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INSANE handbalancing


Kai Liow
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Russell Sims

I tried one of these.  It went like this;

 

Kick up into handstand,

 

Fall out of handstand.

 

Contemplate an easier hobby.

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Karl Kallio

Amazing all over - a quick question to those who know:  at 2:40-2:50 she seems to transition between a side slump/arch body position and the standard straight line.  That really impressed me, is that considered a separate skill that must be trained separately, or does it just come as a natural extension of being able to do the thingy before it (split on one hand keeled over to the side)?

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Tristan Curtis

Manna dislocates. :o Had no idea you could blend the two. That's inspiring!

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Jon Douglas

Manna dislocates. :o Had no idea you could blend the two. That's inspiring!

I think if the canes didn't rotate it would be hard to watch...

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Mikael Kristiansen

The switch from flag to straight handstand is very fundamental when it comes to higher level balancing. Basically she is just in a flag which she straightens. Once you have solid 1 arms and positions, you transition through the straight handstand so many times that its the most natural thing in the world and becomes extremely easy compared to any of the other stuff.

 

On another note, this lady is extremely good. She has been trained since she is young, and its literally impossible to reach such a level without that kind of training. To do most of her stuff, possibly excluding the manna dislocates/inlocates, is possible to learn with years of training, but to be able to pull ALL of that stuff off in a routine of 9 minutes, every day 5-7 days a week is just beyond. A friend of mine who trains under her old coach said she was able to do 40 min of endurance handstands switching between 1 arm positions when she trained under him. Such capacity seems impossible to build unless you are trained from childhood.

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Is she even doing handbalancing any more? I've only seen some contortion act lately.

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Mikael Kristiansen

She put up a video like a year ago of her doing 1 arm jump switches for like 1 minute, so im pretty sure she does. Its probably so embedded in her body that she could stop for years and get back fairly quickly as well.

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Philip Chubb

 

On another note, this lady is extremely good. She has been trained since she is young, and its literally impossible to reach such a level without that kind of training. To do most of her stuff, possibly excluding the manna dislocates/inlocates, is possible to learn with years of training, but to be able to pull ALL of that stuff off in a routine of 9 minutes, every day 5-7 days a week is just beyond. A friend of mine who trains under her old coach said she was able to do 40 min of endurance handstands switching between 1 arm positions when she trained under him. Such capacity seems impossible to build unless you are trained from childhood.

Question Mikael. You say all of these things (including one arm press right?) excluding the manna? Are there not many adults in circus school achieving mannas?

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Mikael Kristiansen

Im talking about the manna dislocates and inlocates mostly, and with "learnable" i mean if one is dedicating his/her life to it. There arent many circus artist who practice manna as it takes a tremendous amount of work without superb flexibility and even then is hard. On top of that it doesnt lead to or help very much on other handstand skills. I think that most people who trained hard for a long time could get a manna, but the in and dislocates are beyond most i think. The specific flexibility and strength needed is absurd. I know people who did the inlocates(i think that would be the proper term for it if compared to the same movement on rings), going from handstand and through to an L sit. Both of them ended up falling through and down to L sit quite fast. neither of them perform it at all any more as it led to shoulder issues. 

 

The 1 arm press she does is also super hard, but way more doable than the one from 1 arm straddle L. When you slide on the cane it is a LOT easier, though still a very high level move. Even so, you would be at professional level of handbalancing way before learning that press. A 1 arm press does not relate to 1 arm hs as a 2 arm press relates to a 2 arm handstand. You are going through a range of movement where you are at a much greater disadvantage, and where most people can hold an L sit before pressing hs, holding a proper form 1 arm straddle L or 1 arm L sit is literally impossible until you are able to press 1 arm.(as the shoulders need to be stacked and scapula FULLY protracted) Im not sure, but I would suspect that 80% or more of people performing 1 arm press from straddle L(outside china) are ex sports acro fliers who are very light and learned it while young. It is extremely extremely hard and by far the most ridiculous thing i ever learned. Still it isnt at the level where it works every day. This is the best one i have on film without counterweight. I suppose i need another year of focused training on it if i want to perform it.

Haha the name of the video describes how i feel about the move

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Philip Chubb

Understandable. Why spend that much time on one move that will not even connect to much else in your act, right?

That one arm press was amazing! I don't see why you say you don't have it because that looked so good but I'm sure it's more than I can even comprehend at the moment since I'm nowhere near it.

Thank you for the explaination!

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Mikael Kristiansen

yeah exactly. you can spend your time on balancing as that takes enough time by itself and on things like planche and presses which will help a lot more.

 

That press looks pretty decent, but I havent managed to do it even once since that session which was a week ago. I need to train it literally every day to have some sort of consistency, and its really a move which you either manage on your first try during a session, or its impossible. From the bottom, you either go up, or you dont even lift 5cm. It is almost all rotatorcuff, as you essentially protract and externally rotate yourself all the way up, and my infraspinatus gets absolutely fried. I do have the strength when im at my best, but it feels like i need to do it for a much longer period of time to safe it.

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FREDERIC DUPONT

(...) you either go up, or you dont even lift 5cm. (...)

 

You make it look easy Handbalancer. :)

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  • 5 weeks later...

NIce work, Handbalancer! The one arm press is also a move I want to learn, but I haven't really started working on it yet because I want my OAHS to be more solid (I held it 1 minute 10 seconds on my left arm, today! Yay!).

 

About Arevik Seyranyan doing more contorsion recently... I think she's got a kid. That's probably why she took it easy for a few months.

 

And concerning Arevik's old coach... Are you talking about Yuri Bozyan, who teached at the National Circus School in Quebec, Canada? I'm going to audition for that school as a hand balancer, I hope I get picked.

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Mikael Kristiansen

Yeah im pretty sure he taught her at one point. A student of his(and the best handbalancer I have EVER seen, except cai Yong and the like maybe) said so, if i didnt misunderstand.

 

1min 10sec is more than enough time to start working on it. Its a many years project so its just to get on it. Work a lot of positions and flags too. Lift from floor in wide straddle first(which you can probably do if you have 1min+), then the same on 1 block. Then on 2 and 3. Then you start to learn to press from a piked position where both legs are down but hips is still stacked as in a 1 arm. This step is very hard and takes a long time. Then learning a full negative where you press down by sliding down a cane. Then negative to straddle L, then pressing up the cane and finally from straddle L. Negatives are in general your friend on learning this.

 

It is retarded hard. Im STILL not safe on it and I cant keep it consistent if I dont stay at it ALL the time and prioritize it above all else. Most people who do it are very small, light and flexible. I have been able to do a negative for around 4 years(though in the beginning I ended up with the shoulders square instead of stacked at the bottom) and still its ridiculously hard. I am very heavy for it though and I think i just havent been balancing for enough years to be consistent at it.

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David McManamon
 Is she even doing handbalancing any more? I've only seen some contortion act lately.

She is.  Here is a poorly filmed video from part of her performance at the 37th Monte Carlo Circus Festival 2013.

 

http://youtu.be/sHsBGSXw_MQ

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Thanks for te reply, hand balancer! I can manage the negative not too bad right now, for me the hard part is just before the l-sit. I'll follow your advice. you know the one with the foot sliding on the cane? I haven't tried on the cane, but on a box I could manage it too. It was very hard, tho. I think I'll need to work on the 3 blocks straddle press and on just holding the pike at the bottom with hips high and legs together. I think it would help for the hips position, that I find pretty difficult to get.

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I just tried the wide straddle press off the floor, and could do it on a 30 cm high object! Started to practice straddle OAHS to straddle flag to low pike. Once I can hold it, back to straddle flag and up! :)

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Mikael Kristiansen

Sounds like you are on the right track. Send me a video of you doing some different variations and i can try to help you out with the technical details. Sliding down a block works the same as on a cane more or less, the point is that you get something to brace your legs. Everything from where your legs pass your balancing arm is murderously hard when going to straddle L or pike. Sliding down is a breeze in comparison. Canes are your friends to learn presing, and so is working a lot on your flexibility.

 

Straddle flag which you pike is basically what you want for pressing. Keep the legs straddled on the bottom for now. A 1 arm pike press is very much harder(and there is a bigger difference between 1 arm straddle and pike from the floor than on 2 arms). Hips stay stacked for as long as possible on the way down. This will help you figure out the positioning of the hips

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Thank you, Handbalancer! When I can, I'll film stuff. I also told Yuval I would film my handstands a while ago, but always wanted to improve them before filming them so never did send them. :$ I'm going to see him in Vegas pretty soon.

 

For the canes, it's perfect since I received a kit a few days ago! :) Two normal canes, and one rotating!

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