Jan/091
Injury-Proofing Your Ankles
A subscriber wrote in after the release of the Parkour Tutorial DVD with a warning. Thanks again Adam for bringing it to my attention.
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.
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.
Jan/090
Da Vinci on Hand Balancing
“Study the science of art and the art of science.”
-Leonardo da Vinci
Hand balancing is an art. Hand balancing is a science. Which do you practice?
It is very helpful do break down what needs to be done with the handstand to make it as easy as possible for people to do. To understand all the principles of leverage and positioning.
But on the flip side sometimes you want to get lost in the flow of practice. Just get into a handstand and FEEL it. Not worrying about trying to hold it for longer, but enjoying the moment.
If you’ve been working in one direction play around with the other.
By treating hand balancing as an art form you’re likely to have more fun. Plus by going deep inside you’ll learn about subtle changes you should be making.
Looking at the science behind hand balancing and you’ll know the best ways to advance your skills. How to progress. What you need to work on to master any one move.
Add them together and you get the best of both worlds.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Professor Paulinetti knew this. That’s why his book was named The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing. If you want a big dose of both the art and science grab your copy now.
Jan/090
Straightening Handstand, Wrist Strength & More
Diving into a few questions and comments today.
“In the hand stand, and especially in the bridge, the main persisting difficulty is an inherent wrist weakness. In fact I observe steady improvement in back and shoulder flexibility, but the wrist is always setting me back!”
Joseph
I know your pain Joseph, having my own share of wrist problems. But I’ve come a long way in part thanks to handstands.
Here’s a few things you can try out. Always stretch before hand balancing or bridging. Just open the wrist back as far as it will go. And afterwards its great to work it the other direction too.
Try working some of the positions of the fists as well. This is known to help strengthen the wrists.
Of course there is much else to do, including many mobility drills for the hands and fingers. Since this is a problem for many people I’ll be covering it in more detail in the future. But for now I hope that helps.
Onto another comment.
“I got it! Thanks a bunch. I’m pleased with the quality of the material and your service.
“The handstand is really one of the most difficult skill I’m trying to learn, I’m almost there. Been practising since august but I was doing it wrongly by starting to do the handstands and not the build up moves! now I know what I know I’m doing wrong.
“Unfortunately my online friend who is into handbalancing didn’t tell me about the build up moves so I ended up wasting a lot of time practising doing handstands immediately. And most of the resources over the internet failed to teach this important aspect in learning this skill. Out of desperation I even attended a gymnastics class once. After many months of practice (4months) out of 10 attempts 1 will get thru and I would consider that a lucky day if I could hold it for 3seconds! It got so frustrating that I was ready to give up.
“I’m not back to ground zero but I could feel its just a matter of time in learning this. I’ve already mastered the frogstand, headstand and now been practising the kick up. Next would be the forearm stand.
“Here in the philippines, there isn’t much interest in handbalancing. I could only see some B-boys doing a walking handstands but doing static holds? I’ve never seen one. Though when I saw the press to handstand I was blown away by some guy at the gymnastics class.
“Ok got to read the books and dvd! I can’t wait till I can master the handstand! Once I could balance for 30 seconds then on to the advance course.
“Handbalancing is truly a lost art. It’s great that you that you decided to open this resource site.”
Regards,
Gerald
Thanks for sending in the report Gerald. You are too right. Learning the handstand can be frustrating, especially if you take the long slow road of going right to it.
That’s why I created the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide to give you the lead-up stunts you mentioned and plan to attack the handstand in an easier way.
Once you have that its just a matter of time and practice. You’ll be holding a handstand for 30 seconds in no time.
“How do you correct the arch of the back in a handstand?”
Martha
Let me start off by saying that arching in a handstand is not wrong to do as many people believe. But if you want to straighten out here’s what to do.
Go back to the wall.
Walls are flat so kick up into a handstand and straighten out to the point where all the points on your body are in contact with it.
Of course, you’ll also bring your head down in between your arms and this alone will help to eliminate the arch.
But don’t expect this to go away overnight, and especially be able to balance in the position. You’ll have to work at it to re-configure the body to do as you please since an arched handstand is not only easier but more natural.
That’s it for today. Going to have some new stuff for you this week so stay tuned.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Frustrated with the difficulty of the handstand? Don’t know the best place to begin? Find the proper path with the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide
Jan/090
How to do a Cartwheel Article
This one is on How to do a Cartwheel. A simple gymnastic move that everyone should be capable of doing. Are you?
I should of done this one a long time ago, judging by the number of questions I’ve had. But hey, better late then never right?
It has a video too. It’s from this month’s Acrobat Accelerator where I also cover one handed cartwheels, muscle control, and a variety of hand balancing moves. There’s still a few issues available. Look at the PS for more info on how to get one.
But most importantly check out that article if you need help on your cartwheels.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Get Acrobat Accelerator at no charge along with one of these products:
Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide
Hand Balancing Mastery Course
Jan/090
Parkour Terrain and How Much to Practice Handstands
Thought I answer a couple more questions today. Lots of them have been coming in recently. While I can’t get to every one individually I’ll try to answer them in these posts.
“I always wanted to start parkour and didn’t know how to start. When I saw the dvd that your selling I thought this is an excellent starting point, but the problem is that there is no vaults, rails etc… in the place that I live in. Any suggestions?”
Ahmed
Unfortunately, Parkour does require a certain kind of terrain in order to really practice the moves. My advice is to just be on the lookout for anything you can use.
While most people practice in cities even small benches and fences can give you a few obstacles to overcome. Most places should have some walls you can climb and areas to jump off of.
The most basic moves can even be practiced with nothing like jumping and rolling.
But in the end you may have to travel a bit to get the best results.
To learn all the Parkour basics get the Parkour Tutorial DVD.
“I have training towards the goal of achieving a full range of motion handstand pushup, I am currently still doing the regular hand stands, which I have not mastered yet. How often would you advise to train handstands.”
Ashley
To keep it short, the more practice you do the better you’ll get.
Handstands are a very tough skill. Getting to the point where you can do them easily and consistently is going to take many hours of practice.
So to get best results you should practice them every single day. How much you do it is up to you. You can do one long practice or spread it out over the day.
And if you’re just beginning you may have to work up to this volume of training.
Before working on the handstand pushup you should be consistent with your handstands. And because this move can also be taxing on your muscles you may have to practice it a bit less.
I hope that helps. Later this week I’ll have another video or two to show you.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. On another topic, I’m doing a free teleseminar on hitting your training goals this Wednesday. Its more focused on strength training but will cover practicing skills as well. If you want to sign up for the Goal Teleseminar click here.
Jan/090
Improving Stability in Handstands
I receive tons of questions and today I’ll get to a couple of them. You can always submit your question here.
Just know that I can’t respond to everyone individually but I’ll try to tackle them in these emails.
“I’ve got my position for my handstand right but I just can’t seem to hold it much longer than five or so seconds. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Please help!!”
Cheers,
Emma Shepard
I’m sure there are many people that share where you’re at Emma. A lot of people get frustrated that when they start trying out handstands they can’t hold one with ease after just a couple days.
Above all else, you need patience and commitment. Keep working on holding that position and you will get better in time. Its also good to re-visit some of the lead-up skills I outline in the Secrets of the Handstand Quickstart Guide like the frogstand and others.
Besides, without seeing you do the handstand its hard to give specific advice. If you want to send in a video I’ll offer some additional suggestions. Just post something on youtube and send me the link. This goes for anyone.
Hey Logan
So I’ve been getting better at my handstand but I have a super flexible back so I have been focusing on spinal stability exercises. Mostly planks held for up to a minute, feet on a swiss ball, forearm planks, side planks, etc. You got any other suggestions? Also, would push up bars be helpful? For some reason I have been real curious about those.
Thanks man,
Casey
Having a super flexible back can be a boon depending on how you look at it. Bob Jones recommends that a beginner use all of his back bend when starting out in order to make the balancing easier.
But if your goal is to straighten out, the moves you listed could certainly help establish strength in the abs and low back needed to hold a straighter handstand.
The most useful exercise though is a handstand against the wall. Kick-up and straighten the back out. When you do this you’ll feel your core working quite hard. The key point is to lengthen the body as much as possible. Try to get as tall as you possibly can.
And the next time you do freestanding handstands you can emulate this same movement.
As for pushup bars they are useful tools, but not specifically for what you‘re trying to achieve here. Besides with handstand most of the time your hands are flat on the ground so you want to train in that position.
That wraps up this email. Just remember the most important thing is always to keep working forward. Hand balancing takes time but in the end its worth the effort.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. The Parkour Tutorial DVD is selling like crazy. Plus I’ve been getting tons of messages of people who’ve been practicing for years. If you want to see what all the buzz is about click here.
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