Tag Archives | Gymnastics

Back Handspring Progress

The back handspring is one of the staple moves of gymnastics. It is a great move in and of itself, but its also used as a move to set up, and gain momentum for even bigger moves.

It is also one of the tougher of the basic tumbling moves. In my opinion it is harder to do then a back tuck. While accomplishing it is not too difficult, get it to work smoothly and correctly is a bit harder.

And, as it is back tumbling, its not something most people can jump into. While many people could easily work up to a front handspring with a little practice, going backwards over your head can be much trickier, mentally.

The basics of the move is to jump up and back. You need to hit the right amount of both or else you can miss your hands entirely (jumping too high) or not give yourself enough room (jumping not high enough).

When you jump your arms are thrown overhead, preferably locked out and in line with the ears. For those less flexible the arms aren’t always kept straight or in line. While the move can be accomplished this way you won’t have as much speed and momentum useful for going into any other move.

You transition through a sort of handstand position (obviously not pausing at all) and then come to your feet, preferably in an upright position. You want to avoid being bent over or in a squat.

Learn How to Back Flip in 31 Days
Learn How to Back Flip in 31 Days on Amazon

You’ll notice I mentioned ‘preferably’ several times. This is the difference in doing the move and doing it well. When you’re starting out its great to just get through the move, but as you progress you tighten up your form, making the move not only better but easier to do.

I’ve been doing the back handsprings for awhile. Always working on improving my form, but my primary goal has been to string these moves together. My weakness thus far has been in doing just that, going from one move to another seamlessly.

For a couple weeks I’ve been practicing doing roundoff back handsprings as well as double back handsprings all on the mats.

I’m happy to report as of last week I’ve been able to do these on the floor. You’ll notice many of the points discussed above are not shown here. 🙂 Not perfect but a big step in the right direction.

There are some who say if you can’t do something perfectly don’t do it. I say first accomplish the move. Then work on making it better. Yes, you can set in bad habits, but if you constantly work towards improvement these won’t stay a problem.

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher

P.S. For tons of tumbling fun be sure to get a copy of Tumbling Illustrated.

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5 Backflip Video

Progress has been real good in my gymnastics class recently.

Walking and Jumping On Your HandsWalking and Jumping On Your Hands on Amazon

Here I wanted to show a backflip video of not one but five backflips in a series.

They’re not the prettiest back tucks but they are getting increasingly easier to do. A week or two ago was the first time I could ‘see’ the ground as I flipped. I don’t think it was that I closed my eyes before, just that the ground moved to fast.

In this series I was jumping too far back with each one. It was near the end of the night and I was fatigued. Plus it gets hard doing backflips repeatedly as I begin to get dizzy and jumping straight up becomes even harder. But for the most part my take off, my tuck and everything is better than ever.

With the progress here I’ve even started doing these backflips again outside at the beach, on grass and dirt.

It’s funny. Back flips are one of the easier basics of tumbling (much easier than a standing front flip!) yet they can be one of the scariest moves to do. Once you get over that fear and progress to being able to safely doing this skill you may find it can be easy. For more details on getting started check out the article How to do a Backflip.

My current goal is to do ten in a row like this. After that I’ll move on to more difficult variations like those found in Tumbling Illustrated.

I hope you liked the Backflip Video that I made.

Good Luck and Good Flipping,
Logan Christopher

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30 Day Challenge – Done

The 30 day challenge is over.

Just to recap, or for those of you that aren’t aware, this involved two parts.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon

The first was to practice my hand balancing in one form or another every single day.

To be honest, in this regard I failed. I missed a couple days at the end. This was a result of getting busy, putting off the practice and forgetting to do it later.

But I don’t think of this as a failure. What I did accomplish was to practice my hand balancing almost everyday. I’m back into it with renewed vigor.

Progress at gymnastics is coming fast. Back to tumbling with a fury. Gained back my old skills fast and moving onto the new. In addition I’ve begun working on the other apparatus like the parallel bars, pommel horse and more.

And I did see improvement in my one hand handstand and one arm half planche (my two big hand balancing goals right now) over the month. They’re still a long way off but no one said you could master these moves overnight.

In fact, most people say it’ll take years if you even ever accomplish the one armer.

The second part of the 30 day challenge was to post on the site every single day. While it was difficult at times I did accomplish this one! Lots of pictures, a wide range of videos and short helpful tips are all there to see.

Not to mention holding a sale and releasing a new training tool during this time. I would say it was a great success.

So what happens now?

I’m going to go back to writing to you once or maybe twice every week. And the good part is this will be a more in depth piece then what I’ve been putting up lately.

I will continue to practice my hand balancing regularly and report on my progress here.

If you did the 30 day challenge with me, I’d love to hear about how it went for you down below.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Gymnastic Clips

As I’ve reported here I’ve started going back to gymnastics. My skills quickly returned and I feel I’m beginning to break new ground. Below you can watch a couple clips from Tuesday night’s session.

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

First off, the back flip. I’m happy to be able to do this skill once again on the floor. But as you can see in the video I’m still jumping too far back and not up enough. Sometimes even when you know what you need to do, its not always easy to correct it. But then last night I was on and going just about straight up.

Second is the round-off to the back handspring. One of the things I haven’t quite mastered yet is stringing moves together. Hence this move, as I’m just getting use to it is done on mats. It feels fairly easy but I know I’ll need many more reps in it.

Third in the video is swings on the parallel bars, as I mentioned previously here. One of the great things about video is that is shows you your weaknesses. In some ways it can be even better than a coach, as someone else can tell me what I’m doing, but seeing it myself is something else. What I noticed here was that my legs were not tight and together. Once I corrected that I was getting more air.

I’ll be having more clips in the future.

Good Luck and Good gymnastics,
Logan Christopher

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New to Parallel Bars

I was back at gymnastics last night.

Instead of the normal routine of starting with a bunch of tumbling we did something different by working on the parallel bars. Besides a few dips this is not something I’ve much experience in.

We started off with swings. Going from a planche-like position with a hollow body to just the reverse. You keep your arms locked out the entire time and generate momentum while keeping the body tight. In the future I may try to get some video or at least pictures up of it.

It’s a fun move and can be interesting once you start to get some real height on the swings.

We also did a few other basic moves like shoulder stands and various rolls.

Walking and Jumping On Your HandsWalking and Jumping On Your Hands on Amazon

By no means did I pull of anything amazing but since it was my first real introduction I’m happy with it. And I’ll definitely be back, especially working on those swings.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Half Way Through the 30 Day Challenge

Today marks day 15 of the 30 day challenge.

On the site I’ve shared a bit about my own progress, several tips, a few videos and old pictures.

While progress was quickly made in gymnastics, getting back into the flow of things, there were some setbacks in training, due to being too sore. Still I have practiced at least a little everyday so far.

Now that I’ve return to a bit more normal training schedule and the soreness has gone away I’m spending more time each day in a handstand.

I’ve been working my handstand position. Just playing around with different ways to hold it. Changing body position, mostly working towards a straight handstand, and seeing how that affects the balance.

On top of that my main goals are the one arm handstand and the one arm half planche. Happy to report both arm coming along, although the latter is making quicker progress.

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

How are you doing so far?

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Second Day at Gymnastics

Yesterday was my second day back at gymnastics.

I have to admit it’s a lot of fun. Join the class and do a series of drills across the floors. Different kinds of cartwheels. Handstands. Handstand roll out. Handstand rollout to standing. And so on.

The different people there have different strengths and weaknesses in these drills. Some are easy. Some are not, but you try anyway, and even if you fail in many cases you are getting better.

After the various warmup drills we were free to work on what we wanted to.

Trampoline Handbook
Trampoline Handbook on Amazon

I didn’t do any back handsprings the previous time so I figured that was a good place to start. It’s nice to come back to gymnastics rather than starting from scratch. Much easier this time around.

A few preliminary drills, a spot on one back handspring and then I was doing them by myself. Couldn’t quite get the ideal form I was trying for but I was getting back to my feet. Will have to work on those more for sure.

Backflip

Back to Back Flips

On to back flips. Although it wasn’t easy last time getting back into the motion, I had it down. Right away on the trampoline. Once again a few preliminary drills and I was ready to go.

This is why training in a gymnastics center is so great. One of the drills involved stacking a whole bunch of pads, including a wedge shaped pad at the top. This was close to shoulder height. The objective was to jump up and back. As soon as you touched the pads, or even before, you would tuck and roll back (the wedge helping you to do so). This allows you to work the jump and tuck while eliminating the entire second half of the move.

Wish I had taken a picture. Where else are you going to be able to do this?

I get a spot on my first real back tuck. It’s done off of raised mats onto a pad. Success. I find often times a single spot is all that is needed, not so much to help in the move, but to calm your mind, and allow you to do it without fear. After that you’re good to go. Just replicate the same action.

Gradually I lowered the mats until it was even. Then I did away with the mats and pads altogether and did a back flip on the floor. Back in action.

Seeing as I easily did these before I knew it wouldn’t be much trouble. Just had to get back into it step by step as I describe in this article on back flips. This time the steps were a lot quicker then when I first learned.

In a few sessions I’ll have all my skills back (and even be better in some ways.) I look forward to the new skills I’ll be learning how to do and sharing that all with you.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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First Day Back

It’s the first time I’ve attended a gymnastics class in around two years, maybe longer.

Learn How to Back Flip in 31 Days
Learn How to Back Flip in 31 Days on Amazon

I expect that I’ll be able to get back into it quickly, at least for the most part. I don’t plan to rush things.

On this first day back, we start up on the trampoline. After a few regular bounces and getting use to it I launch into a front flip. Over spun it. Land on my knees. But it was on a trampoline so no harm done. I repeat the process, mostly over spinning it. Eventually I get it down. If you know you’re over spinning every time simply spin less.

Onto some floor exercises. A few basic warmups. I get dizzy from rolling and cartwheels. Then round offs. Those come back as easily as if I’d been doing them regularly. Not perfect but in decent form.

The instructor calls for a front handspring. I think back to what leg I normally go off of. Once I have that no more thoughts. I just run forward plant my hands and land easily on my feet. Once again not perfect but decent. A few more and I’m getting even springier.

We move onto the tumble-trak. A front handspring into a front flip. Here comes a problem. My strong suit in the past was never stringing moves together. I try this again and again but don’t quite get it. I can hit the front handspring but I often hesitate when going for the flip resulting in a landing not on my feet.

Trampoline

Trampolines are great to build your acrobatic skills.

Back to the trampoline. Back flips! I hadn’t done one of these in any shape or form in a long, long time, but I suppose that was true of every move on this night. The fear of hurting myself, even on a trampoline, by going backwards was back and prevalent.

I start with some basic lead-up drills like rolling over then bouncing over. I feel like my body has lost all control. Like all coordination leaves when I’m upside down. I keep working and I gain the coordination back.

Alright those drills are easy. With a spot on my first backflip I make it easily. From there its easy. Back flips, front flips. I work on them all going back and forth between them. Enjoying the freedom. Enjoying the rush of going upside down. Enjoying being back in gymnastics.

I’ve made the mistake of neglecting much use of the trampoline in the past but will not be making the same mistake this time around. You can read more about that and all kinds of trampoline moves here.

We mess around with some handstand stuff, specifically on press handstands and call it a night.

It was fun. I am definitely re-hooked. I also paid the price.

I knew it would happen. Anytime you engage in a new vigorous physical activity, or one you haven’t done in some time, you will end up sore the next few days. You may not think bouncing on a trampoline or springy floor use much muscle but you’d be wrong. My legs, every inch of them, were sore to the point that walking was a bit awkward.

Despite that I’ll be back soon. And I will also be practicing on my own each day.

Good Luck and Good Gymnastics,
Logan Christopher

P.S. This is day two of the 30 Day Challenge. So far so good. How about you?

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30 Day Challenge

It’s been awhile since I wrote you. I’ve been busy on two other projects (https://www.radianthealthtoday.com and https://www.superhumantraining.com) which accounts for much of the limited communication.

The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing on Amazon

The other reason is that I haven’t been practicing my skills. Makes it hard to write about when you’re not actively doing them. 🙁

But now’s its time for that to change. I’m setting myself a 30 day challenge in two ways.

1. Practice some amount of hand balancing every single day.

It doesn’t have to be a large chunk of time but I will be hand standing in one sort or another each and every day.

My question to you is have you been practicing? And how consistent are you? If you’d like feel free to join me.

That leads to the second part of my challenge…

2. Post something on the site every single day.

Often times this may just be a short update on what I practiced and anything I learned from the practice that day.

Other days it may be an inspirational video if I have no words to write.

Sometimes it’ll be more.

In fact, to give myself a jump start and get me more fired up to pursue these goals I’ve starting attending a gymnastics class once again.

And this led to the first piece up here now, Back to Gymnastics.

You are welcome to join me in this 30 day challenge, not just in practicing but in posting in here the comments each day (or when ever you choose).

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Back to Gymnastics

A few years back I regularly attended a gymnastics class. This wasn’t back when I was a kid, as is the case for 99% of gymnasts, but because I wanted to master gymnastic skills as an adult. I wanted to strength and skill that comes with it.

This fell away as I went to work on other training. But there is nothing quite like being in that class. Let me tell you why.

1. It’s a Dedicated Chunk of Time.

Trampoline Handbook
Trampoline Handbook on Amazon

If you go to a class you’re going to be there for an hour and a half to two hours (at least that’s how long my classes run). That’s a lot of practice time. At it’s very much in contrast to the typical 15 minutes, maybe half hour, I’d likely spend on my own.

This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it’s a long time and the more you practice the better you’ll get. Of course it can be too long to the point where you get tired, run down, and then you can’t get any better at the skills at hand.

But if you go into class full of energy and know how to rotate from one skill to another you can minimize this effect.

gym rings2. The Equipment.

If you want to get good at something you need to have the proper tools to do so. A gymnastics facility has the following: trampoline, tumble-trak, spring floor, rings, bars, pommel horse, balance beams various mats and pads, a foam pit, and much more. Depending on your goals you may need different tools.

For example if you take some one of the street who wants to learn how to do a back flip you’re much better set if you have these tools. It is possible to teach someone to do it just standing with the proper instruction and spotting. Better to have all that and tools so you can learn the skill on a trampoline first, then off or raised mats with padding and finally on the ground.

This makes it more step-by-step and of course much safer. Safety, or rather the feeling of safety, is a big deal when you first attempt many acrobatic skills.

3. The Coaching.

If you practice be yourself, often times its hard to know what you’re really doing. A video camera can help you to SEE what you’re doing. But a coach can do that plus tell you what you need to do.

Even a half-way decent gymnastics coach is going to be able to help you get to skills much beyond what the average person would be able to do.

And as was mentioned before having a spotter the first time you try a move is very helpful.

Hand balancing skills can easily be worked at home. (Some equipment can be useful as well as coaching which is obvious.) But for acrobatic skills at least getting your start in the proper facility can be a huge help. It can be the difference between mediocre skills and really going far.

For that reason I’m going back. I’ll have the story of my first day back for you tomorrow.

Good Luck and Good Gymnastics,
Logan Christopher

P.S. For moves you can do at home and at the gymnast facility be sure to check out Tumbling Illustrated.

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