archive 2008 April

Handstand Rolls

Posted on Tuesday 29 April 2008

How does tumbling and hand balancing go together?

Here’s your answer in the simplest form. Combining the normal handstand with basic forward and backward rolls. 

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

Of course, there are many other ways to combine them. Here’s just two examples. Back Handspring to Hand Balance and Dive to Hand Balance, Chest Roll Down. There are tons of ways to get into and out of a handstand. Use your imagination.

These are great because it will really work your balance coming into the handstand from all these moves. Especially since you’re going to have to stop your momentum most of the time.

One more caveat. As much as possible don’t do hand balancing in sand. It’s a lot harder and throws off your balance. Much better to find a surface that won’t give.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. If you missed it, the new countdown page to the Tumbling Course is up. The date and time have been set. It’s only a matter of time now.




Commenting’s Easy

Posted on Saturday 26 April 2008

I’ve made it easier than ever to post comments of the blog. No more need to register, have a password, or anything like that.

All you have to do is click on the post, scroll to the bottom, write in you name and email and BAM! its done.

If you’ve got more questions let me know. If you’ve put the ideas in the report and videos into action fill me in. I want to hear about it. Tell me what you think.

On another note, due to some odd problems with the software many of you may have missed recent emails from me. If that is the case for you, know that the emails are on the blog and you can go back and read them there. The problem should be fixed now.

If you’ve missed out then you’ll want to check out the blog, watch some of the videos, and download the Acrobatic Conditioning report. Then tell me what you think.

I’ll get another cool video up early next week for you.

Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher

P.S. I’ve updated the hand balancing glossary with a few more terms. Thanks to Ben, Ricky, Mike, and others for helping out. If you got a term that belongs there, use the box at the bottom to submit it.




The Acrobatic Conditioning Report

Posted on Thursday 24 April 2008

It’s finally here.

Download your copy of the Acrobatic Conditioning report (simply right click and select save as…)

Inside you’ll find:

-The formula to overcome fear of falling and hurting yourself

-Think you’re too old or too big to train like this? Think again!

-How to train to add in acrobatic movements to your routine

-You don’t need a gymnastics center to train. Find out the other best places you can go

-The three steps you need to safely train

-How to train for maximum results in minimum time

-Breathing techniques for relaxation and explosiveness

-What flexibility you need and what you don’t

-How often to train for minimum and best results

-Much More!

Go ahead and download the Acrobatic Conditioning report right now!

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher




How to do the Headspring

Posted on Monday 21 April 2008

First off a big thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey. Your questions and comments are extremely helpful.

The Acrobatic Conditioning report is shaping up nicely. I expect it’ll be done later this week.

In the mean time one question that came up more than once went something along these lines. I can do forward rolls no problem, but how to you do a front handspring?

I may be risking starting to sound like a broken record but the answer is to work on a few stunts that’ll lead-up to it. In this case work on the HEADspring first.

And the video will show you how.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

As you progress forward in tumbling you will realize that almost all the moves are a variation of some basic movement. In this case that is a spring generated from the back through the legs.

This is the foundational movement of too many stunts to name but here are a few, front handspring, kips, headsprings, snap-downs, roundoffs, etc.

If you can do a good headspring the handspring is not far off. Just lock out your arms and do the same movement.

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher




Acrobatic Conditioning Report is coming…

Posted on Saturday 19 April 2008

I’m hard at work finishing up a Special Report I’ll be releasing next week. I was almost done but then your questions from the survey came in and I realized there was a lot more ground to cover.

So if you want your questions answered head on over to the survey.

It’s real short. And I know it asks for two questions but if you only got one that’s good enough.

This report is on what I call Acrobatic Conditioning. Its going to cover ways to train to improve your tumbling skills even if you’ve never worked on them before. How you can get started and where to train.

I’m about to go write more but I just want to take the time to answer at least one question here.

“Which skills should I attempt to learn first? and Should one master the handstand before attempting skills like cartwheel, round-off, and handsprings?”

Hand Balancing and Tumbling skills are related but definitely separate skill groups. You don’t really need to be good in one to do the other. That being said many tumbling moves move through the handstand position.

It can help to work both hand balancing and tumbling at the same time though you certainly don‘t need to be a master the handstand first.

As for which skills to work on that is easy. Start with what you can do and move on from there. If this is just basic rolls than start with that. Any moves where some part of you stays in contact with the ground would be next on the chain like cartwheels, roundoffs, and handsprings.

Of course the aerial moves like flips take a bit more work and are something you have to be careful with. More on that later.

But the idea is like with any other training. You work tumbling progressively.

Alright back to the report. Oh, and there’ll be new videos soon too.

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher

P.S. Seriously hit up the survey if you haven’t already.




Foundational Rolling Skills

Posted on Thursday 17 April 2008

How we got on the subject I can’t tell you at this point. I was at a birthday party and one of my friends told me they couldn’t do a somersault. Really!?! Maybe I was naïve but I thought EVERYONE could do this basic move.

But the truth is not everyone can. I’m sure you have no problem with this skill but the reason I am teaching it here in this video is to set up the idea of using and actually working on your tumbling skills. Everyone should be able to do the somersault. Not everyone necessarily has to do handsprings or front flips.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video 

But if you want to it begs the question; how to you move up to the more difficult skills?

The easiest method is by taking the basics and adding twists to them. This will build your control and make you a better tumbler.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. But it should give you something to play with and start sparking your own creativity.

More on this subject later but if you haven’t already, be sure to take this really small survey. Only three questions total. Won’t take much time but it’ll really help me out. Take the Survey here. Thanks!

Good Luck and Good Tumbling,
Logan Christopher




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