The Handstand Book

Book excerpt: THE HANDSTAND BOOK is a complete guide to learning to do a basic handstand and then progressing on to intermediate and advanced skills. The mechanical principles for holding balance on your hands are detailed. A step-by-step method is given for learning to do a basic handstand. From there the book takes you on to intermediate and advanced skills, including press ups into handstands and doing handstands on one arm. Partner and group hand balancing is covered. There is a chapter on doing handstands on apparatus, including parallel bars, rings, balls, and chairs. Regardless of whether you just want to learn a handstand for fun and exercise or for use in gymnastics, cheerleading, acrobatics, or performing, this is the book you need. THIS BOOK is based on the author's experiences as a performer from the seventh to twelfth grades in the Fresno YMCA Gym Circus; as a competitive tumbler from the seventh grade to the end of college with a second place finish in tumbling in the National Collegiate (NCAA) Gymnastics Championships in 1959; as a teacher and coach of gymnastics in various YMCA programs and at the university level; and doing research in tumbling, acrobatics and balancing before, during, and after earning a PhD in exercise physiology at the University of Illinois in 1968. SUBJECTS COVERED INCLUDE: Learning to do Basic Handstands More Difficult Individual Handstand Skills Partner and Group Hand Balancing A Gallery of My Handstands"