Mar/100
High One Arm to Arm Handstand
Rafael's High One Arm to Arm
Here is another great picture from Rafael Guerrero. It’s an interesting hand to hand balance. Similar to a one arm handstand but at still quite different.
Regardless, its a balance you don’t see very often. For those of you who are experienced hand balancers give this one a try if you have the partner to do it.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Don’t forget the Free Success in Hand Balancing Teleseminar I’m doing this Wednesday night with Beast Skills’ Jim Bathurst. Sign up and ask your questions here.
Feb/109
Artur
I don’t know anything about this hand balancer except that he’s good.
A variety of skills are displayed in a fun to watch free flowing manner. Using the spinning discs on the floor allows him to do some great moves.
The move at 2:43 (I don’t know what to call it) has to be one of the coolest looking moves I’ve ever seen. Thanks to Nick for sending this one to me.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. I can’t promise you’ll ever become this good but if you want to increase your skills check out these hand balancing products.
Oct/091
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
P.S. The Halloween Sale is going strong. Check out how you can save on all hand balancing and acrobatic programs here.
Aug/093
One Finger Handstand
Is a one finger handstand even possible?
Most would say that no human could possibly do this feat. But then most would agree Shaolin monks are anything but normal people!
This video shows a 91 year old monk Hal-tank from the Sil Lum Temple in China perform that feat.
As I’m sure you’ll agree this move goes beyond just finger strength, requiring intense focus of chi.
There are many other monks who have mastered a two finger handstand like this picture shows. Thanks to Gay Ng for sending it to me.
Two Finger Handstand by Shaolin Monk
(You can also witness this feat from another Shaolin monk in the awesome DVD Shaolin: Wheel of Life available for cheap on Amazon.)
But getting down to a single finger handstand takes many more years of dedicated practice.
Its sure to be an entirely different approach but there’s a full chapter by Bob Jones, famous for his thumbstand, on doing fingertip pushups and handstands in The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.
You can get started with the basics. Whether you’ll work up to two or one finger handstand like the monks do is up to you.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Jul/094
The X Balance
I love this picture. Just how the legs and arms line up to become a perfect X.
With the arms spread wide balancing becomes much more difficult. You won’t have the simple back and forth balancing like in a regular handstand as your hands are pointed towards the sides.
The quality is not the best but if you look closely you’ll notice Rafael’s hands are on little blocks. These may aid a little in balancing.
Just try an arms wide handstand with the hands out to the sides and you’ll find just how hard it can be to stay up.
Its these kind of balances that you rarely, if ever, see these days.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. For similar poses check out photos 44 and 95 in the Inspirational Photo Section of The True Art and Science of Handbalancing
Jul/093
Planche and Hand Position
A few comments were raised about the hand position in Rafael Guerrero’s planche in a previous post.
Why was he up on the fingertips? Is this necessary to do a planche in good form?
Unless you have hyper-flexible wrists you won’t be able to do a planche with the fingers pointing forwards and flat on the ground. Most people turn their wrists out to the sides to alleviate this sort of strain or come up on the fingers.
But there are other ways to do a planche with the hands not taking as much stress as these other pictures by Rafael show. You can do it on some sort of parallel bars.
Or completely on the fingertips.
Even in a hand-to-hand balance.
But if you do have the wrist flexibility you can do it on flat ground with the palms flat on the ground and facing forward. In the True Art and Science of Hand Balancing the chapter on planches showcases W.H. Mering doing just that.
And if you’re seeking to build incredible strength like these planches show I have an important announcement later this week. Stay tuned!
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Why was he up on the fingertips? Is this necessary to do a planche in good form?
Unless you have hyper-flexible wrists you won’t be able to do a planche with the fingers pointing forwards and flat on the ground. Most people turn their wrists out to the sides to alleviate this sort of strain or come up on the fingers.
But there are other ways to do a planche with the hands not taking as much stress as these other pictures by Rafael show. You can do it on some sort of parallel bars.
Or completely on the fingertips.
Even in a hand-to-hand balance.
But if you do have the wrist flexibility you can do it on flat ground with the palms flat on the ground and facing forward. In the True Art and Science of Hand Balancing the chapter on planches showcases W.H. Mering doing just that. Check out the book for more.
If you’re seeking to build incredible strength like these planches show I have an important announcement later this week. Stay tuned!
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
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