Tag Archives | Juggler

Building Skills

By on April 26, 2010 in Uncategorized

Yesterday I was doing a garage sale. Always nice to clear out stuff you don’t need.

It was a fairly busy day but there were points in time when no customers were around. Instead of just fiddling around on my iphone (alright I did a bit of that too) I decided to practice a new skill.

Juggling Balls

Juggling vs. Hand Balancing (How these skills are different)

Juggling.

Not kettlebell juggling, something I’m already quite good at, but just tossing three small balls around. It was one of the items we were selling, and to pass the time I picked the balls up and got started.

It may surprise you but this is something I never had really done before.

Within a couple minutes I was able to get the three balls going at once. It wasn’t pretty but I was having some success. By the end of the sale I could easily keep them going and hit a streak of about 30 or 40 tosses.

I even decided to keep the juggling balls so that I could practice more in the future.

Now this isn’t something I plan on doing all the time. Nor do I want to go after it and become a great juggler. But it was fun to pick up a new skill from scratch.

I want to relate this to hand balancing. One of the reasons hand balancing is a harder skill to work on then most is because on top of the skill you need strength and endurance.

This means you can only practice so much or so long before you get to the point where your body can’t handle any more.

Overtime, you can increase this amount. And certain skills take a lot less that others (the regular handstand versus handstand pushups, for instance). But no matter how you cut it, it is a very physical skill.

While I could juggle for hours without spending too much energy, the same could not be said for hand balancing.

So when you do practice you have to do it smart. Being able to get results in a short amount of time is going to get you further along overtime than needed to practice for long stretches at a time. For this reason doing short practices throughout the day may be your best bet.

Of course, if you have built up to it, then spending an hour or two can get you real far.

Having the right roadmap and way to progress into these skills is also essential. For the best material on all hand balancing skills, check out the Hand Balancing Mastery Course.

They say practice makes perfect. I would add that smart practice makes perfect faster.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon
Comments { 7 }

Cirque du Soleil: Kooza

By on March 17, 2008 in Uncategorized

Went to Cirque du Soleil this past weekend. The shows title was Kooza.

As expected I was amazed. But I have to say it even exceeded my expectations.

The show is touring through the eastern States now. If it’s coming nearby to you, Go and See It. But the same can be said for any Cirque du Soleil performance.

Unfortunately, no pictures are allowed otherwise I would love to share with you a few of the amazing feats performed.

From the synchronized contortionists to people on stilts being launched in a double back flip. From jumping over people on high wires to the best juggler I’ve ever seen. My favorite was the Wheel of Death. Every single thing was astounding.

Not to mention the funniest clowns ever. I’m not usually a big fan of the clowns but these guys were good.

One great thing was the answer to a question I had posed just a few weeks ago was shown in full force.

I’m talking about the Chinese acrobats hand balancing on chairs.

Trampoline Handbook
Trampoline Handbook on Amazon

The hand balancer stacked one chair on top of the other. When he got high up, assistants would hand him chairs by using long poles.

Mind you these are not your average chairs but very sturdy things. They’ve got to be because he went up over 10 chairs high.

By standing on each chair he would place the next on top and press up to get into position. Every couple of chairs he would do a new feat.

A head balance on one. A handstand on another.

To top it off the last chair was not laid flat but tilted to be at a diagonal angle. On top of this the acrobat performed a one arm half-planche or elbow lever.

You could see the chairs wobble and shake.

After he was done they took the chairs done one by one and the act was over.

One thing I realized at this show is that you tend to have great respect for the people practicing the things you know. I could see the contortionists using their hands to balance. I understand how they do what they do (not so much their ungodly flexibility).

Same with some of the acrobatics.

But unicycling or balancing on the tight wire I have no experience with. Not to say I didn’t respect these people, because I did.

But when you know how hard it is to do something it makes you appreciate it more.

Not a lot of people understand the patience and effort over the long haul it takes to accomplish this kind of thing. But you do.

Are you looking for a quick fix or are your prepared to go the distance? The time is going to pass either way so why not become a master at a few things.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. For less than the cost of a ticket, you can get your hands on The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing, to see a bunch of similar feats and learn how to do them.

Comments { 1 }