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Mike Fitch Interview

By Bac on June 26, 2012 in Bboy, Handstands

I just finished up the Animal Flow Certification put on by Mike Fitch of Global Bodyweight Training. Mike is a good friend of mine and I’m happy to say I lent a helping hand in getting his website and business off the ground. So to see the great success he’s had so far is amazing.

After finishing up the weekend I asked Mike to do a short interview. It would have been longer but I had to hit the road and drive 6 hours home.

In this interview we talked about his background, how the animal flow movements came about, how the build the exact strength, flexibility and skill needed for hand balancing, and what it takes to become good.

Be sure to check out Mike’s Animal Flow Workout.

Also you can check out my Animal Flow Review here.

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Handstand Freezes

By Bac on June 22, 2012 in Bboy, Handstands

The bboy world has a lot of crossover with the hand balancing world. It starts with as simple as the handstand freezes. This video gives you some training tips on doing just that.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

Handstand Freezes

There is a decent progression shown in this couple on minutes.

1 – Do a handstand against the wall
2 – Do a one handed handstand against the wall
3 – Do handstands freezes out in the open
4 – Do one arm handstand freezes out in the open (this isn’t shown but is implied)

In bboying the handstands aren’t held for long, but are short stalls, hence the name freeze, as you move from one move to the next.

Still by training in the handstand as you’ll find on this site you could do a lot to improve you bboy skills, especially in handstand freezes.

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Ball Rhythmic Gymnastics

By admin on June 16, 2012 in Flexibility & Contortion

This video showcases an amazing acrobat doing a ball rhythmic gymnastics routine.

If you’ve never heard of this style of gymnastics here is the details from Wikipedia.

The Ball is a piece of apparatus used in rhythmic gymnastics. It is made of either rubber or synthetic material (pliable plastic) provided it possesses the same elasticity as rubber. It is from 18 to 20 cm in diameter and must have a minimum weight of 400g. The ball can be of any colour. The ball should rest in the gymnast’s hand and not rest against the wrist or be able to be grasped.

Fundamental elements of a ball routine include throwing, bouncing or rolling. The gymnast must use both hands and work on the whole floor area whilst showing continuous flowing movement.

The ball is sometimes placed on their back while the gymnast does a skill such as a walk-over. From wikipedia

It’s an amazing display of flexibility and control to do ball rhythmic gymnastics as well as the other styles including rope, clubs, hoop, ribbon and freestyle.

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Handstand Scorpion

By Bac on June 14, 2012 in Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands, Yoga

The handstand scorpion is a minor contortion exercise where you go into a big back bend and bend the knees, usually touching them to the top of the head. Sometimes it’s taken even further and the feet come beneath the head.

Here’s a really good video that shows the handstand scorpion and more.

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick

She is also doing a movement she calls the Tic Toc which is going into the bridge and back. There may be a different use of that name for a move in gymnastics.

I’ve seen the handstand fall into a bridge before and done it myself. However getting back into the handstand from that position is much harder. Give it a try yourself. It’s helpful to have a great base in bridging movements before trying any of this.

This Scorpion pose is also known as Vrschikasana in yoga, although that may refer to the version where it’s a forearm stand rather then on the hands. And an interesting little philosophy on this move.

The head, which is the seat of knowledge and power, is also the seat of pride, anger, hatred, jealousy, intolerance and malice. These emotions are more deadly than the poison which the scorpion carries in its sting. The yogi, by stamping on his head with his feet, attempts to eradicate these self-destroying emotions and passions. By kicking his head he seeks to develop humility, calmness and tolerance and thus to be free of ego. The subjugation of the ego leads to harmony and happiness. Read more here.

Work on your handstand scorpion and you’ll not only build balancing ability, but great back flexibility and it can lead up to the other movements shown here. Plus it may help you free yourself from your ego 🙂

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Crazy BBoy Video

By admin on June 13, 2012 in Bboy

Ralph sent me this compilation video of bboying and I was amazed. Lots of purely awesome moves.

I’m not sure what makes something a power move in the bboy world as opposed to something else. Anyone care to fill me in on the comments below?

Be sure to check out the other crazy bboy videos in the related posts links below.

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Handstand Backbend

By Bac on June 12, 2012 in Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands

There are people that believe you should have no backbend in your handstand at all. That only the straight handstand is how to do a handstand.

But I don’t believe that. Just look at how many contortionists balance using excessive back bend.

When we’re talking about handstand backbend we can be talking about two things.

1) How much backbend you have in your handstand.
2) Going from a handstand into a backbend or a bridge. You might also call this a handstand to bridge.

This video shows you both.

Handstand Backbend

If you’re trying to do this, you don’t need as much back bend as this fellow has but it certainly helps. I would highly recommend improving your gymnast bridge before trying this exercise out.

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How to do a No Handed Cartwheel

By Bac on June 11, 2012 in Flexibility & Contortion, Tumbling

This video will show you how to do a no handed cartwheel which is also known as an aerial.

This is a difficult skill to get to, especially for men, who tend to have less hip flexibility. But with dedicated training I think just about everybody can do it.

The basics of this movement are to first master your cartwheel then your one handed cartwheel. When you can do these easily you can start working towards the aerial.

Be forewarned, that the more hip flexibility you have the easier it will be.

When you’re starting out you’ll need to launch off hard from both the rear leg then front leg. Running into the movement can help.

It’s also helpful to think of your point of rotation at the shoulders.

At one time I was finally able to do the no handed cartwheel after a lot of time spent trying. Unfortunately I can’t currently do it, but am working back up to the skill. You can see it’s not the most graceful aerial but I did pull it off.

If you enjoyed this article on how to do a no handed cartwheel please leave a comment below.

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Ninja Warrior Bedroom

By Bac on June 1, 2012 in Rock Climbing

I was sent this video a little while back. It’s very impressive showcasing a man training for Ninja Warrior in his bedroom.

If you’re not familiar with Ninja Warrior, it’s a TV show with the most difficult obstacle courses on the planet. Very few people over the years have even completed them all. It’s well-worth checking out, for example on youtube, if you’re not familiar with it.

You can see the progression of starting with a few rock climbing holds and how it grew from there. In Ninja Warrior a majority of the events involve climbing or hanging by very tough hand positions.

Just this week I went and joined a rock climbing gym. I believe rock climbing and hand balancing go together really well as they work many opposing muscle groups.

The strength required in the fingertips, not to mention the pulling muscles, should also translate to my goal of doing the one arm chinnup. At least that’s what I’m going for and I’ll be sure to update you on my progress there.

Now I don’t recommend turning your room or home into a ninja warrior course like this man did (in fact, I don’t think many places could support that weight, unless it was done properly). But adding some of this kind of training into what you’re doing you may get some great benefits, so give it a try.

If you want to learn some different Ninja skills join me at my upcoming workshop.

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Yoga Hand Balancing Flow Video

By Bac on May 24, 2012 in Handstands, Yoga

Here is a yoga video that includes hand balancing.

Yes, it is an attractive woman in her underwear but don’t let that distract you 🙂

By watching this you can observe a couple things.

One, that yoga and hand balancing go hand in hand (pun intended). Yoga has many hand balances in it. You’ll see pressups to a handstand, a version of the frogstand, the headstand, handstands with different leg positions including the lotus position, and more.

You can also see how you might want to put a little hand balancing flow together, going from one move to the next.

Thanks to John for sending this video to me.

Want some more yoga positions. Check out the Yoga Trapeze as a fun tool for making inversions easy.