Out of hand

Here is a small clip of my morning workout - Equilibre basics and going into the one armers, with some implemented work i have been creating and practicing into my capoeira.

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I hope you find this usefull, for more details, you can check out my blog at:

http://www.idoportal.blogspot.com

Also, in the future there will be available both an equilibre DVD and equilibre Book through the gymnasticbodies store, by yours truly, there are many preparatory exercises, sequences, supplementry work as well as advanced balance work to be covered. Stay tuned for workshops and the afordmentioned material release.

Ido Portal.

Ido,

Very inspiring! You should be commended for your progress. It's great to see some of those basic exercises, and I hope your book is done soon. Your videos definitely motivate me to work harder.

Do you ever train on the blocks connected to rods that I've seen in many of the equilibre circus acts on youtube? When do you suggest training on those? I have the materials to make some, but wondered what prerequisites might be in order, e.g. working just on the floor or using those blocks on the floor like in your video. My goal is to do one-armers on both arms in the straight and have straddle. That's why I'm excited for your book, I'd like to know what exercises to start with and what it will take to get to my goal.

Again, great job.

Mark

Mark,

No, I do not train of the canes, nor am I interested in working on them, right now.

The work on the canes is much easier than on the floor or the cubes, due to the ability to move them slightly in each direction, instead of moving your whole body in relation to your hand position on the floor. It is basicly an open kinetic chain version of a normal handstand, in a miniscale.

My work with Equilibre, is intended for evelopment of control and dominance of floor movement. (In capoeira this is called Florieo)

Floreio movement are a very beautiful and effective means to use your strength, flexibility, balance and control, and implement it into a wonderful blend of movement.

I also use Floreio as my main strength endurance work and as a means of anaerobic conditioning. It is the most perfect way to implement your newly aquired physical abilities, as it represents a random, forever changing, multiple demends medium of movement.

I believe floreio is also one of the biggest factors responsible for my low body fat percentage.

Ido.

Very cool! This gets a favorite as well! I think I am going to start doing some light hand balancing in the mornings now along with my "work the kinks out" stretch.

I dont think you even have to say "I hope you find this useful," all of your posts are really helpful, insightful and inspirational!

Now if I could just magically get a straight arm press handstand, so hard but so much fun to work!

One question, what is that song and who is the artist? I am looking for good music to practice (handbalancing) to.

Thanks

Thanks, Nifty.

The song is 'From a Shell' by Lisa Germano. I first heard it in one of the Bat Sheva Dance Company pieces I saw.

Ido.

Incredible work. Did you just begin production of your book and DVD product?

Thanks, I will definitely look her up.

I had a decent 45 minutes of practice this morning. A few decent 5-10 second holds as well as some press handstand work. I also decided to try out the way you got into your handstands, buy doing a kind of jumping tucked press and I could do it but holding it after getting up was a little shaky (I think I was just jumping to much).

I love the cartwheel to airbaby by the way. 8)

Thanks, guys.

Nifty, way to go man, that is the way to start everything. from 5-10 sec, it will become 20's and then 30's and on, patience and persistance.

The lift-swings into handstand are basic equilibre work. Practice all three variations.

Ido.

Ido,

Every time you come out with a new video showing off your skills it re inspires me to work towards my equilbre goals.

Any arrival time planned for the book? Cant wait to get my hands on it.

Also, is that what a typical equilibre workout consists of?

I've been trying to set up a good workout for equilbre for a while, but I have no idea if i am doing it right.

Right now it looks like this:

12 x 30 sec on/45 sec off face to wall handstands working on alignment

5 x 1 min on/1 min off freestanding attempts

one arm HS against wall 3x30 sec on/45 sec off

handstand presses (dont have any rep scheme for this yet)

handstand conditioning - wall runs, hs hops, hs walking, etc.

a couple endurance holds

Any comments are appreciated.

Thanks for the encouragement Ido, it really helps me stay motivated.

I will definitely try the pike and straddle lift swings tomorrow at the gym with my tuck lift swings. Is the goal for these to swing as little as possible and lift as much as possible?

Fun stuff. . .really fun stuff. . . 8)

Ido, I've been watching you for some time now and I'll have to chime in with everyone else and say your work has definitely kept me motivated to continue my equilibre practice.

One quick question:

After beginning my OAHS training, my right shoulder (supraspinatus region) has developed what feels like a chronic trigger point that will cause discomfort randomly throughout my day. I've seen a trigger point therapist who was unable to fix it and will soon visit a chiro to see if it is a structural problem. In your training have you ever encountered something of this sort (pain in the shoulder girdle from the stress of a OAHS). Massage, myofascial release, trigger point, and no amount of rest has been able to fix it so far. Just curious on your reaction to this.

Thanks for everything!

I have a quick question for you Ido. Do you do any wide arm balancing, like Japanese handstands or swallows? I have been working Japanese handstands against the wall and I can get a decent 5 second balance when I am fresh, for me they are a great elbow prehabilitation move.

Thanks for making the hand-balancing skills accessible to the "masses". Very inspiring. I am also looking forward to the book and video.

Cheers,

ted.

Charles said:

Ido, I've been watching you for some time now and I'll have to chime in with everyone else and say your work has definitely kept me motivated to continue my equilibre practice.

One quick question:

After beginning my OAHS training, my right shoulder (supraspinatus region) has developed what feels like a chronic trigger point that will cause discomfort randomly throughout my day. I've seen a trigger point therapist who was unable to fix it and will soon visit a chiro to see if it is a structural problem. In your training have you ever encountered something of this sort (pain in the shoulder girdle from the stress of a OAHS). Massage, myofascial release, trigger point, and no amount of rest has been able to fix it so far. Just curious on your reaction to this.

Thanks for everything!

If it's impingement you should be icing A LOT plus "pulling blood" from the infraspinatus/teres minor area into the acromion to help healing.

If if it's not then it's hard to tell. It depends on what kind of massage/triggers you're doing.... with some people rest doesn't help it improve because it's already somewhat chronic and poor bloodflow to the area.

Those swing up drills have helped me immensely since my last post on this thread. I do them every practice (so at least 4 days a week), and do my best to practice every day of the week if my body can take it. This past Wed I had my first 20-30 second handstand (I lost count due to my excitement ) and I did several in a row until my shoulder girdle got to tired to continue! Getting physically exhausted has never happened to me while doing free standing handstands because I could never hold them for long enough! I would practice free standing and then finish myself off holding handstands against the wall.

This past Friday I had another breakthrough, much to my surprise (I didnt even notice it myself). I was just starting my swing up practice and I was working on the tuck up variation. A few reps in I got a comment from a fellow gym member, he said "do you jump into it at all or just press it up?" I was a little confused because I have always jumped into it; actually it was a substantial jump into all of the swing ups. But on Friday I found myself not having to jump at all, I just leaned a little forward and pressed it up.

So, long story short. By slowly, so slowly in fact that I didnt really notice what I was doing, diminishing my jump used in my tuck swing up I developed my first ever straight arm press handstand. I know its a tuck press but everyone starts somewhere. 8) I can also now pick my feet up off the ground and hold the bottom position of a straight arm straddle press, I just havnt got the guts to try and press it up fully yet. I can also now slowly come down out of my handstands in a pike or tuck (straddle still gets me due to flexibility issues) in a nice controlled manner, it really is a ton of fun!

So, if you have yet to try the swing ups . . . TRY THEM . . . they are immensely helpful.

Have fun and happy balancing!

That is so badass! I can't wait until I can do that! I haven't done much freestanding work, I'm going to start though! I think i'm getting to where I can do that. For me it's mostly shoulder flexibility holding me back from a perfect bodyline, any stretch suggestions for that? I currently do sort of a floor-based german hang stretch, and I put my hands on a couch and try to press down with my upper body and open the shoulders. What else can I do? I try the arm behind the head stretches but I don't get very far

slizzardman said:

That is so badass! I can't wait until I can do that! I haven't done much freestanding work, I'm going to start though! I think i'm getting to where I can do that. For me it's mostly shoulder flexibility holding me back from a perfect bodyline, any stretch suggestions for that? I currently do sort of a floor-based german hang stretch, and I put my hands on a couch and try to press down with my upper body and open the shoulders. What else can I do? I try the arm behind the head stretches but I don't get very far

Try your couch stretch on somthing higher (where you can stand and do it), like a table. Then you can really lean into it.

Will do!