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Watching the Amazing Chinese Acrobats

By admin on August 1, 2008 in Uncategorized

I was down at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk yesterday. Not to go on any rides but to watch the new show they’ve been having. The Amazing Chinese Acrobats.

I’ll never turn down an opportunity to watch talented individuals to their thing.

Before it all began the announcer was saying that many of these acrobats had trained since they were four years old. That it took athletic strength, impeccable balance, and flawless timing to do these stunts.

I fully agree with those statements. I’m going to try to head back to take some pictures and write up a few articles like I did for the Moscow Circus last year if I get the permission.

Just to give you an idea of what took place: a contortionist balancing glasses, a woman juggling a table with her feet, seven people on a single bicycle, pole climbing, hand balancing on the stacked chairs, and more.

Many of the classic Chinese acrobatic feats. Of course there were some new spins and I was impressed by their showmanship.

There were some kids nearby who exclamations made it seem like every move was an impossibility.

Don’t get me wrong, it was some amazing stuff. I couldn’t do a bunch of it and I was clapping right along with everyone else.

But here I was thinking I can do that one. I could get that with a little practice. To me nothing was impossible or magical. Just dedication and practice.

I don’t mean to come off as saying I’m on the level of these athletes. My point is that anyone can work up to some level of skill in feats similar to these.

And you don’t have to start at four years old, be five feet tall, or weigh less than 120 lbs.

If I can learn how to do a back flip just about anyone can.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If you’re in the area, check out the show which is running through August 21st. If you’re not you can see of the best Chinese Acrobatics in the world.

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Make Your Handstand Pushups Harder

By admin on July 29, 2008 in Uncategorized

Handstand pushups. I don’t know if anyone would deny this as a great exercise.

It’s amazing when someone tells you they can do 15 handstand pushups. But what KIND of handstand pushups are they talking about, assuming they are even telling the truth?

There are many ways to skin this cat, so to speak.

The thing is almost every handstand pushup is a partial rep. Do you touch your head to the ground? Some would call that full-range but it is far from THE full-range.

In fact, it’s only about half. Full-range is down to your shoulders.

Now, if you don’t have something raised off the floor to place your hands on you won’t be able to do a true full-range handstand pushup.

But here’s a tip to increase your range without anything but the floor.

Touch your nose to the floor rather than the top of your head. That’s about a 3 inch difference.

And trust me, those three inches make a big difference. Because that range is right near the sticking point for most people.

Go ahead and try to max out each way and see where your numbers lie.

That’s just one way of many you can change the handstand pushup to make it harder or easier.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Is Age a Factor in Hand Balancing?

By admin on July 1, 2008 in One Hand, Uncategorized

There’s some cool things in store for this month. And we are going kick off the holiday weekend with an important announcement on Thursday.

We will keep up that momentum through the whole month with a new release (or re-release) almost every single week.

On top of that there are new articles and videos coming. To hold you over here’s a new question from Ross.

“Hi, I’ve looked through the site and find it very interesting. One point I was surprised not to see mentioned was the factor of age in learning balance. I was always told that you must start very young to ever have exceptional balance. Is this true or just a myth? I am 29 and always assumed I could probably learn handstands but not one-handed or anything advanced. As a break-dancer, I have always concentrated on movements and neglected static balances for this reason. “

I don’t know where you heard this but it’s something that I’ve never have. And it’s definitely a myth. Be careful any time you assume something. You know what that does, right?

If you look at it logically you’ll find the only thing that could stop you from learning is in your mind. There is no physical aspect that occurs at what, say 9 years old or maybe its 13, where its too late for you to become a good balancer.

Sure there is benefits to being young in regards to balancing. They have many more years to practice. Plus their mind is much less likely to get in the way.

I tell you what’s true though. If you believe you’ll never be able to hold a one-hand handstand than you definitely won’t.

The same holds true for anything in life. Don’t believe you can learn a new language or to play a musical instrument. Then you won’t make the effort and you won’t reap the rewards.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If you do want to learn the One Handed Handstand, you need a plan of action and that plan can be found here.

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New Kettlebell Juggling Site

By admin on June 17, 2008 in Uncategorized

I have a new website up that I think you might want to check out.

Often times when I train outside at the park or beach I am doing one of three things. Hand balancing, tumbling moves and kettlebell juggling.

Kettlebell juggling is another fun way to get stronger and in better shape. It’s another skilled exercise you can practice and show off to others. Plus many of the moves will work the body in ways that hand balancing misses.

Instead of going on and on about it here, just go check out the site. If nothing else watch the video to see if you might be interested.

Kettlebell Juggling

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Three Man Hand Balancing Stunt

By admin on June 12, 2008 in Uncategorized

Got another picture from Stu Goldberg of a three man hand balancing stunt.

That’s him on the top. He’s been teaching me a few things especially on the one hand handstand, some things I’ll share with you later on. But for now let’s cover some handstand basics.

His comments on this handstand. Before you read them you’ll want to take a good look at it. In your opinion is this a good handstand? And what makes it so? You can learn a lot just from studying the position.

Stu Goldberg Hand Balancing Stunt

He’s is in what he refers to as a “High School Arch”. That is a slight arch but nothing excessive.

You can see that the legs are tightly held together. Certainly when you’re 8-10 feet off the ground you don’t want to overbalance because of loose legs.

Most importantly you’ll want to pay attention to the shoulder position. Notice how they are stretched out. Not only that but the arms are straight up and down, no leaning forward and back.

This is the position you want. Strive for this and holding a handstand will be a snap.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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New Portals to Help Navigate the Site

By admin on June 5, 2008 in Uncategorized

Here’s a few of the new pages I was talking about. These will be especially helpful for new people entering the site but if you’re looking for something in a certain category you’ll be able to find it here.

These pages act as a portal to other parts of the site that can be helpful. Right now there are three, but that’s likely to increase in the future.

The Handstand Basics page for people just starting out on the hand balancing path.

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick

The Advanced Handbalancing page really is for anything above and beyond a handstand. All intermediate and advanced hand balancing products, articles, blog posts, etc. can be found here.

Then there’s the Acrobatics page. This covers all manner of acrobatic, tumbling and gymnastic moves outside of hand balancing itself.

The last two especially will be expanded in the coming months. More articles, video and the like. If you have suggestions for specific articles or videos you’d like to see you can use the questions form.

Right now you can find links to these portals on the bottom of every page on the first line of the footer.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Remember the Prof. Orlick books are now available in electronic form. Get them for $5 off.

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Taking Time Off from Handstands

By admin on May 15, 2008 in Uncategorized

Every once in a while you need to take a little time off from your training. This could be a few days or a week. Maybe a month while you focus on other goals.

This is not a bad thing. Sure, you won’t be making direct progress during that time. But more often than not, you’ll come back with a fury, excited and supercharged to make big gains once again.

This is as true with hand balancing, as with any other form of training.

If you go about something the same way, day in and day out, for a long, long time you will go stale eventually. Your body and mind will get use to it.

Taking a break can be like re-fueling the engine.

It goes without saying that you do have to devote time to practicing and working toward your goals. You can’t be on a break all the time.

And when you do come back there may be a day or more in which it doesn’t feel right. Where it seems your skills have gone down.

Not to worry, just get back into the flow of things and soon you’ll be surpassing old records.

Such is the case for myself. I’ve had to change up my training for reasons I won’t get into this time. Hand balancing had to take the back seat for a few weeks.

I still did some, but not with the same intensity and effort I was before. Believe it or not, many days I was left too sore to even hold a handstand. Certainly not in any shape to work on harder skills.

But I’m not beating myself self up over it. Because soon enough I’ll launch right back into it. With new energy I know I’ll be making some impressive gains.

How about you?

Know that at any time you can switch what you’re doing and go after something 100%. To get yourself back in gear instead of going through the motions.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Special announcement coming next week…

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A Good Handstand Pyramid Trick for the Triceps

By admin on May 12, 2008 in Uncategorized

Got another one from Stu Goldberg. That’s him in the middle in the jack-knife position.

3-Person Handstand Pyramid

According to Stu this is one of the toughest middle man tricks. A huge strain on the triceps, as I’m sure you could imagine. But its even worse when the top-mounter ‘planches’ his handstand, like in this case.

The next time you and two of your friends are looking for something to do, give this a shot. Except you might want to get a few years of practice under your belt first.

On another note, I want to remind you that the Tumbling Course launch is winding down. If you want to save $30 and get in on the tele-seminar you have to order before Tuesday at midnight (PST).

If you’ve already ordered I’ll be sending instructions regarding the tele-seminar soon.

Plus I just realized that we passed the One Year Anniversary of the Lost Art of Hand Balancing website last week. Its come a long way in that time, but there is so much more to do. Here’s looking forward to the next year being bigger and better.

A big thanks to all of you for being along for the ride, especially if you were here from the beginning. To celebrate I’m going to put together a special event of sorts. Watch out for that soon.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Not much time left. Join the others and get started tumbling now.

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Stories of Bob Jones and other Hand Balancers

By admin on May 10, 2008 in Uncategorized

Just a couple weeks ago I was contacted by a man who knew and trained with Bob Jones among many other hand balancers. His name is Stu Goldberg and he has a few stories to share.

I thought you might be interested. Plus there are many pictures too.

If you want to learn how Bob used a sewing thread to help balance, or who won the longest handstand contest there’s a new article up. Remembering the Old Hand Balancing Days

Rest assured in the coming weeks I’ll be sharing even more with you.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Only a few days left to get the Tumbling Course at its launch price.

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Do you know your Hand Balancing Terms?

By admin on April 10, 2008 in Uncategorized

A few things for you today.

First up is another article. I had an idea for this a little while back. It’s a glossary of all kinds of hand balancing terms as well as alternative names for many moves.

You can check it out here: Hand Balancing Glossary.

Instead of finishing it up myself, why don’t you help me out? There’s quite a few terms up there but it’s by no means complete. At the bottom you can submit your ideas on terms to add.

So why don’t you help out and make the glossary full?

Secondly, in my last message I encouraged you to comment on the blog.

I was happy to see many people sign up but there was only one comment.

You can read what Ari thought here:

https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/blog/comment-on-the-hand-balancing-blog/

Thanks Ari. If there was any difficulty in the process let me know and I’ll look into making it easier.

But don’t worry if you didn’t post your thoughts, I’ll be sharing plenty of great stuff in the future that you’ll want to comment on.

Here’s a question to think about?

Are you spending more time upside down these days than you were last year or less? If you want to get good it should be the former.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. The Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide should be hitting your mailbox soon if it hasn’t already for those of you who ordered. I’m anxious to here your initial impressions so send your thoughts my way. Just click reply and let me know what you think.

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