One arm Handbalancing - Breakdancer

[Biren Patel]

This bboy video has been getting a lot of views since yesterday, so I figured I'd post it up here. No textbook form, of course, but there is still something quite beautiful about it...I had to share.

 

[Connor Davies]

.....No textbook form.....

I think he's a bit beyond textbook form.  That was incredible.

[Craig Mallett]

he can clearly hold a 1 armed handstand almost indefinitely while moving between postures rapidly.  I agree with Bipocni, he just punched the textbook right in the face because he doesn't need it.

[Biren Patel]

No, I think he could use the textbook...

If he wants to use the textbook is a different matter.

[Hayden Whealing]

Although it wouldn't hurt if he pointed his toes...

[Karri Kytömaa]

At that level of skill it just comes down to aesthetics. We tend to see beauty in the tightest form used in gymnastics and in circus artists while bboys often aim for developing more unique own style. To each his own...

[Joshua Slocum]

At the last balance, I can only emote -  

 

I've never seen an inverted crocodile before.  

[Keilani Gutierrez]

At the last balance, I can only emote -

I've never seen an inverted crocodile before.

IKR? that was unbelievable

[Mikael Kristiansen]

He is pretty damn good and one of the best balancers among bboys. He is very free and can play for as long as he wants. Bboys learn their 1 arms from a different angle(usually from airbabies and handhops) than handbalancers do and they therefore have a different form. They do not work specifically with alignment in the same way and usually have more strength with the shoulder further away from the head like in an airbaby. Doesnt mean they cant be incredibly good. I learned this way as well in the beginning and a lot of the strength I have on 1 arm comes from the (from a handbalancing perspective) terrible positions I was holding. 

 

In fact, i often find these guys balancing more interesting than the traditional stuff since they actually come up with new stuff. The vocabulary in traditional balancing is very limited so I spend a lot of my time messing around with my bboy stuff in combination with it. Dany is crazy good and insanely flexible. The "inverted crocodile" is an airchair, and he is a total boss with those. The 1 arm movements he does in that clip is bad ass, but at least doable. Check this one out for something IMPOSSIBLE.

 

Airflare-reverse90-1 arm balance

 

Here is also good stuff. Pretty serious 1 arm planche there, elbow balance, 1 arm straddle press on floor among other things. The 1 arm press on floor impresses me a lot because of the extremely specific training needed for it

[Jon Douglas]

I learned this way as well in the beginning and a lot of the strength I have on 1 arm comes from the (from a handbalancing perspective) terrible positions I was holding.

Yuri made this point as well-- that he built a great deal of his strength from hours of trying to save handstands. I think I saw you write this before too-- to not give up too early and get in the habit of fighting to save a non-ideal position.

Care to share some more of your experience with that?

[Mikael Kristiansen]

Of course my skills skyrocketed when i started balancing for real, but the mindset of trying to balance and stay no matter what came from breaking. Thing is that balancing is strength to keep yourself up and you need to master both small and big corrections. You need to be able to fix tiny alignment issues and micro adjustments to balance well as well as get back from massive mess ups, because you will by default make mistakes. 

 

The way I look at it you need to work on your basic efficiency through alignment, etc. but you must also learn to fight. By fighting and having the mindset to hold your handstand no matter what, you will develop your balance a lot because you are being mindful of the muscle work that needs to be done to stay. Of course there are certain ways of correcting over and under balance, but this needs to become second nature by sheer practice. This especially goes for 1 arm hs. Though there are general rules, there are so many factors that make you fall that you will just need to learn how to deal with it. It is not like you only "learn the technique" and you stay. Technique is of course your main focus to learn but you need to make the mistakes and fall thousands of times when you take your free arm off to understand whats going on, especially if you dont have a coach.

[Jon Douglas]

Of course my skills skyrocketed when i started balancing for real, but the mindset of trying to balance and stay no matter what came from breaking. Thing is that balancing is strength to keep yourself up and you need to master both small and big corrections. You need to be able to fix tiny alignment issues and micro adjustments to balance well as well as get back from massive mess ups, because you will by default make mistakes. 

 

The way I look at it you need to work on your basic efficiency through alignment, etc. but you must also learn to fight. By fighting and having the mindset to hold your handstand no matter what, you will develop your balance a lot because you are being mindful of the muscle work that needs to be done to stay. Of course there are certain ways of correcting over and under balance, but this needs to become second nature by sheer practice. This especially goes for 1 arm hs. Though there are general rules, there are so many factors that make you fall that you will just need to learn how to deal with it. It is not like you only "learn the technique" and you stay. Technique is of course your main focus to learn but you need to make the mistakes and fall thousands of times when you take your free arm off to understand whats going on, especially if you dont have a coach.

Thanks, that really strikes a chord