’ll be able to notice the balance point of where people are at. You can then tell if they’d be able to hold the position of are about to full right out of it.
Just a short tip for today.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
© 2024 Lost Art of Hand Balancing. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by WordPress. Designed by 
