This is a guest post by Logan Christopher, as a follow-up to my review of the book he edited, The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing.
Thanks Christopher
Its always a good thing to look to the history of anything you are interested in, hand balancing included.
Did you know there was a time when the one arm handstand was known as an impossible feat? Yet one man went after it, telling others how he would accomplish it, only be met with laughter.
This man was Professor Paulinetti. Not only was he the first man to do a one arm balance with the legs together, but he did the same in a head balance as well as many other stunts. His most famous of all was the one arm planche, which has since been done by many acrobats, but at his time was untouchable.
Professor Paulinetti’s most famous pupil was Robert L. Jones. Bob carried on teaching the art to many others, as well as practicing it on his own. His most famous stunt was the stand on just his two thumbs. Finger balancing isn’t practiced all that often today, making this still one of the most impressive hand balancing moves.
There were many other great balancers at the time. How about Johnny Weber who could do a tiger bend on a single arm (that is going from the forearm stand up into the handstand all on one arm).
And Sig Klein the famous strongman was also an avid balancer. Here he is doing a prone press, pressing up into the handstand. Not too difficult except for the fact that he has a 75 lb. dumbbell strapped to his back!
The balancers today certainly have taken their skills to another level. However its great to see where it all came from. Plus looking at famous balancers of the past can give you ideas for moves not many people do today.
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Logan Christopher runs LostArtOfHandBalancing.com which teaches everyday men and women how to get started in hand balancing and acrobatics. All these pictures come from The True Art and Science of Hand Balancing
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