Just put up a new article on the site that gives you some details on getting started with the gymnastic bridge.
Click to read it: Gymnast Bridge.
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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.
Good Luck and Good Acrobatics,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Thanks to Mike for pointing me to this video!
More Handstand Q&A
Gonna dip into the mailbag today and answer a couple questions.
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I had a question that relate to both my bridging, and hand balancing. When I do either, the blood rushes to my head very soon, not letting me hold either very long. Is this normal? Will it go away after more time? Are there any special ways to get around this? I would like to be able to work on both more than I am able to now because of that. Thank you for you great websites and emails!
Thank you,
Justin
That’s just a sign of gravity doing its job. The human body is not normally use to being upside down so when you start out it can cause you to feel like your head is about to explode.
I would guess that this happens to most people in one degree or another. And it will get better with time just as you become accustom to the position.
In addition, here’s two things to try out. Holding your breath compounds this problem. Make sure you are breathing easily while you bridge or do handstands. It can be tough in the beginning but you need to breathe for best results.
Second you can do an exercise specifically to get yourself familiar with being upside down. Just go up into a headstand (against a wall or not) and hold for a long time. With practice you’ll be able to do this for minutes at a time. And then you’ll be able to deal with blood rushing to your head.
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Handstands are really frustrating to me. For a while now I’ve been having consistent 3 sec handstands and it hasn’t been improving. I’m also a bboy and my planches are better than my handstands, I can hold a planche-ish thing with my body horizontal and my back bent with my legs slightly at an angle. Kinda like this \_. Any tips?
Nate
I think the fact that you are strong from break dancing may actually be holding you back on the handstand. The handstand is really a balanced position. You don’t want to have to rely on your strength to hold you there, unlike the planche.
Professor Orlick use to say that it was easier to teach a little kid the handstand than a strong weightlifter because the kid would have to find the balance, while the weightlifter would try to use his strength. If you want to hear more from Prof. Orlick check out the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.
Its hard to say without some more details but give either of these techniques a try. If you are underbalancing, going toward that planche, push back upwards into the handstand. If you find yourself overbalancing correct yourself and get back to neutral.
But the main thing is to just keep working on it. Set a goal to hit 5 seconds and work on that. Really get a feel for the position. In time it will come.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Straightening Handstand, Wrist Strength & More
Diving into a few questions and comments today.
“In the hand stand, and especially in the bridge, the main persisting difficulty is an inherent wrist weakness. In fact I observe steady improvement in back and shoulder flexibility, but the wrist is always setting me back!”
Joseph
I know your pain Joseph, having my own share of wrist problems. But I’ve come a long way in part thanks to handstands.
Here’s a few things you can try out. Always stretch before hand balancing or bridging. Just open the wrist back as far as it will go. And afterwards its great to work it the other direction too.
Try working some of the positions of the fists as well. This is known to help strengthen the wrists.
Of course there is much else to do, including many mobility drills for the hands and fingers. Since this is a problem for many people I’ll be covering it in more detail in the future. But for now I hope that helps.
Onto another comment.
“I got it! Thanks a bunch. I’m pleased with the quality of the material and your service.
“The handstand is really one of the most difficult skill I’m trying to learn, I’m almost there. Been practising since august but I was doing it wrongly by starting to do the handstands and not the build up moves! now I know what I know I’m doing wrong.
“Unfortunately my online friend who is into handbalancing didn’t tell me about the build up moves so I ended up wasting a lot of time practising doing handstands immediately. And most of the resources over the internet failed to teach this important aspect in learning this skill. Out of desperation I even attended a gymnastics class once. After many months of practice (4months) out of 10 attempts 1 will get thru and I would consider that a lucky day if I could hold it for 3seconds! It got so frustrating that I was ready to give up.
“I’m not back to ground zero but I could feel its just a matter of time in learning this. I’ve already mastered the frogstand, headstand and now been practising the kick up. Next would be the forearm stand.
“Here in the philippines, there isn’t much interest in handbalancing. I could only see some B-boys doing a walking handstands but doing static holds? I’ve never seen one. Though when I saw the press to handstand I was blown away by some guy at the gymnastics class.
“Ok got to read the books and dvd! I can’t wait till I can master the handstand! Once I could balance for 30 seconds then on to the advance course.
“Handbalancing is truly a lost art. It’s great that you that you decided to open this resource site.”
Regards,
Gerald
Thanks for sending in the report Gerald. You are too right. Learning the handstand can be frustrating, especially if you take the long slow road of going right to it.
That’s why I created the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide to give you the lead-up stunts you mentioned and plan to attack the handstand in an easier way.
Once you have that its just a matter of time and practice. You’ll be holding a handstand for 30 seconds in no time.
“How do you correct the arch of the back in a handstand?”
Martha
Let me start off by saying that arching in a handstand is not wrong to do as many people believe. But if you want to straighten out here’s what to do.
Go back to the wall.
Walls are flat so kick up into a handstand and straighten out to the point where all the points on your body are in contact with it.
Of course, you’ll also bring your head down in between your arms and this alone will help to eliminate the arch.
But don’t expect this to go away overnight, and especially be able to balance in the position. You’ll have to work at it to re-configure the body to do as you please since an arched handstand is not only easier but more natural.
That’s it for today. Going to have some new stuff for you this week so stay tuned.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Frustrated with the difficulty of the handstand? Don’t know the best place to begin? Find the proper path with the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide
Get Free Bridging Info
If you celebrated Halloween this past Friday, I hope you had a good one. Mine was certainly an interesting night.
Now that its over we’re into the home stretch of 2008. Just two months left in the year. Now you can relax in all your efforts as the holidays come upon us…
Or you can use that same time to move forward, while still enjoying the holidays.
I choose the later and I hope you do too. Instead of slacking off, you can double your efforts and set the pace for 2009.
And here’s something that may help you to do just that.
A few weeks back I held a limited time offer to get on the pre-production offer of the brand new Advanced Bridging Course. If you took me up on the offer great, your course will be out in the mail by tomorrow.
And if you didn’t you have a second chance. But not quite yet.
Before I make the course available again, I want to share with you some fr.ee information on why adding bridging in its different forms to your training is a good idea.
I’ll be releasing a special report near the end of this week, giving some of the details on how I came to this point. In addition to that, I’ll be sharing select video clips from the course.
All you have to do is raise your hand and say I’m interested. Just go to the following page and enter your name and email. In a few days you’ll get the fr.ee info.
https://legendarystrength.com/advanced-bridging-exercises/
Like I said I will be selling the full course next week. If its something you’re interested in after I’ve shown you a small piece of what’s inside then you’ll be able to get it.
But if you only want to take a look at the fr.ee stuff to see if it’s a fit for you, that’s fine too.
Head on over to the site, to enter you name and email. That’s all you gotta do.
Good Luck and Good Bridging,
Logan Christopher
P.S. I know its called advanced bridging, but really this is for all levels. If its something you want to learn more about it sign-up now.
Joe Nordquest
Joe Nordquest was a classic strongman back in the early part of last century. He was the brother of ‘The Young Sandow’ Alfred Nordquest.
Here are some of his hand balancing exploits. From Klein’s Bell in November of 1931:
Joe Nordquest performed a one hand stand and with the free hand lifted a 100 pound dumb bell off the floor and held the balance. He also has on numerous occasions done 28-30 hand stand press ups in succession on the floor.
From David Willoughby’s The Super Athletes:
He later put on some weight moving up from 168 pounds to 190. Even at this size he was capable of jumping off a 30 inch table onto the floor while staying in a handstand.
Here he is pictured pressing 388 in the shoulder bridge. This was before the bench press ever came to be. You think his success and strength in hand balancing helped him get to this level?
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Advanced Bridging
Last summer I was traveling through Europe with a group of friends. We were in San Sebastian waiting to go to Pamplona for the running of the bulls.
There were several hours to kill before the train would arrive and take us off.
So we decided to play some football in a nearby park. (Finding an American football in Europe wasn’t easy but that’s a story for another time.)
Since the only place we could find was a field of half grass and half granite, we played two-hand touch rather then tackling each other. Still, being men it was bound to get rough. And of course highly competitive.
A little three on three action. The whole game was a tight battle for the lead.
And it was going smoothly until a certain kickoff.
The kick was high and short. As we scrambled forward to catch it, the other guys were rushing towards us. The ball hit the ground and bounced high up into the air.
I leaped upwards. I don’t know how exactly it happened, or who hit me, but my feet were taken out from under me sending me spinning.
Six feet up in the air I turned over and came crashing down onto the packed ground, the back of my head being the first point of contact. THUMP!!
I’m not gonna lie and say it didn’t affect me. It did. I was stunned and had to take some time out of the game. But within an hour I was fine.
Meanwhile one of my friends pulled a neck muscle by looking over his shoulder for a pass. Seriously.
But how did I avoid what certainly would should have been a concussion? How was I fine in just an hour but my friend had a nagging injury for months.
Its how I train. The neck and spine are often neglected by most people even if they do otherwise train their body.
All my neck training is done from the wrestler’s bridge. But I don’t just hold the position for time. I’ve developed a series of exercises that will give you one of the strongest necks in the world.
But that’s only part of the equation. There’s also the gymnastic bridge. Few exercises work the body from fingers to toes like this one. Especially when you consider the flexibility and agility to move into and out of position with ease.
Considering how I started so inflexible and weak many years back, its amazing some of the things I can do now. And now you can do it to.
Go to Advanced Bridging to find out more.
Be sure to watch the video to really see what is possible with a few bridging movements.
This is a special offer and your only notice. Come Friday morning the page is coming down. So go check it out while you have a chance.
Good Luck and Good Bridging,
Logan Christopher
P.S. On first appearance to many people the bridge in its many forms can appear injurious and dangerous. But if you go about it the right way not only will you build strength and flexibility, you can become concussion-proof. You’ll find out more at Advanced Bridging.
You've got Questions, I've got Answers
Been working on a new project. Hours of filming straight at a time. It’s rough work doing that much volume but the payoff should be great.
More on that later on, plus a few sneak peak video clips.
Right now, gonna dive into the mailbag to answer a few more of your questions. We got some good ones today.
“Quick question. I’m having trouble going past 30 seconds holding a handstand. My balance is constantly improving, so is strength (i can rattle off 12-15 pressups at a time – sometimes I’ll do 3 sets of 11). Just not getting why I hit a wall around 30 or so seconds in a free handstand. gotta run, Thanks for the great info”
Andy Moose
My first impression is that your hitting a wall because you think you’re hitting a wall.
There is nothing physiologically that changes after the half minute mark. If you can’t break it you just need a few options to work through it.
Set a goal to make 40 seconds. Maybe even visualize yourself doing it. But most importantly believe in your ability to do it. Do not think you’ll fail at 30 but that you can go on to 60 and eventually you will.
“how do you go back into a crab and flip over sucessfuly”
Gabrielle
I put out a video a while back showing how to do a similar move from the bridge position. If you haven’t seen it you can check it out here – Gymnastic Bridge Turn-Over.
The short answer is that it requires strength and flexibility in the shoulders to do this move. You have to be able to post your weight on the one arm while you rotate your body around.
“HI Logan,
A skill that I’m working to regain is the backward rolling summersault. I think I did it as a kid, but it is escaping me now. Any suggestions to implement the back roll without risking neck strain?”
thanks
Jeff
Many people can’t do a backwards roll because it hurts their neck. The problem lies not in the move itself but in weakness.
If you build up your strength this move will not be a problem. In Tumbling Illustrated there’s even a back extension roll up into the headstand without the use of the arms. How’s that for neck strain?
In my opinion the best exercise to strengthen the neck is the wrestler’s bridge. Tried and true. And if you move from a laying down position to the top of the bridge you cover the same angles of pressure you need for the backwards roll.
You can avoid the problem by doing backwards rolls over the shoulder or you can address it and make you neck strong. Your choice.
And if you want to have a really strong neck (when most people don’t even train theirs) stay tuned to what’s coming soon.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Gymnastic Bridge Turn-Over
Going to step away from hand balancing today and a bit more in the coming weeks to focus on related acrobatics and various tumbling moves. And I’ll be sharing many of them in video form like today!
First up is a bridging movement that I’ve been throwing in my routine the past few weeks.
This move involves going from a back bend or gymnastic bridge than turning face down. In order to do this you support yourself on one arm and turn to come on all fours. From here you continue the movement turning back into the bridge.
I’m calling it the Gymnastic Bridge Turn-over.
Just doing a single one of these moves is great. It requires great shoulder flexibility and strength. Can you say stability? In addition it will engage just about every other muscle in your body especially your abs, back and legs.
If one is no problem for you then do as I do in the video, stringing a bunch together to complete an entire circle. If you want a real challenge try to do five full circles each way.
Don’t feel bad if you can’t do this one. If this is a hard move for you it means one thing…you need to work on your gymnastic bridge. By improving your shoulder flexibility in this movement you can work up to doing the move shown here with ease.
So get on your back, press up, straighten the arms, and try to extend your chest over your hands.
You may also find that you can flip one way but not the other. Keep working at it until you can move seamlessly in and out of position in every way.
Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Got another video next time that covers the very basics and why they’re so important regardless of who you are. In this and all things the fundamentals are of highest importance.
Bridge Exercises
This picture was taken over a year ago of this bridge exercise. I’m the guy on the bottom in the wrestler’s bridge, while my friend, Tyler, is doing a hand bridge on top. I call it the Double Bridge.
You might wonder what possessed us to try this stunt. The answer is just for fun and to see if we could pull it off.
The motivation was in seeing a couple of pictures in The True Are and Science of Hand Balancing. Bridging and hand balancing have always gone together because they both take strength, flexibility, and skill.
I pulled a couple more pictures out from the Inspirational Photo Section displaying some bridging stunts. In the book there are over 130 pictures in this section alone giving you all kinds of trick you could shoot for. That’s not counting the photos which show you how to perform all manner of hand balancing stunts throughout the rest of the book.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, the pictures in this book alone are worth the price.
Since doing this stunt, I have wanted to give it another shot because I think we could make it look better. But it is one of those one time things, at least for now.
Bridging of all kinds is something you must work up to, especially pulling off feats like this. There will be more on this topic in the future as I believe I am one of a handful of people pushing the envelope on this skill set, just like some of the old time strongmen.
If you’ve never done anything like this, get started slowly.
Good Luck and Good Bridging,
Logan Christopher
P.S. To get much more on bridging exercises check out the Advanced Bridging Course
