Aug/091
Walking on Hands
Here is a great question on the value of walking on hands versus standing on them.
“Hey Logan I just now started to do the frogstand and I can do it for a long time. I’ve been learning the handstand and couldn’t find my balance and I can walk all the way down my hall on my hands but I cant hold a handstand and Its frustrating so I stuck to walking on my hands. I’m gonna start practicing my frogstands right now. Is there any other things I could do to work on my balance for a handstand?”
Marcus
I recommend that anyone getting started with the handstand attempts to not walk around but instead finds the balance and holds the position on the hands.
You see, how you balance while walking on your hands can be entirely different then how you balance while standing on your hands. The first when you come out of balance you step to get back in balance. So your balance is maintained by moving around your body.
When standing on your hands you maintain your balance by keeping the body in a certain range that can be balanced by the hands and arms. If you start to fall out of balance you shift the pressure to keep your body up.
Doing this is tough. That’s why I recommend using lead-up stunts to teach you how to balance. The frogstand is great for teaching you hand balancing while in an easier position with your body low to the ground.
Other moves that help you build balance, different from the frog stand, include the headstand and forearm stand. If you can’t do these easier stunts well then you definitely should not be attempting the handstand yet.
Full details on these and other helpful stunts can be found in the Secrets of the Handstand Quick Start DVD.
Learning how to balance your body will in the end make walking around that much easier.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Aug/090
Scissors Handstand
After most people, myself included, have some success with the handstand they want to move on to a variety of stunts, most of which are much harder.
My advice, nowadays, is to stick with the handstand itself for a bit longer.
Yes, you can always just work on adding more time in a hold while improving your balance. But to spice it up a little bit try changing up your position.
There are a huge amount of different ways you can do this with different areas of your body. For today let’s focus on the legs.
Again, any possible way you can move your legs can be done in the handstand but let’s narrow it down to just one. The Scissors Handstand.
From The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing:
“Do a hand stand in nice form, then separate the legs, one backward and the other forward. Start the legs backward and forward in scissor fashion. Go slowly at first, and increase the speed, and come to a sudden stop with the feet and legs in nice form. While in the motion, the legs should be kept straight, with the toes pointed. This trick is very effective and is not hard to learn. Variations of the above are, scissors while walking on the hands, also scissors with the head forward through the arms.”
Check out the hand balancing book for many other moves just like this one.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Jul/090
Correcting Bad Handstand Habits
First off thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out the short survey. I appreciate you spending your time to help me out even it its just a couple minutes. I’ll be sharing what everyone said a little later on but today I thought I’d tackle a couple questions.
But before that a few other updates. That last blog post on the planche brought a couple great comments. I’ll delve further into that subject soon (with a few more pictures). In fact, there’s been a few comments on several different blog posts which I’m pleased with. Keep the conversation going.
And recently, I was notified that the company that makes the Elite Rings and Ring Strength DVD has switched over to fre e shipping within the USA. And I’m passing that offer on to you.
So if you are in the US you can get these products even cheaper now!
Now onto the questions. It’s a long one but worth reading.
“I’ve been practicing (more or less playing with) handstands and handbalancing for about a year. I taught myself 100% and so I’ve adopted ALOT of bad habits. I can walk yards forward or backwards on my hands, I’ve held a handstand for 42 seconds once, and I’ve even been expirimenting with walking up and down stairs with some mild success.
“Unfortunately, despite the impressive feets that I can achieve I get criticized frequently on my form. My back has a huge arch and I let my legs dangle over my head. It works for me, but just doesn’t have that impressive look to it. I’m sure it’s not hard to teach someone to keep their legs together and toes pointed, but after a year of success it’s a little bit harder to break the habit. Plus I get frustrated easier because I think ”I can just do it better my way anyway.” So as you may have already guessed, because I usually let my legs dangle, when I try to pick them up I underbalance. It’s like trying to learn it all over again and It’s quite frustrating. If you have any tips on gradually recovering from this habit as opposed to just relearning it I would appreciate your advice. And is it suppose to be harder or easier with you legs together?
“A second question I have is a specific skill question. I can walk in a circle on my hands, but I can’t stay in one place and pivot around. It would be a cool tutorial for you to make if you can teach how to pivot on your hands. Or if you could just point me in the right direction that would be cool too.”
Thank you for your time,
Josh Reed
Thank you for taking the time to write a detailed question. Much easier to answer this when there’s lots to draw from.
About the form and how to correct it. First let me start by saying why some people go towards the feet hanging form. Because of the bend at the knees the lower legs are hanging down and this effectively lowers your center of gravity. Also like you mentioned it throws your weight a bit more forward toward an overbalance.
If its easier why is it not generally recommended? The key word is the legs were ‘dangling’ over the head. In this position it is harder to keep the legs under control, and without control hand balancing becomes much harder. You want the legs together and straight so that they act like one object, which is easy to control.
It may be a bit harder in the beginning but in the long run it’ll make more advanced stunts (and doing simpler ones for longer) that much easier.
This is a case of taking two steps back so you can move three steps forward. Yes, you’ll have to go back to re-learn the move in a sense. Going back to the wall will help.
But the best thing I think would be to learn how to move from one position to the other. Learn to stay in a stationary handstand. Raise and bring the feet together from your hanging, knees bent position, then go back and forth. Raising and lowering them under control.
Your handstand position isn’t wrong (even if others say its ugly). You should be able to assume any position you want. Learn to control your legs and make them do what they want.
Which brings me to the next question regarding doing pirouettes. Turning around in one spot is much harder than just walking forwards.
I’ll likely do a longer tutorial later on but for now just a couple tips. Start off with small steps and gradually reduce the number you use over time. Eventually it should only take two steps to turn around, but start with up to six if you need to.
Also pay attention to the feet. Its common just to focus on the hands as you do the move but giving mind to the furthest point from your balance will help you even more to stay up. And this goes for all walking and even standing still.
“I have subscribed to your Updater and it seems like Every time I learn of something new from a friend or somewhere on the internet I come to my e-mail to find you have already e-mailed me with a new set of tips or instructions JUST ON THE VERY THING! This is far from a question but I wanted to let you know you personally inspired me to continue my journey to become stronger and more powerful then I ever thought possible.”
Balancing diligently
~Matt
Thanks a lot Matt. I am happy to inspire and teach. And that’s going to wrap it up for today.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
Dec/080
How to Walk on Your Hands and How Not to
In a previous blog post I wrote about changing positions in the handstand and how you can do that to increase your balancing skill.
Similar in many regards is walking on your hands.
Let me preface this by saying, that walking on your hands can be easier then standing still or harder and that depends entirely on how you go about it.
Stumbling around, that is catching yourself from falling by stepping with your hands, is easy to do. But it does not exhibit the control you want and it doesn’t really help you get better.
Most any fit person can manage at least a few steps in this manner. But as I’ve said before, I think its important to learn how to stand still before you begin walking.
The other side, the harder way, is through walking and staying in control the entire time.
If you think about it, all you’re doing is shifting your weight to a single hand for a moment as you take a step with the hand. And then you repeat the process.
That bit makes the move harder than just standing still. You have to constantly correct your balance with every little movement.
At the same time it should serve to work your body better at maintaining its normal position in the handstand. If you allow yourself to get into a place where you can’t balance from you haven’t kept control.
Walking on the hands in the many ways you can do it will make you a better balancer.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
P.S. In Professor Orlick’s Walking and Jumping on Your Hands you’ll find all you need to know on taking your first steps, running, dancing, leaping and much more. By far the best guide to this grouping of hand balancing skills.
Nov/080
Walking on Your Hands Down Stairs
Some years ago when I was teaching Physical Education at the Western University Medical School I decided to see just how many steps I could conquer with practice. Therefore, twice every week after I had finished all of my classes, I took a crack at the main stairs.
For a couple of weeks I stuck to one flight of stairs as a sort of warm up. Then I added a few more steps with each try, until I was doing two flights with no difficulty. Gradually I added more steps, without really pushing myself to the limit and within a month was doing three flights regularly. The fourth flight gave me a bit of trouble, but once I got beyond this I landed two more to make it six flights in two months. At the end of three months I could start at the top of the building and make it “non-stop” all the way to the bottom…eight flights in all, and began looking for bigger buildings to conquer.
***
This story comes from Professor Orlick. I don’t know about you but I think walking down six flights of stairs is quite impressive.
Walking down stairs in certainly not a stunt beginners should go after but it serves as a great challenge to work up to. Even so, just about anyone can get started walking on their hands.
In Walking and Jumping on Your Hands, Prof. Orlick goes in depth on just about every possibility there is when it comes to walking on your hands. From starting with baby steps to running, dancing, jumping and more.
And if you think going down stairs is hard, just try going up. But this is broken down to a brain-dead simple process anyone can follow.
Of all of Orlick’s books I think this one is my favorite.
Good Luck and Good Hand Balancing,
Logan Christopher
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