Sunday, August 23, 2009
Douglas Fairbanks Sr.Before he swashbuckled his way through Hollywood as Zorro, Robin Hood and The Thief of Baghdad, the silent film star Douglas Fairbanks Sr.worked as a gym instructor and worked up to be able to do a One-Arm Chin-Up. His ability to do this feat was regularly featured in his afore-mentioned classic film roles.
Labels: Bodyweight Feat, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Movie Star, One Arm Chin up
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Friday, June 19, 2009
 Wally Allen and Martin Wilson | Years ago, 'weight lifting' was thought by many people to make athletes musclebound and inflexible. Here's a couple gents who certainly proved that wrong. Wally Allen, on the bottom, could press 200 pounds, succeeeded with a pullover of 125 pounds and could bench press 330 - not bad considering he weighed only 175 pounds. The top man Marty allen was also a very good lifter in his own right - both of these men were York Barbell Men all the way, in addition to making their living as professional hand balancers. |
Labels: Bodyweight Feat, Hand Balancing, Hand Balancing Act
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009
A Unique FeatI don't know who these guys are or anything about them but I will say that this feat is quite impressive. In all my years, I have never seen this feat performed anywhere else. They certainly make it look pretty easy although it's a lot more difficult that it looks.
Labels: Balance Feat, Bodyweight Feat, Hand Balancing Feat, Unique Feat
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
 The Handstand Press | A simple yet very effective exercises is the handstand press. The boxes are there, of course, to increase the range of motion. This was a favorite exercise of the great weightlifting champion Tony Terlazzo (pictured here) who used it to increase his barbell overhead press. Terlazzo was a 13-time Weightlifting national Champion, something to think about if you're working on your press too. |
Labels: Bodyweight Exercise, Bodyweight Feat, handstand, Handstand Press, Pressing Exercise, Tony Terlazzo
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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Neck StrengthBuilding a strong neck is a good idea... but especially if you plan on doing crazy things like this. That's me holding a full nose-to-mat neck bridge with 168-pound pat Povilaitis standing on top of me while bending a red nail. It took me a long time to build up this level of neck strength. DON'T try this at home.
Labels: Bodyweight Feat, John Wood, Neck Bridge, Neck Strength, Pat Povilaitis
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Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Doug Hepburn Handbalancing FeatThe great lifter and strongman Doug Hepburn was quite a handbalancer - something which has been presented here on prior occasions. (He said it helped his overhead press.)
Here's a feat you've probably never seen before though: Doug handbalancing on the top of a basketball backboard. Doug would have had to have been pretty confident in his hand balancing ability to even attempt this one, let alone accomplish it. That's a long way down. WOW!
Labels: Balance Feat, Basketball, Bodyweight Feat, Doug Hepburn, Hand Balancing
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Wednesday, June 18, 2008
 Bob Jones | If you could travel back in time and ask Bob Jones what his toughest hand balancing feat was, he might tell you this one... but he did it! Most of the time hand balancers balance on a solid, stable surface such as a table, or parallettes. That's a decidely "unstable" base, a free-swinging length of pipe hung by a couple ropes. |
Labels: Balance, Balance Feat, Bob Jones, Bodyweight Feat, hand balancer, Hand Balancing Feat
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Friday, June 13, 2008
At 94 years old jack LaLanne is still going strong. He once did 1033 pushups in one hour, swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf while handcuffed and towing a fleet of boats, and starred in the longest running fitness show in the history or television. Here he is as a young man working on his one-arm chinning ability.
Jack LaLanneLabels: Bodyweight Feat, Endurance Feat, Jack LaLanne, Oldtime Strongman Feat, One Arm Chin up, Pushups, swimming
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Sunday, April 20, 2008
The Wrestler's BridgeThe Wrestler's Bridge is and can be a very good exercise for developing neck strength. You must first master your own bodyweight before moving on the the weighted version that this Japanese wrestler is demonstrating.
Labels: Bodyweight Exercise, Bodyweight Feat, Physical Training, Wrestlers Bridge, Wrestling Exercise
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Tuesday, April 08, 2008
The Press-UpThe Press-Up is an intermediate handbalancing movement that you must master of you want to move on to more advanced moves.
Be sure not to straighten your legs too quickly or it will cause you to lose your balance and fall foreward. Practice and master this move on parallettes before moving on to the bare floor. (You can find our more tips on this move on page 32 of Bill Hinbern's Handbalancing for Muscular Development.)
Labels: Balance, Bodyweight Exercise, Bodyweight Feat, Exercise, Hand Balancing, Hand Balancing Feat, Intemediate Handbalancing Move, Parallettes, Press-Up
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Friday, March 28, 2008
| Bob Jones again shows why he was one of the greatest hand balancers who ever lived... a one-arm planche while simultaneously holding a 55-pound dumbbell in the other hand. You won't be seeing this one again any time soon... |  Bob Jones |
Labels: Bob Jones, Bodyweight Feat, Dumbbell, Hand Balancing, Hand Balancing Feat, One Arm Planche
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Sunday, February 17, 2008
John Davis FlagThere's no question that John Davis was one of the greatest strength athletes who ever lived. - He was exemplary at nearly every lift he tried, whether grip feats such as lifting the Apollon wheels or pinch gripping feats or Olympic lifting and other incredible lifts.
Here John Davis performs the incredible bodyweight feat "the flag" while training at Ed Yarick's Gym in Oakland,California.
Although Davis makes it look easy, this feat is harder than it looks - try it.
Labels: Bodyweight Feat, Ed Yarick's Gym, Gymnastic Feat, John Davis
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Friday, February 01, 2008
 The One-Hand Balance | "The experience gained in learning a one-hand balance can play a very important part in your gymnastics program, both in practice and in competition. For the feeling and coordination necessary to balance on one hand will increase your gymnastic ability on all other apparatus. In competition, a one-hand balance can be used to advantage in your free calisthenics or parallel bar routine. In free calisthenics, a one-hand balance on the floor is rated high in difficulty and will bring you points if you hold it for at least three counts, holding your other hand to your side and using good form." |
Labels: Bodyweight Feat, Bodyweight Training, Calisthenics, Gymnastics, Hand Balancing, Hand Balancing Feat, One Hand Balance
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All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
The One Arm Chin-UpIt is estimated that not more than one person in a hundred thousand can perform a chin-up with one hand. Here Paul Holloway, one of the lesser-known members of the York Weightlifting team, shows the three stages of the feat.
Notice he is chinning himself with only two fingers -- he was actually able to chin himself using only one finger with ease, but had to use two for this series in order to hold himself still long enough to obtain the pictures.
In the October, 1937 Issue of Strength and Health Magazine Holloway outlines his exact training in detail: a series of progressive chin-up exercises until he was able to reach his goal. This training approach should really come as no surprise...
Labels: Back Exercise, Bodyweight Feat, Bodyweight Training, Exercise, Finger Strength, Grip Exercise, One Arm Chin up, Paul Holloway, Strength and Health, Strongman Feat
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All Contents, Including Images and Text, Copyright © 2010 by John Wood and Thunderdome Media Inc., Not to be reproduced without permission, All Rights Reserved
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