some handbalancing

Here is some random training footage from before christmas. Some 1 arm pressing training and a decent 1 cane sequence. I can finally do a full rom 1 arm straddle press without counterweight with decent consistency. The ones in this video is with the cane as counterweight. Never worked so hard to learn one strength move ever. After my first year of serious balancing, I could already do a slow negative, but it took me 3 more years of focused training before I could press out from the bottom. The video cuts short at the end because the camera stopped working.

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Handbalancer, you are inspiring! I can't wait to do just half of the things you are able to. One arm press is one of the coolest move ever! And the handstand with piked and split (forward and back) legs.

Are you working the move where you go fro elbow lever to one arm handstand?

Do you mind me asking your weight and height?

I hope these videos become more frequent!

Yes im working on elbow lever to 1 arm and I can kind of do it sometimes. Its very hard, but i wouldnt say as hard as 1 arm press.

Im about 80kgs and 179cm tall which makes me quite big for certain of these moves, but an insane amount of training has gotten me far. I currently finishing my studies at the university of dance and circus in stockholm where I have now been for 3 years.

Incredible! Its a real treat that we get to see these training clips. Thanks again for sharing.

Handbalancer said:

Yes im working on elbow lever to 1 arm and I can kind of do it sometimes. Its very hard, but i wouldnt say as hard as 1 arm press.

Im about 80kgs and 179cm tall which makes me quite big for certain of these moves, but an insane amount of training has gotten me far. I currently finishing my studies at the university of dance and circus in stockholm where I have now been for 3 years.

Three of my goals are manna, one arm press from straddle l to figa (think about it. You are turning your straddle l upside down. How cool is that?!) And an elbow lever to oahs without a tempo. I'm not a small chinese girl though so it is nice to see someone who is able to do it. Especially someone who isn't exactly on the stick thin side. I hope to come to one of your seminars one day!

My 1 arm elbow lever to 1 arm is with a lot of tempo. It is still insanely hard. A lot of people do have this idea that it is only momentum, but they have usually never even tried it. The strength is needed because your shoulder is in front of your hand. You immediately feel like you will fall on your face when you kick up if you do not have the power to block the momentum with arm strength.

Doing that without tempo is something I see as almost impossible for a guy my size. If learned as a child like the chinese or gulliano stroe it should be possible to keep it as you grow older and heavier, but with such a move I do see genetic limitations. I have yet to see a non chinese do it perfectly, though gulliano almost did it in a video. This is the best one i have seen at 2.25. Cai Yong is now 19 years old I think

Ly1SSSyns-s

They're definitely hard. And I never doubt the amount of strength it requires ever since I tried it (elbow lever to airbaby). I try to use minimal kick and it feels like hitting a set of planche pushups.

I've never seen someone older or heavier do it either. I hope it isn't completely impossible but that gives me more motivation to lean out!

I didn't realize he was that old. Thank you for the video!

Excellent work as usual

I would love to see some straps work from you as well.

I did straps for the first time a few days ago and I still have burns on my wrists from it.

Wooow, really inspiring!!!

I have one question, how many years in total have you been working on balance?

Greetings from Mexico!

Yuri, I will make a straps act as soon as we finish our shows next month. I might get some stuff filmed then. Im better now than ever at straps really and i didnt even practice. Going to try to get my 1 arm swing down. Haha I will feel the burn too as its been too long since last time.

Martinponce, I have now been doing handbalancing for about 4 years now. Before that i was doing breakdance which i still do. When i started taking balancing seriously i could already do jump on 1 arm from breaking and I could also do a bit of balancing on 1 arm with terrible technique. This background proved to be an excellent platform to start learning from as I had good sensation upside down. My left arm i would say is about "4 years old" as i had no experience at all on that one before getting into handbalancing seriously. The strength and awareness difference might not look like much in this clip, but there is an insane difference. I suppose I would have to train my left very hard for about 2 years to get to the level where my right is now.

Handbalancer said:

My 1 arm elbow lever to 1 arm is with a lot of tempo. It is still insanely hard. A lot of people do have this idea that it is only momentum, but they have usually never even tried it. The strength is needed because your shoulder is in front of your hand. You immediately feel like you will fall on your face when you kick up if you do not have the power to block the momentum with arm strength.

Doing that without tempo is something I see as almost impossible for a guy my size. If learned as a child like the chinese or gulliano stroe it should be possible to keep it as you grow older and heavier, but with such a move I do see genetic limitations. I have yet to see a non chinese do it perfectly, though gulliano almost did it in a video. This is the best one i have seen at 2.25. Cai Yong is now 19 years old I think

Ly1SSSyns-s

That is freaking CRAZY! Is he the only person who can do it without momentum? Do you also know the link to Gulliano's press?

Great video!

How much does one of your canes weigh? I reckon, it's not that much as a counterweight.

That guy is not the only one who can do without momentum, many of the new gen small chinese girls are doing it as well. They are in general extremely flexible which gives them the opportunity to kind of arch out of it which is completely crazy. I dont remember how i found gullianos video, but you should find it on the youtube channel. He doesnt get all the way up, but you see he will do it with practice. It is completely insane and im pretty sure i would never be able to do it even if i dedicated a lot of time to it.

Palmcron: those canes dont weight much, maybe 1 kg. I still use them as weight sometimes as without is still pretty maximal for me.

I am having difficulties with learning this type of moves as well, because I weigh 98kg at 182cm tall. But I look it at the other way around. Not seeing my weight as a limit, but seeing the exercise progressions as effective ways to improve strength. Not the exercises being the goal, but strength gains being the goal and seeing the exercises as a tool.

Michel0555 no offense, but Handbalancer knows what he is talking about.

Michel0555 said:

I am having difficulties with learning this type of moves as well, because I weigh 98kg at 182cm tall. But I look it at the other way around. Not seeing my weight as a limit, but seeing the exercise progressions as effective ways to improve strength. Not the exercises being the goal, but strength gains being the goal and seeing the exercises as a tool.

This mindset can work in something like weightlifting, but in hand balancing the skill is the goal. It's not about being strong, but about making the handstand as easy as possible. In fact, some of the best hand balancers I have met have not been very strong.

The fact remains that if you are white, weigh over 90 pounds, and have legs that pressing into OAH from crocodile will be near impossible regardless of your strength or determination.

Plus that the strength you gain from learning a skill like that is pretty specific to the skill

yuri said:

This mindset can work in something like weightlifting, but in hand balancing the skill is the goal. It's not about being strong, but about making the handstand as easy as possible. In fact, some of the best hand balancers I have met have not been very strong.

The fact remains that if you are white, weigh over 90 pounds, and have legs that pressing into OAH from crocodile will be near impossible regardless of your strength or determination.

Plus that the strength you gain from learning a skill like that is pretty specific to the skill

Does the same apply if you are black, weigh over 90 lbs, and have legs that as used for olifting?

I guess it has to be learned young to keep it. I will be happy having it from a tempo is I can have that, a manna, and a one arm press.

There's a reason that only Cai Yong and several little chinese girls are able to do the skill.

Even Chris Jones, who has a one arm planche and a ridiculously slow lower down to croc still bows down to the chinese girls.

Cant have said it better Yuri. For such a move there is just too much weight to push from an extremely disadvantaged position. Even with a kick it takes a lot of strength and training as you need to stay above the palm on the way up. You are also dealing with stabilizing you balance in all 360 degrees. It can probably be done with a quite slow swing of the legs, but the problem is the bottom part where you need to move your weight forwards and counteract it with pushing from the shoulder. For learning to kick up the best way is to get a seriously controlled lower down, to the point that there is almost no drop at all. Having a 1 arm handstand for at least 30 sec would also be a good idea to ensure stabillity.

Interesingly enough, i know more bboys who can kick up than i know handbalancers. It does make sense though. The time that balancers spend on alignment, balance, etc, bboys spend their time doing dynamic moves in elbow lever-ish positions, even as beginners. Baby freezes, floats(all the moves where you walk or jump in the position), air chairs, etc. build great strength in the bottom part. i even met a guy who got up on 1 arm on both sides on his first try.

If you want to learn a one arm press, start working on your flexibility immediately. You need perfectly open shoulders, very flexible sides, preferably a ridiculous pike and a good straddle. 1 arm handstand should be like sleeping of course, and having some ability to flag on 1 arm is neccesary. Learning to press off the floor by straddling and leaning over, is doable for most people with determination I would say, and doing slow negatives by controling the legs down to the floor is the best way. Technically it is very complicated as there is a LOT of factors to consider, but I wont get into that now. From 1 arm straddle L I have to say that it is a completely different story. I do not want to discourage you to train for it, but know that with the proper training in that direction, you will be good enough to be a professional handbalancer years before you can manage that press.

Handbalancer said:

I do not want to discourage you to train for it, but know that with the proper training in that direction, you will be good enough to be a professional handbalancer years before you can manage that press.

Well I am just happy it isn't the other way around!