Lost Art of Hand Balancing - Page 29 of 65 - Hand Balancing and Acrobatics Training for the Everyday Man and Woman

Handstand on Slackline

By Bac on July 10, 2012 in Uncategorized

Here on a video videos that show the handstand on slackline stunt. This is not an easy one to do. I would highly recommend you learn how to stand on your hands on solid ground first and also how to easily stand on a slackline on your feet too, before you try to put the two together.

I like the excitement here at muscle beach in Santa Monica as several people perform these handstands.

Here is another way to do a handstand on the slackline from already standing on top of it.

I’ve seen some professionals even do one handed handstand on the slackline, so this stunt can be taken pretty far.

One Hand Side Planche on Slackline

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Handstand Shrugs

By Bac on July 9, 2012 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands

Handstand shrugs are a seldom used exercise yet they can be quite important.

Ask any professional hand balancer, or just watch them at work, and you’ll see how much their shoulders are shrugged up towards their ears. (Here is an example of Cai Yong.) This is necessary to get the locked out position that makes balancing much better.

But this isn’t necessary to do just a regular handstand. Handstands can be done even with the shoulders packed in, but this is not optimal.

Shrugged vs. Not Shrugged

Kick up into a handstand against the wall. Keep your arms locked at the elbows the entire time. Just using the muscles of your shoulder girdle and traps, shrug up, trying to make yourself taller. Stretch as far as you can go. Then lower using the same muscles and repeat.

The most important thing is that this exercise can help build the shoulder flexibility you need to get into the best handstand position possible.

Handstand shrugs are also a great way to build up to handstand pushups as I cover in my book.

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Handstand Yoga Sanskrit

By Bac on July 7, 2012 in Yoga

Some people are interested in the Sanskrit term for the handstand in yoga. If that’s you then here is the answer.

Adho Mukha Vrksasana

Like its inverted cousins such as Forearm Balance and Headstand, a major obstacle to Handstand is a natural fear of falling. So the basic pose will be described with the heels supported against a wall. Make sure that there are no hanging pictures or other decorations on the wall directly above you.

(ah-doh moo-kah vriks-SHAHS-anna) adho mukha = face
downward (adho = downward; mukha = face)
vrksa = tree

From Yoga Journal

Personally I find the word handstand much easier to remember and pronounce then Adho Mukha Vrksasana so I’ll be sticking to that.

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Overcoming Fear in Parkour

By Bac on July 6, 2012 in Parkour

My friends the Tapp Brothers have just released a free video that shows you what it takes to overcome your fear.

This is the biggest thing to hold you back in doing Parkour, gymnastics and even hand balancing sometimes.

It’s something that I personally addressed in a recent workshop, because it’s that important.

You’ll also find out exactly what you need to learn the Kong Vault.

Check it out here.

This is the best quality and most step by step parkour material I’ve seen, and they’re just getting started.

Go watch the video now.

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Handstand on Forearms

By Bac on July 5, 2012 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands, Yoga

The handstand on forearms is commonly called the forearm stand.

There are also a number of other names like the lion or tiger stand. In yoga it has been called Pincha Mayurasana or the Feathered Peacock pose.

It is a great exercise for opening up the upper back and shoulders. It can also be used for lower back flexibility. In the following video you’ll see a woman doing just that. Pay attention to the different positions she takes with her legs, and also how she starts off with support in this position. If you’ve never done the forearm stand before I would highly recommend doing it against a wall the first time.

I typically teach the handstand on forearms as one of the lead-up stunts towards the true handstand, as once you’re use to it, it’s quite easy to balance in. For more details check out the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start.

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Handstand to Crow

By Bac on July 4, 2012 in Handstands, Presses & Pushup, Yoga

This post is about moving from a handstand to crow position. The crow is the common name used in yoga, for what I generally refer to as the frogstand. It is also called a bakasana.

You’ll notice here the strap around her arms. This is a prop used to help keep the arms in the proper alignment. I’ve never tried it out myself, but it looks like it could be helpful in preventing the arms from flaring out.

Moving from the handstand to crow is easier then going the opposite way, the crow to handstand as is shown in the following video. Of course this can then be done with lowering back down in the same manner.

The handstand to crow and vice versa can be done with straighter arms or arms with more bend.

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One Arm Press from Straddle

By Bac on July 3, 2012 in One Hand, Presses & Pushup

This video shows a one arm press from straddle to one arm handstand on hand balancing canes done 11 times.

You can skip to about 1:20 when the action starts.

Judging by the reactions and build up it must have been a record at least among this group.

One Arm Press is a super advanced skill. Doing it on two arms is outside what most people can do, let alone on one.

Thanks to Dunte for sending me this video.

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Gymnastic Rings Dream Machine

By Bac on July 2, 2012 in Rings

The other day my friend was telling me about this device called a gymnastic rings dream machine. Surprisingly I had never heard of it. Well, he built one in his gym, and just yesterday I got to try it out for the first time ever.

Sorry the video isn’t great, but it was shot with an iphone on a whim.

The gymnastic rings dream machine allows you unload a significant portion of your bodyweight and thus you can work on harder skills. You see me here doing an iron cross and front lever, two moves that are currently outside of my ability (but not for too much longer).

Does anyone else have experience with the dream machine?

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Handstand Walk Substitutions

By Bac on June 30, 2012 in Handstands, Walking & Jumping

If you can’t walk on your hands specifically, here are a couple exercises that are handstand walk substitutions.

They require much less balance then walking out in the open, but still train the same muscles and support ability needed.

#1 – Walk laterally in a handstand across a wall. Here is an example.

#2 – Walk vertically up into a handstand and down from a pushup position.

Both these are great exercises most people can do, even if they haven’t learned how to balance in a handstand yet.

If you don’t have the strength to support yourself in these positions yet, you can also do animal movements, which take some of the weight onto the hands which will build up your ability until you can support yourself.

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick

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Handstand From Sitting

By Bac on June 29, 2012 in Flexibility & Contortion, Presses & Pushup

The following, going to a handstand from sitting position, is an intermediate skill though it can be made easier or harder.

This video shows you a good example of how you can do this move.

Handstand From Sitting

This is probably the easiest form to do this skill in.

1 – Start in an L-sit position
2 – Tuck your legs
3 – Come to a tuck planche or bent arm tucked position.
4 – Press up to a handstand

You can reverse the positions and come back down from a handstand to sitting position as well. This skill is just slightly harder then the frogstand press.

To make this more advanced keep your arms straight then entire time. This may take a little less strength but more flexibility.

To make it much more advanced keep the legs straight the entire time. This requires much more flexibility to bring them through your arms, plus compressive ability.

To make this skill easier try it from parallel bars.

The handstand from sitting is a great hand balancing press skill no matter how you do it so start working on it.

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