Tag Archives | flexibility

1 Min Tip: Acrobatic Attributes – Shoulder Opener

By Jon Magno on February 8, 2016 in Acrobatics, Flexibility & Contortion, Hand Balancing, Mobility, Uncategorized

Hey Guys! Here’s the next update to our Acrobatic Attributes series of videos to help give you a better foundation! One of the keys to that foundation is to have loose muscles that can react and move in 3d. The Shoulder Opener Stretch is a great way to open up your shoulders and increase mobility to your posterior side while up in an inverted position!

The Shoulder Opener is a great way to open up your rhomboids, traps, scapula, and lats.

One of the key factors to doing the move correctly is to make sure the shoulders stay in a neutral position. You can easily accomplish this by placing your shoulder blades on a wall and using that as a focus point.

Pull one arm across the mid-line of your chest and use the opposing arm to pull it in place. Rather than pressing the arm towards your body, think about pulling your arm to the opposite side.(For my martial arts folks, think sticky hands!)

You can watch the 1 min tip here!

Don’t forget a lot of these great tips were inspired by our friends from Gold Medal Bodies. So if you are looking to really develop your foundational range of motion and flexibility for acrobatics, check out the GMB Focused Flexibility program here: https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/go/focusedflexibility/

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Superb Hand Balancing Mobility Drill

By admin on September 15, 2015 in Bridging, Other Skills

As you probably already know, I am a big fan of bridging exercises. The drill shown below is not for beginners, so make sure to take it slowly and easy to avoid getting injured.

Having said that, it’s an excellent mobility drill to add to your warm-up routine for hand balancing.

If you want to build strength, flexibility and acrobatic skill at the same time, make sure to check out my Advanced Bridging Course.

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Incredible Duo Hand Balancing Move

By admin on August 17, 2015 in Hand Balancing

This is a new move to me as I’ve never seen something quite like it before. Not only is Gana capable of supporting the weight of her partner while in a bridge, but she even did so without her arms for a couple of seconds.

An outstanding combination of flexibility and strength.

One of the best video courses to improve your flexibility comes from Gold Medal Bodies. Check it out here.

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Artistic Balancing on Hand Balancing Canes

By admin on July 1, 2015 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, One Hand, Planche, Presses & Pushup

A hand balancer from Russia, Nikita Sukhanov, recently released a new video full of powerful balancing moves on hand balancing stands performed in a controlled manner. My favorite parts are at 0:43 and 2:55.

Apart from great strength and coordination, these and similar hand-balancing moves require a great deal of flexibility. If you’d like to increase ranges of motion, decrease pain and become MUCH more flexible, make sure to check out GMB Focused Flexibility.

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Front Splits One Arm Balancing

By admin on April 10, 2015 in Hand Balancing

Some of you may know that I managed to fulfill one of my goals last year and achieve front splits.

Kim took the whole thing to the next level and actually balanced on one hand while grabbing her front foot and performing the front split. Pretty impressive stuff right there!

If you’re suffering from poor flexibility I strongly recommend you to check out Focused Flexibility by GBM.

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Crazy Handstand Compilation

By admin on November 4, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands, One Hand, Presses & Pushup, Walking & Jumping

This compilation contains video footage of some of the best new and old videos on flexibility, one hand handstands, handstand pushups variations and tons of presses.

Also, get ready for walking and jumping on hands, tiger bends, two fingers 90 degree pushup, many handstand variations…And other stuff The Lost Art of Hand Balancing is all about! Enjoy.

By the way, you can get Walking and Jumping On Your Hands for 50% Off right now.

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Handstand Stretching Drills

By admin on October 31, 2014 in Hand Balancing, Handstands

Apart from regular training, achieving your first handstand requires quite a bit of flexibility as well, especially for the straight handstand. Here are some great stretches to improve your flexibility for this particular handstand variation.

There are four stretching drills in the video – active dynamic, active static, passive dynamic and passive static. As you might have guessed, I like the one with the gymnast bridge the most.

In fact, I just recently wrote an article at Breaking Muscle on this very move in relation to back and shoulder pain. Check it out here.

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Straddle Press Handstand Drill #5

By admin on June 5, 2014 in Flexibility & Contortion, Hand Balancing, Presses & Pushup

I’ve been working on various drills lately in order to achieve the straddle press to handstand and one of them is drill #5 explained in this video.

I start with the straddle position against the ground, which shares similarities with a regular straddle press, without being upside down. I put my back against a pillar to prevent leaning back in order to increase dynamic flexibility, which is the main goal of this drill. From there, just put your fingertips on the ground between thighs and lift your legs above the ground.

You may get some cramps in this position initially, but this move will help you increase that strength-dynamic flexibility which is the main thing you’ll need to perform the press handstand.

As you gradually increase your strength and flexibility, eventually you’ll be able to lift your legs with your hands between your feet and then soon you’ll be able to achieve that press handstand. You can do this drill for reps or time, whichever suits you the best. The results will be the same.

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