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.
In this in-depth tutorial by Ginger Ninja Trickster, you’ll learn everything you need to finally perform your first kip up.
In case you’ve never tried to do it before, it’s best to start from the crouched position and roll back while keeping your lower back and hips up. After that you’ll need to kick your legs up in order to get used to idea that your legs need to go up first, before your body follows.
The third stage is to go from a kick-up to a bridge position, landing on the balls of your feet. Now you are ready to try and do a full kip-up. Ginger Ninja Trickster really goes deep into every little details in the video, so make sure you watch if from start to finish. Not everyone has the right amount of flexibility to perform this move, so if you are worried about that check out this resource to become flexible as fast as possible.
An older hand balancer recently sent me a CD full of pictures of himself and others hand balancing. There are some amazing pictures and I thought I’d start off with one of the best. And there will be many more coming posted up here. Without further adieu meet Rafael Guerrero.
What most people don’t realize is how to do the planche correctly. While any semblance of a planche is a great display of strength and skill, when you can pull it off in this form its that much better. Of course to do it like this being a much smaller size is a plus!
Here’s a small section from The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing talking about the correct form of the skill.
“As exemplified by Paulinetti, the planche on two hand’s finds the body straight, flat and horizontal from throat to toes, and especially from throat to pelvis. Since the chest is thicker than the waist, this means that the shoulders are decidedly humped, corresponding very much to the hips. The position is much as if the performer were lying on a bench with chin and toes extended over either end–there is no arch in the back, and the hips are NOT flexed at all. This is where much of the trouble comes in, just as in doing the straight handstand with the head between the arms. Usually the performer gets the chest fairly well positioned, but instead of leaving the hips straight and then flexing the waist area of the spine slightly, he leaves his arch in the back and jack-knifes the legs forward (pretty much as in Figure 6) in order to get the feet down into line with the trunk. Again, in trying the planche–especially if endeavoring to get the flat chest effect–he neglects to thrust the chin forward and as a result has his face looking right at the floor instead of raised about 45 degrees and looking straight ahead.
“All in all, the correct position is decidedly not a normal one to attain, especially to a balancer accustomed to arching his back, and nine out of ten aspirants never even approach it. They usually wind up in nothing other than a “horizontal handstand” position–back arched, head up, and latissimus muscles hooked against the triceps. Understand, this is much of an accomplishment in its own right…but it is not the true planche.”
If you want to find out much more on the planche the read the full chapter in the book for the full details. But now you know some of the specifics for what it takes to do a true planche.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. There’s still time to take the short survey so I can find out exactly what you want. Click here.
“Hey, I’ve been working on my planche and I went from the frogstand to the tuck planche and I’m kinda stuck there, so anything you got to help would be appreciated.”
Mike
Without seeing a picture or video I can’t tell exactly how your tuck planche is looking. But most people when they first do the move, its challenge enough just to raise the body off of the ground with straight arms.
But once that becomes easy the next objective is start moving towards a real planche position. Of course, this needs to be done in small steps. The first one is to keep your back straight.
Then you need to raise your hips. You want to get them on level with your shoulders. And this involves leaning forward to where the shoulders pass over the hands.
This is a great progression to follow to work on the planche. Combined with a few other planche training moves you’ll eventually get there.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. For more on training the planche be sure to check out The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.
It’s important to have a strong handstand against the wall before you ever try balancing yourself in the open.
And in order to train that you have to be able to get into the handstand. This video shows you the easiest way to kick-up against the wall.
How to Kick Up into a Handstand Against the Wall
The most important point is to keep your arms locked the entire time. That makes them strongest and you’ll be least likely to collapse to the ground.If you don’t quite get it on your first attempt keep at it. If you’re worried about injuring yourself put a pillow or something soft beneath your head to build your confidence.
Also, you can have a partner assist you. After you kick they can guide your feet to the wall.
As for how much kick to give, you need enough to get your hips above your body but not so much you plow into the wall. With practice you’ll be able to touch lightly on the wall every time.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. This is just the first step of many in the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start DVD. If you want to work up to balancing on you own this is the DVD to get.
A big thanks to Chris for sending this picture in after last weeks email on the Victorian.
Who needs rings when you’ve got a partner? This is basically the Victorian held in a partner balance.
Notice how far the false grip is used. A necessity as every little bit helps the extreme leverage in this feat.
Having not tried this feat I can’t say for sure but I imagine the partner’s hands add a bit more support than the rings would.
And for a perfect Victorian the hands would have to be brought down a little more towards the hips.
Not to take anything away from this acrobatic feat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything else like this one.
Which brings up another point. If you’ve got any remarkable hand balancing photos send them to [email protected] and there’s a good chance they make an appearance up on the blog.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
I wanted to share with you an interesting debate I had with one of my subscriber’s and than I want to encourage you to add your own comments.
So here is part of Nathan’s comments:
“I take issue with some of the things you say on this site, also I do not believe you should be creating videos and tutorials that teach people handstands when you yourself use the technique deemed improper by Gymnasts and Circus Artists alike.
“Handstands should not be taught over the internet as it is an incredibly precise discipline that requires constant feedback and personalized training, something which with this medium you cannot deliver.”
And my response:
Deemed improper? Perhaps the straight body style is better but its not easier to learn. Having an arch is natural which is why it ‘use’ to be the only way up until about the 70’s. All the gymnasts (don’t actually know any circus artists myself) I’ve talked to say its just a matter of style anyway. In the end you should be able to take any position and balance right. After all look at many contortionists. Are they doing straight handstands?
I agree with you partially here. Yes personalized instruction would be best but its not really feasible. But isn’t some instruction better than nothing? Not all the people that come to my site are looking at this as a career, just something they’d like to be able to do.
And his comments back:
“Just to add to the perfect handstand discussion that’s going on. I believe the straight bodied handstand came around when people were trying to emulate the standing up normally position on their hands to create a more stable position. Hands below shoulders below hips below feet, in essence standing up but reversed.
“The arched position handstand is the beginners preference as the body naturally falls into that position and requires less core strength. The scorpion handstand common among contortionists is an entirely different type as this is a handstand trick rather than a base handstand. As you said earlier both work and are fine, but the more solid and versatile handstand in my opinion is the straight body one.
“Just my two cents, was an interesting little debate to read.”
And now here is your chance to weigh in on the situation. You know blogs are made to be two-way communication tools. But I haven’t ever encouraged this in the past. Well now I am.
All you have to do to post your comment is register here:
https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/blog/wp-login.php
And then go to the post itself to leave your comments:
https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/blog/comment-on-the-hand-balancing-blog
Think you can do that? I’d be happy if you took the time to give it a shot, so you can let me know what you think.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. It really sounds harder than it is. I’ve resisted this blog stuff in the past but once I got into it, its actually a lot of fun.
Everyone has done this at one time or another. A broom is a common item but any long straight object will do just fine.
Put one end on your open palm with the other end straight up in the air and keep it there by balancing.
This is not very difficult and let me tell you why. The broom is straight and solid. Your efforts at balancing it from the bottom translate straight up to the top so it is quite easy to keep it in the air.
Of course, this is related to hand balancing. However, there are some big differences.
Your body is not just one straight long object. You have mobile joints at your elbows, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles. And then there’s your spine which has many moving pieces.
This is not an anatomy lesson. My point is that your efforts of balancing on your hands may not directly translate to keeping your feet in the air.
Your target must be keeping your body from wrists to toes unmoving so that you can balance.
Keeping your body tight is the key to holding a quality handstand. Any leak means getting out of proper position and a much tougher time getting back in.
So stay tight, but don’t forget to breathe.
In the beginning all this is not as easy as it appears, especially when you are in the unfamiliar upside down position. But keep practicing.
When you can keep your body rigid then handstands are a piece of cake.
Sincerely,
Logan Christopher
P.S. For in depth instuctions on how to get into position and hold it check out Professor Paulinetti and Bob Jones’ Book
The following is excerpted from the True Art and Science of Hand Balancing about Professor Paulinetti.
“Early in November, 1920, the word was passed about in the city of Calcutta, India, that an event of interest would happen at noon of a certain day atop the dome of the Empire Theatre Building.
Their curiosity aroused, and spurred on by the fact that they would see something free of charge, the natives thronged about the square where stood the popular playhouse.
Promptly at midday a figure appeared as if from nowhere, arising from behind the ball atop the dome of the building.
Seemingly he grasped the smooth sides of the sphere, leaned forward and placed his head on the top of it, and slowly pressed up into a perfect balance on the head, the hands being held on the hips, and the legs spread apart and inclined forward.
There, clad in blue tights that made him visible for considerable distance, the performer remained at least thirty seconds–to the watchers below it seemed an hour–then, just as slowly as he arose to balance, he lowered his body and disappeared from view behind the dome by way of the same ladder by which he had ascended, while on the packed streets below the crowd roared its approval.
They had met Paulinetti, and they liked him.”
Amazing what a simple looking (but not so simple in execution) trick can do to the minds of others, isn’t it?
But this was a run-of-the-mill activity for the Professor, not even close to one of his more difficult performances.
If you are interested in hearing more stories about Prof. Paulinetti let me know.
Of course if you want to read them yourself and see pictures of the stunts then you know where to go: The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
Hearing, reading about, or seeing the best can always give you some extra motivation.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
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