Tag Archives | Logan

Recent Results

A little while back I told you I was getting back into a regular practice of hand balancing. Well, its been a couple weeks and despite holiday craziness I’m happy to report great results.

I quickly did the lead-up stunts found in the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start DVD before jumping right into the handstand (just like I recommend to anyone starting out). After I hit my goals there I moved on to another series of exercises.

And about that wrist pain I’ve been having? I’m doing something new that is blowing that out of the water. I’ve got a bit more experimentation and research to do before I report on that later.

One of my main goals this month was to hit a 60 second freestanding handstand again. Guess what? I did 63 seconds this morning. That puts me ahead of schedule.

I’ll be telling you a bit more about my training, my goals and how I’m going after them soon.

It looks like this whole email is about what’s coming soon, so I’ll end it by saying there’s two new videos coming later this week.

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

One is on the biggest tip I can give you for hand balancing success.

The other is on what to do if you want to achieve a straight handstand.

And soon the best resource, short of a personal coach, will be available to anyone who wants to MASTER hand balancing.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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How to Learn Parkour

Merry Christmas!

Regardless of whether you celebrate this holiday or any other this time of year, I’m in the spirit of giving.

I mentioned this before and now its ready. Grab my new interview with Mark Toorock of American Parkour

In just over an hour we covered tons of information from the beginnings of parkour on to how to learn parkour. Here’s a few of the things you’ll discover when you listen:

  • The difference between doing Parkour and training Parkour.
  • What your fitness level should be before you get started in Parkour. The answer may surprise you…
  • Tips on keeping the knees, ankles and other joints healthy so you can train a long time while avoiding crippling injuries.
  • What a typical Parkour training session should look like.
  • How to find other Parkour practitioners (aka Traceurs) that you can train with.
  • Tips on finding places to train (including the legal aspects of doing so).
  • The fundamentals you MUST focus on and why neglecting to do so will mean slower progress.
  • And much more…

We do talk about the Parkour Tutorial DVD, available here, but besides that its all great content on how to get started learning and training in parkour.

Good Luck and Good Free Running,
Logan Christopher

Walking and Jumping On Your HandsWalking and Jumping On Your Hands on Amazon
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Hand Balancing on Twitter

This is last notice but I wanted to give you a chance to join the fun.

If you’re on Twitter I’m the guest on a special twitterchat tonight. The topic…hand balancing of course.

You’ll have your chance to ask any questions you want.

All the details can be found at Straight to the Bar.

Hand Balancing Made EasyHandBalancingMadeEasy_on_Amazon

And make sure you’re following me- StrongmanLogan.

It costs nothing to signup and come ask your questions. If you’re available then be sure to stop by.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Two Updates

Just a quick update today.

Thank you everyone for sending in your parkour questions. We got 16 comments on the last post with some great questions.

And the good news is they’ll be answered. Just got to setup a date and time to do the interview. Look for that coming soon

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon

On another note I threw a new page up on the site. This one was long overdo, containing ideas and need to know info on gift-giving.

If anyone you know has a birthday coming up or during the holidays could benefit from anything available here check it out.

Good Luck and Good Handbalancing,
Logan Christopher

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Parkour Questions

Was just trading emails with Mark Toorock from over at www.americanparkour.com

They’re the ones responsible for the Parkour Tutorial DVD we have available.

I’m not an experienced traceur, though I recognize the similarities in the different arts of hand balancing, tumbling and parkour. And many people learning one want to do them all!

In my opinion, this is the best teaching you’ll get on Parkour fundamentals. Sure there are tons of youtube videos you can find but nothing will cover the details this DVD does.

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

Anyway, I asked him if he’d be interested in doing a interview and he said yes.

I’m slaving away at some big projects currently which is taking the majority of my time (though it’s a lot of fun too). So before we plan anything more, I wanted to get a feel for how interested you are in the topic.

Is this something you’re into? And if so, what questions do you want to ask?

Leave your comments below. Thanks for taking your time to do so.

Good Luck and Good Free Running,
Logan Christopher

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Planche Progression

Here you’ll find tips on planche progression.

“I’m 21 years ( physically strong ) I do need to get into Planche. Can you advice me on something to start with ???”
Kenji

I have not built myself up to doing the planche. Haven’t really worked on it much.

But I can give you a variety of drills and methods to build it up, proven by a number of other people who have had success. The basic planche progression is to increase the leverage of the movement little bit by little bit.

That is going from a tucked position to a straddle and finally a complete planche. When you get good at one position, building the strength and skill to do it, you move onto the next.

I first learned about this method from Coach Sommer. In his article below you’ll get many more details on this planche progression. Plus it also covers the front lever.

Check it out here.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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

A One Hand Balance

A One Hand Balance in the Old Style

Here’s a question from Matthew on the difficulties and progression of advanced hand balancing skills.

“What would say is the difficulty of a planche vs a handstand, one handed handstand, 2 man planche, how should I be progressing if I am fairly competent in all of these skills?”

Each skill is very different from the next. The skill and strength it takes to do a planche is very different from that it takes to do a one handed handstand. Some people will find certain skills harder then others and to give them arbitrary difficulties wouldn’t really help.

But as a basic idea so you can know what you’re getting yourself into I would say the one hand handstand (and the planche too) are about 100 times as difficult as the two hand handstand.

How should you be progressing? The same as everyone else. Whether you are working on a basic handstand or and advanced skill like the one arm handstand you can progress by adding a second at a time.

If you are competent at the skills you listed, first off, congratulations. You are doing great. If you want to know where to go from that point there is a wide variety of options.

You can work on a one handed planche. You can learn to hop on one hand. How about a tiger bend? And if that’s easy try it on one arm!

Hand Balancing Made EasyHandBalancingMadeEasy_on_Amazon

(By the way, all these skills are found in The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.)

The sky is the limit. Just keep progressing. It’s the name of the game.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher.

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Planche Pushups Training

This question from Paul concerns planche pushups training.

“From a beginners perspective, what exercises would you recommend to working into a full planche pushup?”

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon

That depends entirely on how much of a beginner you are. If you are really just starting out there is going to be a ton of work before you get to the planche and finally a planche pushup.

Suffice to say, you’ll need a strong planche before you can approach doing planche pushups.

There are two drills that come to mind to help on the pushup portion. Even if you can’t do the planche yet you will be able to do this planche pushup training and get started.

One involves having a friend hold onto your feet. Now, you don’t merely want to do pushups in this position. That would make this nothing more then an elevated pushup. Instead, lean far forward in advanced of your hands, that is to assume a planche position.

With your partner holding your feet you won’t have to support all your weight, but the goal is to do as much as you can on your own.

From this position you do your assisted planche pushups. The key is to do low reps and really maximize the effort that goes into each one.

The second drill is similar though it doesn’t require a partner. This is to do what are known as pseudo-planche pushups. You get on the ground and get into a normal pushup position.

Like before, you will lean forward so your shoulders are forward of your hands. Your feet are on the ground but you will be working in a similar planche position.

There are other methods but these will help you out big time. Along with them you’ll really need to be training your planche and making it strong.

Much more on the planche can be found in The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

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Block Building Handstand

Rafael Guerrero's Block Building Handstand

Rafael Guerrero's Block Building Handstand

One very impressive handstand stunt is to raise yourself off the ground by block building.

Start in a handstand with a stack of bricks or similar objects nearby.  Shift over to one hand and grab a block with the other. Set that block down, shift your weight onto that arm then repeat on the other side. You build yourself up one block at a time.

This is an advanced skill as you’ll have to be in a one arm handstand much of the time even in just momentarily.

But its sure to impress anyone watching. And once you reach the top you can go down the same way or maybe jump off your blocks.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

Tumbling Illustrated
Tumbling Illustrated on Amazon

P.S. The Halloween Sale is going strong. Check out how you can save on all hand balancing and acrobatic programs here.

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How to Handstand Longer

Today’s question addresses how to build a longer handstand.

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

“Is it possible to add 2 seconds to my hand balancing every week? If it is how long would  I have to practise for weekly?”
Lucy

I think this is a great way to approach holding a handstand longer. Set a goal to add two seconds each week. It is certainly a reasonable goal and should easily be accomplished.

If you practiced each day you could start off just working on the handstand. When you did reach your goal for the remaining days in the week you could work on other skills. Once the new week comes you again try to add two seconds.

Overall, I don’t think it would require much time but this does depend on where you are at. If you are stuck at six seconds that is different then being stuck at two minutes.

This same approach would work well for any timed hold you are seeking to increase.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Don’t forget The Ultimate Guide to Handstand Pushups has just been released and is selling strong. Get your copy and be on the way to much more strength.

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