Tag Archives | Flexibility & Contortion

Yoga's Scorpion Pose

By admin on February 23, 2008 in Flexibility & Contortion

When I was practicing a bit of my hand balancing last week someone who practiced yoga commented on it and we started a conversation.

One balance that she told me about is the Scorpion Pose also known as Vrschikasana. (No, I don’t know how you pronounce that.)

For any hand balancer is should not be much of a problem to get started. But if you need it you can always use a wall.

Simply kickup into a forearm stand. From here all you do is bend your knees and bring your feet to your head.

In this pose you want to keep your feet and knees together, though your body will naturally want to separate them.

How far your feet can go depends on the flexibility of your back. For the contortionist is will be easy to touch the feet on the head or even bring them under the chin.

If you can’t get there, not to worry, just do what you can and build from there.

I just did a couple while writing this. Let me tell you this is one move that will instantly lift your spirits and make you feel alive.

Go ahead and give it a try.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. With all my travels I fell out of my normal writing schedule but will get back on it now. In the mean time if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask – https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/question.html

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How to do a Front Walkover

By admin on February 12, 2008 in Flexibility & Contortion, Tumbling

Many gymnastics moves go through the handstand position. And in this post we will discuss how to do a front walkover as shown below. This is a composite picture of Diane Robinson performing the move with ease.

Diane Gymnastic Walkover

These are the instructions that come from Acro-Chat. The correct way to do a two arm walkover. Notice the arms are straight all the way through, the legs are extended and split as much as possible, the back is arched tightly with the head and arms trailing as she stands upright.

I will caution that this move takes a large amount of flexibility in both the back and legs. Though its not dangerous, you may end up falling on your butt if you can’t do it as well as Diane.

You can also perform a back walkover which is done moving backwards. Just follow the pictures from right to left and you’ll get the idea.

These moves are not to be confused with the handspring or back handspring. Though the motion is much the same, except for going off of two legs instead of one, there is another big difference.

Your hands will touch the ground before both your feet leave it in a walkover. Handsprings involve leaving the feet to get up in the air before your hands touch down.

While not strictly a hand balance, the walkover and handspring do move through the handstand position. At any rate they are excellent skills that you may want to master.

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher

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Hand Sensitivity for Handstands

By admin on February 2, 2008 in Uncategorized

Was reading this book on hand dynamics just last night. It talks about some crazy stuff such as a third of our motor brain controlling just the hands. And by the fact that we have hands we are able to manipulate tools and thus build an advanced civilization unlike any other animal.

When you think about it the hands are very amazing instruments. There are so many different ways you can move them around that its mind boggling. They can create art, play musical instruments, hold large weights, massage another person, and much more.

Hand balancing doesn’t just take strength. That’s an obvious thing to anyone who has ever tried a handstand. Though strength is necessary which is why Professor Orlick outlines more than a dozen exercises in his work for this purpose.

In order to balance you need sensitivity. Being able to detect minor movements in your body and weight distribution and correct them by manipulating your fingers and wrists.

There are many exercises in this book for flexibility, coordination and more which I may cover at a different time. But now I wanted to leave you with a final thought.

Sometimes you need to concentrate on the big picture. Other times you need to look at the very small details.

The next time you are inverted give some added thought to the slightest movements in your hands. It might help you out.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick

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Handstand Press

By admin on January 29, 2008 in Flexibility & Contortion, Presses & Pushup

Another thing I’ve devoted more of my time to recently is the handstand press. While a normal handstand does not take very much strength many of the presses do.

Handstand presses can be broken down into two main groups. Those done with straight arms and those down with bent arms.

The various bent arm presses take a high degree of strength in the shoulders, triceps and also the chest in many cases.

Straight arm press-ups still take strength but in different areas. Also you will need flexible wrists, hamstrings, and the ability to compress your body in half. In fact the more flexibility you have the less strength you will need.

For all these reasons most people will be better at either straight arm or bent arm presses. There are many people who can do the straight arm variety but will fall on their face if they have to bend their arms.

On the other hand most stronger people can do many bent armed presses. These take tremendous arm and shoulder strength to pull off successfully as you have to hold your entire bodyweight in mid air for a length of time. But for these people the straight arm presses can be elusive.

In the end you want to be able to do both. In order to do this you must train for both.

That’s why there’s chapters on the pressing in all the main books like Hand Balancing Made Easy and The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.

Presses are not easy, especially if you’re not of the average gymnast size. But it can be done.

If you’ve ever wondered why hand balancers are so strong this is one of the major keys. So start pressing.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. There are so many ways you can press up into a handstand. Have you mastered them all? Start where you can and work from there.

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You Need Strong Abs for Hand Balancing

By admin on January 15, 2008 in Uncategorized

Let’s face it, you will NEVER become an excellent hand balancer or acrobat without having incredibly strong abs. Powerful statement but true.

Have you neglected training this area with the same kind of force you train the rest of your body? I know I did for a long time but that has changed.

One of the presenters at a seminar I attended last year led us through a long series of abdominal exercises. Many of which I had never done or heard of before.

These exercises were for the abs but they used the whole body. And after doing a few of them I could feel it everywhere.

You will be teaching your body how to act as one unit. Does this sound familiar? It should because that’s exactly what you need do pull off any hand balancing stunt.

It turns out the guy teaching us, Ed Baran, had started gymnastics at the age of 35. In order to get better at hand balancing and tumbling he was told he needed to strengthen his abs. These are the exercises he used and some he developed along the way.

And now he can do incredible things like hold an awesome v-sit. That’s a long way from not being able to hold a regular handstand against a wall.

If you want to build gymnastic abs like this then you need to check out the following – Gymnastic Abs

I only wish my gymnastics class had taught me these moves. During the conditioning I was often left wondering why are they doing crunches?

I’m sorry but no matter how many crunches you do you will not build the strength, flexibility and coordination you need for hand balancing or real gymnast strength.

What we learned at the seminar was just a sneak peak of what he was planning on releasing. He has an entire course available now. Unfortunately it took me seeing the course to remember what I had learned and put everything back into action.

No matter what your abilities are now there are progressions to take you from the beginning to advanced levels in moves like hollow position rocks, l-sits, leg raises, compressions and more.

In just a couple weeks of following these exercises the way he laid out I have seen phenomenal benefits. I highly recommend it. Go find out more details – Gymnastic Abs.

Good Luck and Good Ab Training,
Logan Christopher

P.S. That picture of Ed holding a v-sit was enough incentive for me to interview him for the Hand Balancing Mastery Course. Follow his step-by-step progressions and you too can be pulling this one off – Gymnastic Abs

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Bridge Exercises

By admin on January 5, 2008 in Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion

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.

Double Bridge Stunt

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.

Bridging Stunts

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

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Handstands, Wrist Strength and Pain

By admin on October 25, 2007 in Flexibility & Contortion

Another question from a reader. And this isn’t the first time I have seen this problem pop up. Read on and find out what to do about it.

hello Logan,

well i have a question for you,

after a handstand practice i get wrist pain over the back of my wrist and sometimes on the sides the pain shows up while stress the wrist on pushups/ handstand position and sometimes on Ulnar Deviation and Radial Deviation

what can i do about it, maybe there are exercises that can strengthen my wrists and tendon ??

thanks 🙂
haggai D.B.

Let me first start of saying I am not a doctor. That may be obvious but I cannot diagnose what the problem is exactly, especially over the internet.

Hand Balancing takes a large degree of hand, wrist, and finger strength and flexibility. Not everyone has the flexibility to keep their hand back 90 degrees which is necessary to do a handstand.

I should say, not everyone starts of with this flexibility. But it can be gained through persistent effort.

Back in High School I suffered an injury to my right wrist. I would get shocked with pain any time I hit someone with my hands and had to get a special cast device made to help me out. Unfortunately it did affect my playing.

When I first started with handstands about a year after, I could not jump right into a handstand. In fact I still usually don’t. I take the time to stretch my wrists through flexion and extension. This primes them for any handstand work.

Even now my right wrist is less flexible than my right, but it has gotten better by leaps and bounds since then.

If holding a handstand causes to much pain then you will need to start at a manageable level and build from there. Pain is a sign you are pushing past your limits.

Do pushups or the pushup position cause you the same pain?

Wherever you need to start, go from there. It may take time but you will build the strength and flexibility to survive all hand balancing without the slightest discomfort.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. The results of the survey are still pouring in. If you haven’t taken the time yet to fill it out and get your f.ree report, do so now. I can tell you that the site will be changing for the better and soon because of your response.

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Bridge Gymnastics

By admin on October 3, 2007 in Bridging, Flexibility & Contortion

Check out this video of some wrestler’s bridge gymnastics.

[youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD56_U–TI0]

Here is another video I took while I was at my gymnastics class. Let me start by saying don’t try this at home. It took a lot of effort to work up to this level. I didn’t jump into this on a whim.

It is actually several different feats strung together. Falling into a bridge, kicking over, kicking back, then standing up. Not the most graceful one I have ever pulled off. Still need some work especially on the Standing Up part.

Of course this can be done by with a gymnastic or hand bridge. I can do the gymnastic bridge version a little easier. And this one does not take so long to work up to, as far as neck strength is concerned.

The Wrestler's Bridge

Great for strength and flexibility all up and down the spine and more.

Either way it is a good trick to throw into you hand balancing routine or practice.

Good Luck and Good Bridging,
Logan Christopher

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