Tag Archives | Subscriber

Injury-Proofing Your Ankles

By on January 30, 2009 in Flexibility & Contortion, Parkour, Tumbling

A subscriber wrote in after the release of the Parkour Tutorial DVD with a warning. Thanks again Adam for bringing it to my attention.

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

Tricking, Parkour, even gymnastics can be rough on the ankles. Sprains, strains, and broken ankles are unfortunately not that uncommon.

In order to avoid this you want to do two things. First off, you want to make sure you can do moves within your capabilities. Don’t start off jumping off of two story buildings.

Secondly, prepare for the worst. Make your body more resilient. The stretches on this video will help prepare your feet and ankles for landings and all the impact.


Injury-Proofing Your Ankles

And if you take part in running, these same moves will injury-proof you so that no pot-hole is likely to roll your ankle.

Just add a few of these moves to your regular routine and you’ll be better off no matter what you do.

Good Luck and Good Training,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Of course you need to know how to do the moves properly. If you want to get started in Parkour this is the video for you.

Comments { 3 }

Handstand, Tumbling and Athleticism

By on May 1, 2008 in Tumbling

Wanted to start off today’s message with a powerful comment from a subscriber.

Logan,

Your website is absolutely fantastic and it has helped me learn a whole new approach to physical-culture training. Over the last few months, I have incorporated handstand push-ups and some elementary handstand training into my weightlifting routine, and the results have been nothing short of incredible.

A while back you received a comment from somebody who was upset that you are putting acrobatic videos on the Internet for all to view. He was apparently concerned that some people may develop bad form or bad training habits without direct supervision from a qualified trainer. While I’m sure this gentleman meant well, I must say that I have benefited enormously from watching the videos you have posted. I suspect that many other people have too.

Viewing your videos and reading your articles helped me to refine my views of what is possible with physical culture training. Before I made a visit to your site, I paid virtually no attention to the athletic side of physical training, and I new very little about the many benefits which can be derived from doing handstands and related movements. I have no desire to become a professional gymnast or acrobat, but I find that the type of training which you promote on your site improves my athleticism and strength tremendously.

Thanks for running a great and innovative site.

Rob Drucker

Thank you, Rob. Comments like these really make my day. It brings a smile to my face to read about the success of people like you.

Handstands have been proven over and over to strengthen the body. If you have to start against the wall, you’ll still get many of the benefits. The truth is going from handstands against the wall to free standing is the transition many people make, myself included.

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

As far as athleticism though, that is just the beginning. Can you imagine where you’ll be at if you add just a few of the following into the mix?

Forward Rolls, Backward Rolls, Diving, Head and Hand Balancing, Hand Balancing, Forearm Balancing, Cartwheels, Roundoffs, Head and Hand Springs, Hand Springs, Backward Hand Springs, Back Bends, Upstarts (Kips), Somersaults (Flips), Combination Rolls, Combination Hand Springs, Combination Hand Springs and Somersaults, Combination Hand Springs and Rolls, Combination Balancing and Rolls, Miscellaneous Combinations, and Novelties.

Those are the 21 chapters found in the soon to be released Tumbling Illustrated. As of writing this it’ll be available in 4 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, 34 seconds. To find the updated time go to https://lostartofhandbalancing.com/tumbling.html

I wish it was ready now, especially since a few people have inquired about buying it already. But I’m still waiting on the printers for the main book. Plus I want to be able to ship it out the day you order it.

You don’t have to be a professional gymnast or acrobat to get the benefits of this training. (If you are though, more power to you.) Even if you work on just a few of the 248 different moves you’ll learn how to control your body to a extraordinary degree.

Tomorrow I’m going to reveal a few details on the companion workbook to Tumbling Illustrated and how you can use this workbook will increase your skills even faster.

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher

P.S. I’ll try to get another video up showing some acrobatic conditioning in action before the launch. Maybe even a sneak peak of the workbook.

Comments { 0 }

Comment on the Hand Balancing Blog

By on April 8, 2008 in Handstands

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.

Trampoline Handbook
Trampoline Handbook on Amazon

“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.

Comments { 4 }

Handstands and Wrist Strength Part 2 and More

By on November 1, 2007 in Flexibility & Contortion, Handstands

Last time we talked about how you can overcome pain and poor flexibility in your wrists so that you can pursue hand balancing. A subscriber pointed out a few points which are certainly worth mentioning.

There is a way to work around this problem. Handstands can also be done on parallel bars or pushup handles and still be very effective. Rings work too but are even more of a challenge.

Though the body mechanics remain the same, how you go about balancing becomes a different matter.

How to do the One Hand Handstand by Professor Orlick
ow to do the One Hand Handstand on Amazon

For most people it will be much harder to balance because your base is smaller. Not the best way to get started on your handstands. But with some work you can balance with ease on any parallettes. And certainly if you are using a wall it is not a problem.

While this is a viable method it will not help the problem itself. You need to build the strength and flexibility and not skirt the issue.

Use this method to get some practice in the handstands if you need it but be sure to work the wrists. After all you can’t go wrong with a strong pair of hands.

Now on to a couple announcements.

The survey is now closed. Thank to all of you for participating. It will take some effort to pour over all the results but I can tell you they will result in some new and exciting changes to the site.

Secondly, I will be holding a contest soon. The details will be in my next email but for now just know that you will have a chance to win a full copy of the Hand Balancing Mastery Course coming soon.  In fact, there may be more than one up for grabs.

The particulars on this new product will be announced in the next weeks as well and you won’t want to miss out. So until then…

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
 

Comments { 0 }