George Barker Windship was a physical culturist born in 1834 in Massachusetts who invented many exercises machines and the first adjustable dumbbell. Like his father and grandfather, George entered Harvard and that’s where he started working out. George was only sixteen when he started training in a gymnasium and with …
5 Craziest Gymnastic Moves
I saw this video of the 5 Craziest Gymnastic Moves and felt it had to be shared here. You most likely have never seen these moves (and possibly never even heard of them) unless you’re in the profession. #5 – 1.5 Twisting Kovacs on the Gymnastic High Bar #4 – …
Gymnastic Clips
As I’ve reported here I’ve started going back to gymnastics. My skills quickly returned and I feel I’m beginning to break new ground. Below you can watch a couple clips from Tuesday night’s session. First off, the back flip. I’m happy to be able to do this skill once again …
New to Parallel Bars
I was back at gymnastics last night. Instead of the normal routine of starting with a bunch of tumbling we did something different by working on the parallel bars. Besides a few dips this is not something I’ve much experience in. We started off with swings. Going from a planche-like …
Planche and Hand Position
A few comments were raised about the hand position in Rafael Guerrero’s planche in a previous post. Why was he up on the fingertips? Is this necessary to do a planche in good form? Unless you have hyper-flexible wrists you won’t be able to do a planche with the fingers …
Mako Sakamoto’s Handstand Pushup Record
Mako Sakamoto is not likely a name you have heard. He was a US National Champ in the 1960’s and has coached many successful gymnasts, including Olympic Gold Medalist Peter Vidmar. One day during the athletes training they decided to find out how many freestanding handstand pushups they could do …
Paul Hamm, Olympic Gold and the Rings
I can remember it like it was yesterday even though it was about four years ago. Had never paid all that much attention to the Olympics before but this year was different. My good friend and I were watching the men’s individual all-around competition. Gymnasts are truly some of the …
Routine for Abs
Here is a routine for abs especially for people who want to be strong for acrobatics and hand balancing. A couple of you went ahead and purchased Gymnastic Abs and that may be one of your smartest moves. But I figured you might be one of those people sitting on …
Handstands and Hand/Grip Positions
First off I want to remind you that the New Year’s Sale is still going. Check Hand Balancing New Year’s Sale to see how you can save 20.08% off of everything. It ends Saturday so if you’re putting it off you better do it now before you forget.For today I’ll dig into …
Handstands and Wrist Strength Part 2 and More
Last time we talked about how you can overcome pain and poor flexibility in your wrists so that you can pursue hand balancing. A subscriber pointed out a few points which are certainly worth mentioning. There is a way to work around this problem. Handstands can also be done on …