Tag Archives | Guess

Overbalancing in the Forearm Stand

By 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.

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon

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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Victorian on the Gymnastic Rings

By on August 21, 2008 in Rings

Back for a little more Olympic Coverage.

Did you catch the Men’s Gymnastic Rings final the other night?

Ultimate Guide to Handstand Pushups
Ultimate Guide to Handstand Pushups on Amazon

For anyone who has never mounted a pair of rings its hard to comprehend the difficulty of even basic moves.

But when you have, no matter your skill level or lack there of, you’ll have a greater understanding of what these Olympic athletes are going through.

It’s not just one move they do, but to string several highly difficult strength moves together flawlessly for close to a minute straight. Whew! Gets me tired just thinking about it.

But this Olympics saw something new. (Not 100% sure on this but I believe it was a first for the Olympics.)

That is the Victorian. Also known as an Inverted Maltese Cross.

Once thought to be an impossible move. Essentially it’s lying back so that you’re horizontal to the floor. You hold the rings near your waist with the arms not contacting the body. Kind of like a front lever except that your arms are to your sides instead of out front.

I have to give it to the French here. Their Danny Rodrigues performed the Victorian not once but twice in his routine. It wasn’t perfect but pretty close.

My guess is that in 12 to 20 years it will become a common move in the Men’s gymnastic Rings event at the Olympics.

Danny didn’t score too high overall but it was fun to watch. I’m glad he went for it.

We also had Jordan Jovtchev up once again most likely for his final Olympics. Unfortunately a couple mistakes put him out of the run for any medals.

That’s how it goes in the Olympics. To win you have to be close to flawless.

To get to that level takes years of practice. Hours and hours in the gym training for a few minutes in the spotlight. You probably don’t have aspirations of Olympic Gold but what’s important is to train to get better.

Fortunately for you, you can still have Jordan teach you how to build up the strength and skill in the Ring Strength DVD.

Mastering the Victorian isn’t important. Improving from where you are is. Learning from the best is a big step in the right direction.

Good Luck and Good Ring Training,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If you want crazy bodyweight strength than you should be on the gymnastic rings. If you don’t have a pair you can get the Elite Rings

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