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Introducing the Yoga Trapeze

By admin on August 18, 2010 in Flexibility & Contortion

I haven’t offered many training tools on this site for one reason. There’s only a select few things that can help you build strength, hand balancing and acrobatic ability.

Today I’d like to introduce you to one of those few things. This is the Yoga Trapeze.

(Forgive the cheesy music. I needed something to work with and its hard to find quality stuff that’s royalty free.)

This is something I’ve been using a lot recently and having a blast with. I like it so much I wanted to make it available here. You can read more about it and order yours today right here.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing

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Flexibility Survey

By admin on January 28, 2010 in Flexibility & Contortion

A number of people at the site have expressed an interest in building flexibility.

Hand balancing, acrobatics and flexibility all go hand in hand. Yet this is one area that I haven’t covered too much… that is until now.

But before I go and tell you all about it I want to know what you’d like to know.

Click here for the flexibility survey.

I have plans for a free report that’ll share with you the common misconceptions about stretching and much more. But that only scratches the surface of what I know.

Tell me what else you’d like to know.

It’s a short survey filled with multiple choice questions. Shouldn’t take more than a minute or two to fill out.

In the words of Jerry Maguire ‘Help me, help you.’

Click here for the flexibility survey.

Good Luck and Good Stretching.
Logan Christopher

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Wrist Flexibility Report

By admin on January 11, 2010 in Flexibility & Contortion

A simple wrist stretch

I’ve shared a couple videos with you in the past week and today’s a little different. Instead of a video I’m giving you a report that covers what is many would-be hand balancer’s biggest obstacle. And that is wrist pain and flexibility.

Wrist Flexibility Report
(right click and choose save-as)

This is something I personally battle with. So instead of giving you a little tip you can have all of what I do to help out my wrists. The simple truth is without doing this stuff regularly I can’t do a handstand, but with it I can.

Perhaps you’ve already realized it, or you surely will after reading the report and seeing the references. Soon I’ll be releasing a new product. What you’ve seen is just small bits and pieces of the whole thing. And let me tell you it’s BIG.

This is the biggest and best compilation of hand balancing material ever released in the world.

It’s been called the Hand Balancing Bible.

You could call it the Holy Grail of Hand Balancing.

But I’ve done away the religious references and simply called it the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.

Tomorrow I’ll fill you in on more details on why this course is a must-have for anyone who wants success beyond the handstand.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If this report helps you out please comment below.

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Gymnastic Handstand

By admin on January 8, 2010 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands

The gymnastic handstand or straight handstand is a more difficult move then the natural or curved handstand. For that reason I believe a beginner should work on the curved handstand first and once they become proficient at that then they can move onto the straight handstand.

Working on the straight handstand will take a good bit of dedication as you must learn to maintain a straight body while upside-down, something that certainly doesn’t come natural. As with any move its best to learn it in the easiest possible way first. For that reason we go to the wall.

Gymnastic Handstand

When working on the gymnastic handstand it is better to face the wall with your body rather then have your back to it. This makes it easier to get into the straight body position. You can cartwheel into position or walk your feet up the wall.

Once you are in the handstand get your hands as close to the wall as possible. Stick your head through your arms. This alone will help your back to stop curving. While keeping the arms locked push through with your chest to open up the shoulders. If this is difficult you may need to work on shoulder flexibility.

Another key part is the lower body. You want to maintain what is known in gymnastics as a hollow body position. That is you tuck your pelvis in. Think as if you were trying to reach your tail bone to your navel and shorten that distance. You may need to practice this position while not in a handstand if it is unfamiliar to you.

Once you have a good position hold for time against the wall. Work up to 2 minutes for multiple sets. If you can do this you have good endurance not just to hold the handstand but to keep your position while you do it. At that point the gymnastic handstand should feel natural to you.

The next step is to transition to freestanding. Instead of just kicking up out in the open start in the straight handstand against the wall and come off a little bit to find your balance. But that will have to be an article for another time…

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Great Rings Routine

By admin on August 10, 2009 in Rings

People that have never used the gymnastic rings may know they are difficult but it takes a try on them to truly grasp the strength it takes to do an impressive routine.

I came upon this video awhile back. It shows gymnast Andreas Aguilar at the 1991 World Professional Gymnastics Championships. Its most likely just an exhibition, rather then competing, due to the moves he performs.

Of particular note I want you to pay attention to the muscle up in the L-sit position. That may very well be one of the smoothest muscle ups ever. A far cry from the kipping action most athletes use.

There’s quite a few iron crosses and you’ll want to pay attention to the very unique dismount.

Good Luck and Good Ring Training,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Rings can build awesome strength and you can buy a set of gymnastic rings here.

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Planche and Hand Position

By admin on July 20, 2009 in Flexibility & Contortion, Hand-to-Hand, Planche

A few comments were raised about the hand position in Rafael Guerrero’s planche in a previous post.

Why was he up on the fingertips? Is this necessary to do a planche in good form?

Unless you have hyper-flexible wrists you won’t be able to do a planche with the fingers pointing forwards and flat on the ground. Most people turn their wrists out to the sides to alleviate this sort of strain or come up on the fingers.

But there are other ways to do a planche with the hands not taking as much stress as these other pictures by Rafael show. You can do it on some sort of parallel bars.

Planche on Bars
Or completely on the fingertips.

Top Planche on Fingertips
Even in a hand-to-hand balance.

Top Planche in High Hand to Hand Balance
But if you do have the wrist flexibility you can do it on flat ground with the palms flat on the ground and facing forward. In the True Art and Science of Hand Balancing the chapter on planches showcases W.H. Mering doing just that.

And if you’re seeking to build incredible strength like these planches show I have an important announcement later this week. Stay tuned!

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

A few comments were raised about the hand position in Rafael Guerrero’s planche in a previous post. (If you missed that you can find it at https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/blog/the-true-planche/.)

Why was he up on the fingertips? Is this necessary to do a planche in good form?

But there are other ways to do a planche with the hands not taking as much stress as these other pictures by Rafael show. You can do it on some sort of parallel bars.

Or completely on the fingertips.

Even in a hand-to-hand balance.

But if you do have the wrist flexibility you can do it on flat ground with the palms flat on the ground and facing forward. In the True Art and Science of Hand Balancing the chapter on planches showcases W.H. Mering doing just that. Check out the book for more.

If you’re seeking to build incredible strength like these planches show I have an important announcement later this week. Stay tuned!

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Overbalancing in the Forearm Stand

By admin on June 30, 2009 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands

This question comes from Fady.

“Hi Logan, hope you’re doing fine, actually I’m facing some overbalancing problems when trying to make elbow stand I find myself falling to a bridge no matter how hard I pressed with my fingers or trying stretching my legs and back.

“Actually I’m good at HS against wall, also balance good on frog stand and can save underbalanced HS pretty well (when I’m against wall), also I think I have a flexible back (I can make wrestler bridge and make my chin touch the floor)

“But I think I’m facing overbalancing problems, do you think that this could be due to my back strength lagging my flexibility? plz advice?”

My guess is that because of your great flexibility your legs and feet hang too far over in the forearm stand. This is what causes you to overbalance and land in a bridge.

Here’s two things you can do to correct this issue. First off, attempt to straighten your back. Don’t allow your legs to extend to far past. Instead try to reach up and stay tall.

The other thing to try is to do the forearm stand in front of a wall just like you would a handstand. By using the wall just as much as possible you can work your balancing and, of course, it’ll stop you from overbalancing.

Working these two methods you should be able find the balance.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. For more tips on the forearm stand be sure to check out the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start DVD.

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Most Flexible Ross Sisters

By admin on June 4, 2009 in Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion, Tumbling

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!

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Bad Handstand Habits, Training Frequency + More

By admin on May 26, 2009 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands, Walking & Jumping

Thanks for all the suggestions after my last message. Going to answer a number of them today.

“I am just started handstands and I notice that my arms are bent it seems I have a bad habit, ideas?”

You know this is something I battled with for a long time. When doing a handstand you want to have your arms locked out the entire time.

Should you overbalance you can bend your arms to save yourself but this should only be used as a last resort. And when you’re starting out you are better off not doing it so that you learn to use your hands to balance.

So how do you break this habit? Returning to the wall and doing handstands there with locked out arms would certainly help.

Also, any time you kick-up into a handstand have your arms straight from the very start. Extend them fully and imagine they have a splint wrapped around them that forces you to keep them that way.

“Actually I am interested in high wire walking or rope walking. And in the future also slacklining. I live in Finland and I would like to know where I could buy a slackline? Sorry my bad english. Thank You for your inspiring messages.”
Taina

Its funny that you should mention this, Taina as a friend just brought to my attention trying out slack lines.

Its something I’m looking into and may feature on the site in the future. As an informal poll how many out there are potentially interested in learning this art? And who out there currently does it?

“I would like to know some good ways to build up to walking up stairs on my hands.”

Before starting to walk up stairs you need to have a good base. You should be proficient in walking on flat ground, walking down stairs, and be strong.

Because you’re walking up the stairs on your hands you are having to push your bodyweight up with mostly a single arm at a time. I’d say being able to do three freestanding handstand pushups in a row is the bare minimum.

If you’re there its just a matter of starting small and working your way up. Literally. Find small stairs and master those before moving up to large steps. The more incremental you can make it the better.

“I started trying some headstands and handstands today after perusing this site + I really enjoyed it. I lift weights regularly and was wondering how frequently i should train hand balancing, do I do it as with weights(every other day) or can I practice every day?
Thanks very much.
Stuart

This is a fairly common question. Because hand balancing requires very fine skill it is best to practice it every single day. A little practice each day is much better than a two hour session once a week.

Of course starting out you’ll need to give some time for recovery, also depending on what moves you are practicing and how tough your other workouts are.

But once you have a foundation some practice every day is the best way to go. If for some reason you are unable to train everyday, not to worry cause you can still make progress with less practice.

Well that’s plenty to chew on for one day. So until next time…

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Many of these topics are covered in much more detail in Professor Paulinetti and Bob Jones’ hand balancing book.

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Straight Arm Pressing Tips

By admin on March 31, 2009 in Flexibility & Contortion, Presses & Pushup

Having safely returned from my trip its time to get back into regular emails to help you go further in your hand balancing and acrobatics. I received a number of excellent questions while I was gone so I figured I’d start there.

“How should your hands look when there on the ground for a handstand?”
Genoman

While it can change up depending on which hand balancing move you’re doing, for the normal handstand you want your hands flat on the ground with the fingers spread as far apart as possible. The middle or index finger should be pointing directly forward.

“I’ve been doing hand balancing for a while now. I’ve developed quite a strong upper body. I do hand-stand push-ups with ease. I kick up successfully more times than not and can hold the balance for a considerable amount of time. That is why I’m so perplexed as to why I cannot even come close to doing any of the stiff armed lever up exercises. In doing exercise #2 in “The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing”, The best I can do is on push-up bars, hold myself with my knees still under me, but when I try and lever up, I barely budged, literally about an inch or so. If I were to do this with bent arms, I do it with ease, same with all lever ups like with split or even straight legs. What makes stiff arm so difficult? What are the muscles being stressed most in a stiff arm lever up and how can one train them to get to do it? I feel I’m not even close to getting anywhere with them. Again, I’m extremely strong in the upper body. Is it possible I’m doing something wrong, or possibly I have neglected to train a certain muscle or muscle group?”

Thanks,
Francis Ford

Straight arm presses are a different beast then bent arm presses. While you are having problems of this sort there are many people that can do straight arm moves but would fall flat in a bent arm press because they lack the strength.

Because of different body leverages the straight arm press may take you some time to get to, where others can do it almost immediately.

The straight arm press, in its various forms, requires strength in different areas as well as flexibility. You have to be able to get your center of mass over your hands. This requires your shoulders to go far out in front.

One method you may want to try is to do a bent arm press except try to bend your arms a little less, and gradually work up to a straight arm press. From the handstand you can do negatives lowering yourself down on straight arms.

Also having someone else to spot you can be a big help. They stand in front of you, your shoulders coming to meet their legs for support, and they assist you by raising your hips as much as you need to do the move.

And lastly I recommend you re-read Chapter 8 on pressing in the book for even more info. Most important is to just keep at it. If you find it difficult, it’ll be that much more satisfying when you finally make it.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If you haven’t got your copy of The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing you can grab it here.

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